M3 Carbine

About the M3 Carbine

The M3 Carbine is a select-fire .30 Carbine night-vision carbine, essentially an M2 carbine fitted with a special scope mount for an active infrared sniperscope and a flash hider. Developed at the end of World War II, it was issued for short-range night sniping, allowing soldiers to detect and engage enemies in darkness using an infrared spotlight and image-converting scope. It saw use in the Pacific theater, the Korean War, and early Vietnam-era operations before being superseded by more advanced night-vision equipment.

The M3 carbine and its sniperscope debuted in combat during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, where soldiers used the active infrared sights to spot Japanese infiltrators at night; postwar analysis credited the sniperscope with a notable share of nighttime casualties inflicted in the closing months of the Pacific war.

M3 Carbine specifications

The M3 itself differed from the M2 mainly in its mounting provisions for the bulky infrared sniperscope set (M1, M2, then M3 IR scope generations). The early sniperscope had an effective night range of roughly 50 to 100 meters and required a separate battery pack carried by the operator.