[Bill Ricca]

Here is one of the hardest to find US Army Technical Manuals dealing with the M1 Carbine. TM 9-1005-210-35 Jun 69 covers the M1 and M2 Carbine. Most manuals you see are reprints of either the Technical Bulletin from 1942 or TM 9-1276 from 1953. Those reprints show up on eBay by the dozens, each day.

This manual is one of the exceptions during this time period. There is a large "How To" emphasis on changing front and rears sights and reaming the gas cylnder threads. Often that type of information is left out of high level TM's from the 1960's.

This manual is a key item to complete an M1 Carbine Collection. As shown in its designation of -35, it covers Direct Support, General Support, and Depot Maintenance. The manual covers the latest items in the supply
system, but unfortunately is does not show much of the early stuff. I figure by this time most people working in the higher levels already were familar with the flat bolts and M1 slides, neither of which are shown. The manual does have some nice photos of the ordnance tools. Unlike other manuals all the high level tools are photograph together in one photo. An interesting thing is the M10 Cleaning Rod (Garand Buttstock Rod) was the authorized rod in use with the carbine at the time. To carry the M10 rod, no finger pouch is shown. The M8 Sectional rod is not shown, but its 3 section WWII Style carrying case is shown instead. Strange combination.

The tools are broken out into 2 sets, one Direct and General Support, the other Depot. All tools and parts are cross referenced with the Federal Stock Number and Ordnance Part Number.

The manual is printed in a 8 1/2 x 10 3/4 format, consists of 51 pages, and was printed by the Government Printing Office.

Due to the inclusion of the Federal Stock Numbers, on a scale of 1 to 10 I rate this one a 10.