personally i wouldnt look much into the m1 carbine. not worth much to me. i would look for something in 223 if you want fun and decent priced. the ar's are spendy but its worth saving for one of them over a mini. i have never seen a mini shoot overly well. i think there is a company something like olympic or olympia or something that makes an ar if im not mistaken. not the quality of bushmaster and some of them but still shoot pretty well. i think there is also something like sega. again dont know much about them but have heard pretty decent about them. something to look into at least