Cooey Carcano 6.5mm x 54?

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armstrong3j

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I have an old, what I believe to be Cooey Carcano chambered in 6.5mm x 54mm Mannlicher Schoenauer. The serial number on the stock is 641B and the trigger assembly is marked 641.
91896f64-60d6-4e84-9daa-3ff58bee0b17
It is a gun I received from my dad and I have never fired it. I cleaned and oiled it up and was ready to get some ammo. After spending untold hours going through a bunch of old threads on this site and YouTube I landed on the identification. So I found a few boxes of ammo and was excited to try it out.

That's when the problem started. The brass is the correct diameter however the shell is too long. The lead is jamming into the end of the chamber and I therefore cannot latch the bolt. I managed to jammed the cartridge a little so after pushing it out from the end of the barrel, I noticed that there was a circular pattern on the tip of the lead that must have been impressed by the start of the barrel.

So now I am confused as this rifle has all the markings and identifications of the Cooey Carcano sold by Eaton's in the early part of the 1900's. If it isn't the 6.5mm x 54mm MS cartridge, what could it be?

Thanks for any help you guys can provide. I would love to shoot this rifle one day as I have been looking at it on my dad's gun rack since I was old enough to pop a gopher with my old Cooey 22! It's killing me to try those double set triggers. Ha.
 
Ever some dies are made wrong as the 6.5x52 Carcano and 6.5x54 MS are so close some will interchange. With two triggers it should be a Eaton's Cooey Carcano 91 /6.5x54 MS with a cut off barrel stub and set screw to hold the replacement barrel in place .264 not .268 without the gain twist of the Carcano. Take the action out of the stock and check how the barrel is attacked to the receiver.
 
mbogo3 said:
Ever some dies are made wrong as the 6.5x52 Carcano and 6.5x54 MS are so close some will interchange. With two triggers it should be a Eaton's Cooey Carcano 91 /6.5x54 MS with a cut off barrel stub and set screw to hold the replacement barrel in place .264 not .268 without the gain twist of the Carcano. Take the action out of the stock and check how the barrel is attacked to the receiver.
Click to expand...

The set screw is not what holds the barrel into the barrel stub. It is securely threaded into the stub which is screwed into the receiver - all the set screw does is hold the threads in alignment, although with time it's not needed as the two become practically fused together. I know this because I disassembled one 15 years ago and posted pics here: https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...on-Carcano-quot-A-Myth-Busted-Updated-2-June?

A very strong action and conversion that can easily handle published 6.5 Carcano and 6.5 MS loads.
 
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I picked up 1 of those for $20 a long time ago.
It was so cheap because it still had the front 1/2 of the last fired case stuck in the chamber
 
IMG_20210107_1932427.jpg

Here is the gun. It has the set screw on the replacement barrel as you mention. I will attempt to separate the barrel and action today. Thanks for the tip.
 

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Here are some more pics. I'm certain you guys are correct in the identification as a Cooey Carcano.

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armstrong3j said:
View attachment 450302

Here is the gun. It has the set screw on the replacement barrel as you mention. I will attempt to separate the barrel and action today. Thanks for the tip.
Click to expand...

Why do you want to separate the barrel from the action?
Do you want to unscrew the barrel assembly from the receiver?
Do you want to unscrew the barrel from the shank?
Do you have the tools to do either?
 
The "replacement" barrel in the Cooey-Carcano...
Was it a new purpose made barrel? Or was it the original barrel, shortened at the breech, threaded back into the shank, and chambered?
M91s had gain twist barrels. Shortening one from the muzzle end would be a bad idea. Shortening it from the breech would make sense.
 
tiriaq said:
The "replacement" barrel in the Cooey-Carcano...
Was it a new purpose made barrel? Or was it the original barrel, shortened at the breech, threaded back into the shank, and chambered?
M91s had gain twist barrels. Shortening one from the muzzle end would be a bad idea. Shortening it from the breech would make sense.
Click to expand...

I'm not certain of the origins of the gun. I am likely going to take it to a gun shop and see if they can do a chamber cast as "gunrunner100" has suggested above. The barrel is likely to be the one Cooey installed however I have no way of verifying or knowing this. It's just odd that it fits in with the hundreds of descriptions of other owners on this site and yet the cartridge doesn't seem to chamber easily. Next step, take it to a professional. Thanks for all your help.
 
I doubt if it has been rebarreled. Might just be a rifle/ammunition mismatch - the ogive of the bullet is engaging the leade. You could sacrifice one cartridge - pull the bullet and see if the cartridge case chambers easily.
Some of these rifles have been rebarreled to 7.62x39 in recent years. Straightforward job, the cartridges fit the clips.
 
The Cooey-Carcano barrels have 8 lands so looking down the barrel would tell you whether it is the 6.5 MS sold by Eatons. Yours looks exactly like mine and the double set trigger works well. Are you near Calgary?
 
1. This is definitely a Cooey-Carcano.
2. Don't try to remove the barrel, unless you're planning on installing a new one (for some reason).
3. The barrel is not the old Carcano barrel cut down; it's an Austrian barrel installed by an unknown Austrian maker. Cooey imported them already converted, but they preferred to leave people thinking that it was a "Cooey conversion", so they never disclosed which Austrian firm did the job.
4. You didn't mention where you obtained the ammunition. Is this brand new, factory-made and labelled 6.5x54 rounds from a retailer, or did you buy from a private seller? My first suspicion is that the bullets are the Carcano .268 caliber rather than the proper .264 bullets, so the source might be important.
5. Definitely, get the barrel examined and tested by a reputable gunsmith. Avoid the know-it-all street-corner types that tell you "Them Cooeys is dangerous! The barrels is pressed in and held with a tiny set screw!" This is usually followed by "All Carcanos are junk anyway. Get rid of it and buy a good 'Mercan rifle." Carcanos are a mediocre design, not especially smooth and with the worst safety I've ever used, but made of first-class Czech-formula steel. I've frequently fired a nice Cooey-Carcano. It's one of the sweetest-shooting little rifles I've ever carried, and an excellent cartridge (and the owner says he'll never part with it.)
 
"3. The barrel is not the old Carcano barrel cut down; it's an Austrian barrel installed by an unknown Austrian maker. Cooey imported them already converted, but they preferred to leave people thinking that it was a "Cooey conversion", so they never disclosed which Austrian firm did the job."
Very interesting. I also have a 1916 Krag-Jorgensen converted in 1950 to 6.5 MS that has a similar many-land barrel. I wonder if Global Arms in Toronto sourced the same Austrian firm.
 
vykkagur said:
1. This is definitely a Cooey-Carcano.
2. Don't try to remove the barrel, unless you're planning on installing a new one (for some reason).
3. The barrel is not the old Carcano barrel cut down; it's an Austrian barrel installed by an unknown Austrian maker. Cooey imported them already converted, but they preferred to leave people thinking that it was a "Cooey conversion", so they never disclosed which Austrian firm did the job.
4. You didn't mention where you obtained the ammunition. Is this brand new, factory-made and labelled 6.5x54 rounds from a retailer, or did you buy from a private seller? My first suspicion is that the bullets are the Carcano .268 caliber rather than the proper .264 bullets, so the source might be important.
5. Definitely, get the barrel examined and tested by a reputable gunsmith. Avoid the know-it-all street-corner types that tell you "Them Cooeys is dangerous! The barrels is pressed in and held with a tiny set screw!" This is usually followed by "All Carcanos are junk anyway. Get rid of it and buy a good 'Mercan rifle." Carcanos are a mediocre design, not especially smooth and with the worst safety I've ever used, but made of first-class Czech-formula steel. I've frequently fired a nice Cooey-Carcano. It's one of the sweetest-shooting little rifles I've ever carried, and an excellent cartridge (and the owner says he'll never part with it.)
Click to expand...

#2 above...too late and I can confirm that it is a press fitted barrel, futile to try to remove.
#4 above...I purchase the ammo from an online retailer "Budget Shooter Supply" in November 2020. It is brand new/factory made. I took a shell apart and tried the to fit just the brass. Although the lead doesn't seem to fit the brass also appears to be too long as well. Maybe that ammo I bought is the problem? who knows.
#5 above...exactly what my next step is.

Thanks for your help.
 
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