Did they drop the gain twist at some point?
Carcano Ammunition & Accuracy
- Thread starter The_Champ
- Start date
Did they drop the gain twist at some point?
Not a Carcano expert by any stretch of the imagination, but the one and only rifle I owned wouldn't properly stabalize any of the limited factory loads then available.
Accuracy was horrendous, until I took the time to slug the barrel and had a custom mould cut. Groups subsequently shrunk from minute of barn door to about 4 MOA at 100 yards using sandbags from the bench. I eventually traded it off with the mould and my load data.
Not to be insensitive given today's date, --but as a Marine, who qualified as expert (IIRC), I honestly have no idea why Oswald chose a Carcano, when there were so many superior choices available.
Accuracy was horrendous, until I took the time to slug the barrel and had a custom mould cut. Groups subsequently shrunk from minute of barn door to about 4 MOA at 100 yards using sandbags from the bench. I eventually traded it off with the mould and my load data.
Not to be insensitive given today's date, --but as a Marine, who qualified as expert (IIRC), I honestly have no idea why Oswald chose a Carcano, when there were so many superior choices available.
Not to be insensitive given today's date, --but as a Marine, who qualified as expert (IIRC), I honestly have no idea why Oswald chose a Carcano, when there were so many superior choices available.
I agree, but more about the model used. The m38 fucile corto is far from a sniper rifle and was not made for that.
Oswald qualified as a marksman using a Garand achieving the lowest level, still he qualified but no at the highest level.
He could have ordered a Garand from Klein's in Chicago and there were many superior firearms listed. Yet he chose to order this Carcano for $19.95 with a cheap 4X left-side mounted scope which was I suppose was the worst choice in the ad, and he barely had any funds in his bank account.
I had the same scope and purchased from the same outfit that Oswald did at an acceptable low price. But after having it for a while I was reluctant to drill and tap the Carcano for this cheap scope. Now these cheap scopes can still be had but at a Leupold price ...
He could have ordered a Garand from Klein's in Chicago and there were many superior firearms listed. Yet he chose to order this Carcano for $19.95 with a cheap 4X left-side mounted scope which was I suppose was the worst choice in the ad, and he barely had any funds in his bank account.
I had the same scope and purchased from the same outfit that Oswald did at an acceptable low price. But after having it for a while I was reluctant to drill and tap the Carcano for this cheap scope. Now these cheap scopes can still be had but at a Leupold price ...
Eaglelord17
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The M41 and some M38s did not have gain twist rifling. All the earlier models did have gain twist rifling though.
For those saying there is no way for a Carcano to be accurate, many early 20th century world rifle competation titles were taken by the Carcano (for example 1901 in Lucerne a marksmen named Valerio achieved a score of 305 in standing with a Carcano, and 1902 in Rome Conti took first in prone at 300m with a Carcano, in 1904 in Lion, Bonicelli won first in standing with 319, etc.).
Not a Carcano expert by any stretch of the imagination, but the one and only rifle I owned wouldn't properly stabalize any of the limited factory loads then available.
Accuracy was horrendous, until I took the time to slug the barrel and had a custom mould cut. Groups subsequently shrunk from minute of barn door to about 4 MOA at 100 yards using sandbags from the bench. I eventually traded it off with the mould and my load data.
Not to be insensitive given today's date, --but as a Marine, who qualified as expert (IIRC), I honestly have no idea why Oswald chose a Carcano, when there were so many superior choices available.
I'd say money had a big impact on that choice, they were cheap back then. And reasonably accurate considering a lot of surplus ammo would be found if he wanted to try it out/practice first.
I find my M41 to be accurate enough, however my re-barreled Yugo M98 blows it away. The Carcano battle sight system is a little confusing (notch at the bottom of the sight-V rather then level with the ends of the V) so it takes time to practice.
And factory ammo for that practice is expensive...
Not to be insensitive given today's date, --but as a Marine, who qualified as expert (IIRC), I honestly have no idea why Oswald chose a Carcano, when there were so many superior choices available.
You're looking for reason in the mind of a man who set out to assassinate a sitting President? Don't spend too much time pondering that haha.
I own some of the WCC surplus ammo that Oswald used. It is .266. The Hornady 268s are actually .267.
Using Hornady’s .267 with 414 will give you excellent results. Follow Hornadys recommendation and use magnum primers.
They are expensive projectiles though. Jet Bullets makes cast .268s that I am about to test. You could also try 266 cast. But 264 spitzer bullets give crap results. Unless you can fine a round nose in 264 save your powder.
The Carcano can group well with the proper ammo. Not sure what happened but nobody should be selling those 263/4 privi spitzer bullets. They are not made for a surplus Carcano Rifle. Prvi does sell the proper round but nobody on this side of the Atlantic knows how to order it.
This ammo mix up likely gave Carcanos a bad rep. Ignorance is really hard to correct. The French 8mm Lebel round shares a similar fate. It’s .327 not .323. I just tested some proper cast rounds from jet Bullets in some Bertier carbines last month and got crazy accuracy out of them.
Using Hornady’s .267 with 414 will give you excellent results. Follow Hornadys recommendation and use magnum primers.
They are expensive projectiles though. Jet Bullets makes cast .268s that I am about to test. You could also try 266 cast. But 264 spitzer bullets give crap results. Unless you can fine a round nose in 264 save your powder.
The Carcano can group well with the proper ammo. Not sure what happened but nobody should be selling those 263/4 privi spitzer bullets. They are not made for a surplus Carcano Rifle. Prvi does sell the proper round but nobody on this side of the Atlantic knows how to order it.
This ammo mix up likely gave Carcanos a bad rep. Ignorance is really hard to correct. The French 8mm Lebel round shares a similar fate. It’s .327 not .323. I just tested some proper cast rounds from jet Bullets in some Bertier carbines last month and got crazy accuracy out of them.
