Carcano - Best present ever - so far!

Mamabear

Mamabear

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Well the man must really know me. Today I celebrate another year down the drain. haha! Ok, ok its not that bad!
But this morning my hubby-to-be gave me this Carcano as a birthday gift! Just what I wanted! It's perfect! I love it! What more could a girl ask for, right?!
It has plenty of history on it and battle scars. I am just starting to get into collecting Carcano's so any info would be greatly appreciated! I have been trying to research all morning and these seem to be slightly hard to find accurate info on! Unless I am just looking in the wrong places. But I guess in time I will learn! ;)
This poor old thing definitely looks like it's been in some type of explosion! it has burn marks and still has shrapnel stuck in the stock, along with numerous dings and dents.

FAT 42/crown stamp on the top. and very cool sights.
What appears to be 604 on the butt, with some type of round stamp but it's quite faded and very hard to see or read.
This is many little stamps all over it, the bolt alone as 6 little stamps on it.
Most stamps I see on the rifle are numbers or letters and a couple crowns.
The bolt is straight and it has dual sling loops/swivels.
I love her in all her battle glory! dings and all!












 
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Boy, has THAT one ever been around the block!

Looks like a Model 41; they had a 27-inch barrel and constant-pitch rifling (all other Carcanos had gain-twist). Model 41 can be so accurate that it is almost scary. I am using 30 grains of IMR-4198 in mine, behind a 140-grain FLATbase bullet; it is shooting roughly 1 MOA with the same sights as on yours. This load is NOT in any of the books but it seems to work fine. Good in the shorties, also: no ear-splitting BOOM!, no 3-foot muzzle fireballs, gentle recoil.

Really happy that women are discovering the Carcanos; they are very much an ignored field of study and are solid little rifles.

I am having trouble right now with my own Model 41 and my Destroyer ("teensy-weensy Mauser"). Janice is thinking seriously about adopting them both.... and I like them, too!

Welcome to the Carcano Club!
 
Ohh, I love it- burns and all, it sets my imagination going. No reason a guy should have one of these- pfft, they are just guys after all. Smellie! put that back, I'm not done with it yet. Sheesh!
janice

(That little baby Mouser is just so very cute.)
(By the way, your man sounds like a keeper.)
 
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FAT-42: Built at the Terni Arms Factory (Fabricaccione d' Armas de Terni, but my spelling could be 'way out) in 1942.

The crown is because Italy was a MONARCHY at the time. Benito Mussolini ("The Duke": "Il Duce") was the Prime Minister and, supposedly, reported to the King.

Ammunition is standard 6.5x52 Mannlicher-Carcano. Military ammunition used a .266" bullet of 163 grains, but nobody makes one. Hornady does make a .268 in an effort to overcome some of the older barrels with worn bores, but you must use these exactly as they say: no experimenting. I use a ,264" 140-grain flatbase with a fast powder; any bore wear is taken care of when the fast powder kicks the flatbase bullet on its tail end and expands it into the rifling.

Carcano action is basically a modified Mauser action with a Mannlicher magazine assembly. That unique safety was designed by Salvatore Carcano for his 1868 Test rifle which was made only for a year, until supplanted by the Vetterli in 1870. It was revived 23 years later for the Mannlicher design and continued in production until at least 1944.

John Walter says in his RIFLES OF THE WORLD, "The Mo. 41, credited to Maj. Roberto Boragine, was recognisable by its shortened barrel and reduced-scale 1,000-metre quadrant sight. Constant-twist rifling replaced the original progressive variety, but few guns were made before the major part of the Italian armed forces surrendered to the Allies in 1943. Perhaps 1,000 were made in the Terni factory. Chambered for the 6.5x52mm rimless cartridge, they were 1,172mm overall, had 690mm barrels and weighed 3.72 kg unladen."

So: only a thousand built. They are a bit common in Canada, but they are very much a rarity in the rest of the world.... including Italy.

And they are a dandy rifle.
 
For some solid information, try http://personal.stevens.edu/~gliberat/carcano/

and, always, be sure to check out the Italian section at milsurps dot com. Lots of solid information on that page also, as well as expert help.

Take care.... and enjoy your Carcano.

That rifle is too kicked-around for it all to be Civvy Street damage. I wonder just how much is from combat....... nasty places such as Monte Cassino.....
 
This one really makes me wonder. The burns on the right side of the stock looks like someone's left hand blocked part of the explosion. Also the steel bits in the stock are all tiny small. Walking or running and straight onto a mine maybe? Regardless, this one has that salty feel I was talking about in an earlier post. Lest to say I'm very jealous. I never cleaned the bore even but it looks nice. We'll go get some of those 140gr and some 4198 and Mamabear can have at it. This is her first full stocked milsurp, one of a thousand isn't bad!
 
Wow, thanks so much Smellie for all that info. I really appreciate it! I will definitely check out the site you linked. and I may have to sign up on milsurps.

Jan you are right on the nail. He is a keeper. I kinda like him so I think I will keep him around! haha!
Wedding day set for Sept 6th this year so hopefully he keeps up the sweetness! Otherwise I know how to shoot and I am not a bad shot. ;)

I have one Carcano already and I am in love with it as well. It is a great shooter, so it will be neat to see how this old girl does. I don't think I will want to shoot it a lot, but I would certainly like to try it out.

I love all the history this rifle wears. Makes me wonder where it's been, what it's done or seen. It will be a treasure to me for years to come.
 
Nabs said:
Wow, that carcano has character, she doesn't like refurbished so I wonder if she is a vet bring back ?
Click to expand...

That might be a good assumption. From the look of it, the original owner wasn't going to be using it anymore.
 
Wedding day set for Sept 6th this year ?
Good show! I followed the thread as he rebuilt your first- love it too.Congratulations! And I do mean it.
janice

ps, Smellie likes helping people- he now has a smile on his face.
 
Some scarring on that one! Congrats on the new collection! I always enjoy a gun with a good background story, too bad they can't talk...
 
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