Carcano bolt

[bearhunter]

Well, I finally got around to working on my Type 1 Carcano, built for the Japanese.

I had located a spare bolt that was in very nice condition but the ejector slot is inletted for the Italian style receivers. The receivers made for the Japanese, have the ejector right in the middle of the bottom. The rifles used by the Italians, have theirs offset to the right.

Now, I've opened up more than a few bolt faces before but never on a Carcano.

I won't use the expletives I used when I found out how hard those thing are.

My end mils won't touch it. They just get dull in a hurry.

I guess it will be some judicious grinding from here on in. Even a Supertanium cutter wouldn't do it.

 

[PEI ROB]

Carbide brother, carbide.

 

[bearhunter]

Carbide brother, carbide.

Thanks, carbide cutters are expensive for such a small job. I do agree though.

Supertanium is at least as hard but tougher than carbide.

I will give a carbide cutter a try though. A bud just called me and told me to come to his place and we'll set the bolt up in his mill. I told him if someone is going to bugger up the end mill or cutter, better him than me.

 

[PEI ROB]

I wonder if your end mill was actually dull? I had a promo carbide end mill given to me when I bought others awhile ago. When I used it on a hardened part it wouldn't cut. Confused for a minute but I remembered looking at the end mill and thinking it didn't look right. Turned out that the end mill was dull. Switched it out and the next one cut like butter.
I thought supertanium was just a different treatment to a cobalt piece but I'm not a machinist.

 

[bearhunter]

I wonder if your end mill was actually dull? I had a promo carbide end mill given to me when I bought others awhile ago. When I used it on a hardened part it wouldn't cut. Confused for a minute but I remembered looking at the end mill and thinking it didn't look right. Turned out that the end mill was dull. Switched it out and the next one cut like butter.
I thought supertanium was just a different treatment to a cobalt piece but I'm not a machinist.

Don't get me wrong, I really do appreciate your replies and the time you took to make them. Normally I would agree with you.

In my job, we used Supertanium drills, countersinks and end mills to work on chrome-carbide plates. Nothing else would touch them. I went out to the shop, and looked at the end mill I used. It is dull on the extreme outer edges.

I then went back and took a new one out of the wrapper. It is as sharp as I could grind it or better.

I tried it on the bolt. All it did, was get dull very quickly.

Last night, I took the bolt to a friends place. His carbide end mill suffered a similar fate.

Hopefully, maybe it is just surface hardened. I would be highly suspect of a bolt that is hardened to that degree all the way through.

I have a bolt that was loaned to me by a fellow from Prince George. His bolt had the ejector slot opened the same way as I was attempting to do. I asked him about it and he told me "that's the way I got it."

It will take a few hours of very careful grinding but it will come out OK in the end.

 

[Oilsands]

Did you get the bolt modified?
Reason I ask is that I recently received 2 carcano bolts, but the ejectors are in different locations. Did not know why till I can across this post.

 

[bearhunter]

Yes, I did. I finally ended up grinding it with a carbide wheel. Made a decent job but it used up a very expensive grinding wheel.

We quickly dulled the carbide circular cutter on my buds end mill. Good thing they are relatively easy to sharpen correctly.

Looks ok and came out with a similar patina as the rest of the bolt.

Pain in the butt but I now have a functioning Type 1, Japanese Carcano.

I called up some sources in the US that advertised as having some. In the case of Numrich, the had a total of 4. They wouldn't ship them to Canada because of legal issues. I told them I would find a US buyer and they were OK with that, as long as they weren't implicated.

He called them the next day, and all of the bolts were sold. Strange???? The girl I talked to told me they had been collecting dust for years.

We tried again a few months later and again, they were no longer in stock. Funny how things work out.

I haven't fired the rifle yet, to much on the go and frankly, I was more interested in adding it to my collection than shooting it. Now, you've peeked my interest again and I'm going to load up 20 rounds to see how it performs.