Carcano calverycarbine

[Eaglelord17]

Also make sure you do a complete strip and clean on these rifles. Had a small amount of active rust in a couple non-critical parts. Just a matter of giving a little scrub and clean with some oil and leaving some oil on there afterwards, but just a heads up that maybe a concern for your rifles as well.

 

[philhut]

so pics.....received mine today, hopefully next week I can get out to the range.

very nice rifle, debating picking up one of the cavalry ones next.

Looks to be in better shape than the cavalry carbines I recently picked up. I prefer the fixed sight model. I'd swap for the standard carbine you have pictured. As for magazines I git 4 bras ones off Ebay for a small fortune.

 

[caramel]

Also make sure you do a complete strip and clean on these rifles. Had a small amount of active rust in a couple non-critical parts. Just a matter of giving a little scrub and clean with some oil and leaving some oil on there afterwards, but just a heads up that maybe a concern for your rifles as well.

I suspect my Brescia 1940 Cavalry to have be stripped down for the first time since birth, except one small spot of rust non concerning, it saw the light this morning. Holala.

 

[Deathrawt]

I stripped mine down for a good clean and was surprised that all the metal covered by the wood was rust and pit free
Not so with the exposed metal! Lol
What’s the best way to remove the “brownness” from the exposed metal?
I’ve rubbed a fair bit off using kroil but I don’t want to get too aggreasibe with it and remove whatever bluing is left

 

[Nyles]

Anyone know if there are any WW1 configuration TS carbines available?

 

[dagc]

Anyone know if there are any WW1 configuration TS carbines available?

There were 2 or 3 WW1 vintage TS for sale on the Corwin Arms website. All sold now.

 

[Caledonia]

I have one coming in as well, ordered from Marstar (I would have liked one of the early M91 TS carbines with sideways locking bayonet that Corwin had but they sold out quicker than I could see them). Paid a extra 25$ for hand select with Pre-WWI, or WWI being preferred and if that wasn't available best condition possible. Also ordered some ammo with it because I don't feel like figuring out where all my Carcano reloading supplies are as I sold my last one off a while ago. Fortunately I still have all the clips and such.

Eaglelord17 - Have you received the rifle yet? Are you pleased with what you got? Thanks.

 

[Eaglelord17]

Eaglelord17 - Have you received the rifle yet? Are you pleased with what you got? Thanks.

There’s a photo of it on post #34. I am happy with it, i think it was a pretty fair price I paid. Only 3 days to receive it after ordering it. If I was looking for another M91 carbine I would do the same thing I did again. It’s a light handy carbine, I don’t think the accuracy is ever going to be astounding but I wanted it more for my collection than a shooter, my current collecting goal is to have a action type collection so instead of having a ton of very similar variants I want a ton of variety.

 

[dakotamar]

anyone have any luck with handloads for this? the ones i made up are keyholing still, even at different speeds. will have to check the diameter again and possibly try a smaller bullet. what mold are you using if you are casting.

 

[MiG25]

Do these have US Import marks?

 

[Eaglelord17]

anyone have any luck with handloads for this? the ones i made up are keyholing still, even at different speeds. will have to check the diameter again and possibly try a smaller bullet. what mold are you using if you are casting.

Carcanos need a larger bullet rather than a smaller bullet. I am fortunate that mine seems to be shooting without keyholing with a factory .264 bullet, but you may need a .266 or .268 bullet to stabilize it. Also faster powders can help too as it can kick the bullet into the rifling.

 

[caramel]

Do these have US Import marks?

My Cavalry Carbine dont have any.

 

[bearhunter]

Carcanos need a larger bullet rather than a smaller bullet. I am fortunate that mine seems to be shooting without keyholing with a factory .264 bullet, but you may need a .266 or .268 bullet to stabilize it. Also faster powders can help too as it can kick the bullet into the rifling.

Not likely, unless your bullets have exposed lead core bases.

 

[sledge]

Carcanos need a larger bullet rather than a smaller bullet. I am fortunate that mine seems to be shooting without keyholing with a factory .264 bullet, but you may need a .266 or .268 bullet to stabilize it. Also faster powders can help too as it can kick the bullet into the rifling.

I 100% agree. I use a magnum primer in my Carcano loads as well. H414 with Magnum primers with the .267 Hornady RN jacketed bullets. Pretty hot loads - but they fly true and flat.

 

[smellie]

I went the other direction when building loads for my raft of Carcani.

I reasoned that the original Italian loading used a 163-grain bullet of .266" diameter, on top of 30.04 grains of an energetic double-based flake powder. Those figures are from the 1908 Text Book of Ammunition.

At the time, all I had were Remington bulk-pack 140 PSP slugs; my Hornady .268s had been on back-order for 4 years and still no sign of them.

My reasoning was that the Italians had no troubles with their rifles as to accuracy and their barrel dimensions, especially in wartime, were all over the map. I had some Norse Norma slugs and they, also, were all over the map! It would have been nicer had they been on the paper once in a while.

I settled on a loading of 28 grains of IMR-4198 to give the Remington flat-base slugs a good swift kick on the fundament, then headed for the range. My nice new-condition Model 41 put them under an inch. So did the 1917 Marksman's rifle. So did a 1918 Model 91. My Model 38 6.5mm CARBINE even started shooting quite well (for something with a sighting radius a bit longer than a dollar bill). And, with the Carbine, GONE was that Gawd-awful muzzle blast, fireball and ear-splitting report. The Carbine, which I had dreaded trying (having shot it with Western military Ball ammo) became docile and accurate!

With those results, I have stuck with that load. It likely is a touch under MilSpec but my scrawny 76-year-old shoulders do appreciate the absence of kick and my ears (partly wrecked from an argument with a Firefly many years ago) appreciate the moderate report. I would recommend it for any rifle in decent condition.

 

[dakotamar]

I went the other direction when building loads for my raft of Carcani.

I reasoned that the original Italian loading used a 163-grain bullet of .266" diameter, on top of 30.04 grains of an energetic double-based flake powder. Those figures are from the 1908 Text Book of Ammunition.

At the time, all I had were Remington bulk-pack 140 PSP slugs; my Hornady .268s had been on back-order for 4 years and still no sign of them.

My reasoning was that the Italians had no troubles with their rifles as to accuracy and their barrel dimensions, especially in wartime, were all over the map. I had some Norse Norma slugs and they, also, were all over the map! It would have been nicer had they been on the paper once in a while.

I settled on a loading of 28 grains of IMR-4198 to give the Remington flat-base slugs a good swift kick on the fundament, then headed for the range. My nice new-condition Model 41 put them under an inch. So did the 1917 Marksman's rifle. So did a 1918 Model 91. My Model 38 6.5mm CARBINE even started shooting quite well (for something with a sighting radius a bit longer than a dollar bill). And, with the Carbine, GONE was that Gawd-awful muzzle blast, fireball and ear-splitting report. The Carbine, which I had dreaded trying (having shot it with Western military Ball ammo) became docile and accurate!

With those results, I have stuck with that load. It likely is a touch under MilSpec but my scrawny 76-year-old shoulders do appreciate the absence of kick and my ears (partly wrecked from an argument with a Firefly many years ago) appreciate the moderate report. I would recommend it for any rifle in decent condition.

I am using a .269 sized bullet of 160 grains. getting keyholing. using IMR-4895. going to try another powder, also looking for a 140Gr bullet that i can cast.

 

[Deathrawt]

I took my cavalry carbine out for a try and it was shooting way to the left and quite high
Used the privi partasan 139gr fmj
When I figured out where to hold the rifle so i could hit the target, the accuracy was not great and i was getting some keyholes as well
Target was only at about 20 to 30 yards too
I think I understand now why 30 000 British were able to defeat 250 000 Italians in Libya during WW2 lol

 

[bearhunter]

I took my cavalry carbine out for a try and it was shooting way to the left and quite high
Used the privi partasan 139gr fmj
When I figured out where to hold the rifle so i could hit the target, the accuracy was not great and i was getting some keyholes as well
Target was only at about 20 to 30 yards too
I think I understand now why 30 000 British were able to defeat 250 000 Italians in Libya during WW2 lol

Did you measure those Privi bullets before you shot them????

Every Carcano I've owned (several) shot very well, including the Type I, made for Japan, chambered in 6.5x50 and the Terni built, post war Type 38TS chambered in 8x57, Type 38-91 rifles chambered in 6.5x52 as well as the Type 38 chambered in 7.35.

I did have a few that didn't shoot well and they both had pitted/worn bores.

As for your point of impact being off from point of aim, not unusual but fixable. High is normal for battle rifles. Windage is correctable.

As long as they were fed proper diameter bullets, which when shot through very good to excellent bores, they shot very well.

I still have a shooting quantity of .268 diameter Hornady 160 grain bullets and they perform better than my old eyes are capable of holding.

Deathrawt, I don't disbelieve you for one second about how well the Privi shot out of your carbine. It's likely loaded with .264 diameter bullets

 

[Deathrawt]

Yup they are .264
Have a box of ppu 123gr soft points and they are .264 too
The bore on it is pretty good the bullets are no where near bottoming out when doing the “bullet test”
The bore is nice and shiny but the borescope shows some pitting
I also got a 1934 T.S. as well and the bore on it is terrible
It was right full of dirt and rust when I got it, couldn’t even shine a bore light down it
The end was plugged solid, not sure how Corwin was able to grade the bore on this one! Lol
Been scrubbing with kroil and copper solvent and it’s getting cleaner but it is a dark bore and has pits/ frosting so it probably won’t shoot good at all
The wood and metal on it is better then the cavalry carbine though
Make a good wall hanger if anything

 

[sledge]

I took my cavalry carbine out for a try and it was shooting way to the left and quite high
Used the privi partasan 139gr fmj
When I figured out where to hold the rifle so i could hit the target, the accuracy was not great and i was getting some keyholes as well
Target was only at about 20 to 30 yards too
I think I understand now why 30 000 British were able to defeat 250 000 Italians in Libya during WW2 lol

You are likely not using the Carcano sights properly. They buried their front post at the bottom of the notch in the rear sight. Not "level" with the top like other rifle sights. This picture is a snap of a youtube video - the far right shows the sight picture. Red dot is the front sight.