New addition to my italian collection

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frank30

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Hi everyone, I just picked up an uncommon rifle and thought I’d share pics on the forum. This is an Italian Vetterli converted to 6.5 carcano. I know that there are a ton around but what makes this one special is that it was made from a TS model. This rifle started life as an 1870 TS vetterli made in 1875, was converted to a vetterli vitali TS at some point, then was converted to a vetterli carcano TS in 1917 (cartouche is dated 1917), and finally refurbed for the last time in 1920 ( number 20 stamped beside the original date). I had to import this one from the states but I think it was worth the hassle.

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I’m curious if anyone else out there has one in thier collection or has more info on these. All I can find is production numbers of all 6.5 vetterlis but nothing broken up by model. There’s also a 6.5 conversion of a carabinieri (police carbine with a bayonet like the cavalry carbines) and rumors of single shot 6.5 cavalry carbines.
 
Cool piece! Personally I think the 6.5 conversion to these vetterlis was the worst decision they could have made. I would argue it is the worst rifle ever mass fielded in history and feel sorry for anyone who actually carried these rifles. The Italian Vetterli by Robert Wilsey has some information on them though there isn't really that much out there overall on the 6.5 conversions in terms of production numbers. Still a really interesting part of history, I have always had a bit of a thing for weird last ditch conversion type firearms.
 
If you haven't done so already;

Google,

" Italian vetterli forum ".

" Italian military rifle forum ".
 
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I agree with you eaglelord, probably not the best conversion but they had so many that it made sense. My understanding is that the safety issue is do to soft reciever metal where the lugs lock in. I don’t think they’re as dangerous as people say, if the headspace is proper they are fine. The issue is that a long service life shooting full power loads will slowly make them unsafe to fire. The three I have will not close on a go guage so they’re super tight, i shoot these regularly without issues. I also hand load and I load lighter loads so I don’t stretch the headspace over time. I haven’t had any issues, no gas leaking from the action etc. These heavy guns are actually a pleasure to shoot, very little recoil with light loads and more accurate than expected.

Some are terrible for headspace and I’ve seen people shoot them on YouTube and have noticable gas leak out the action....that scares me.
 
Eaglelord17 said:
Cool piece! Personally I think the 6.5 conversion to these vetterlis was the worst decision they could have made. I would argue it is the worst rifle ever mass fielded in history and feel sorry for anyone who actually carried these rifles. The Italian Vetterli by Robert Wilsey has some information on them though there isn't really that much out there overall on the 6.5 conversions in terms of production numbers. Still a really interesting part of history, I have always had a bit of a thing for weird last ditch conversion type firearms.
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I’d argue that point. I’m sure they were well ware of the issues when they built them but also knew they wouldn’t fail right away and that they likely wouldn’t need them very long one way or the other. It was never a front line rifle, and if the rear echelon guys that got them ended up in a fight it wouldn’t be a protracted situation. Realistically how many rounds would one ever be expected to fire in service? I suspect they’d last for more than that and what more did they need?
 
Nyles said:
I’d argue that point. I’m sure they were well ware of the issues when they built them but also knew they wouldn’t fail right away and that they likely wouldn’t need them very long one way or the other. It was never a front line rifle, and if the rear echelon guys that got them ended up in a fight it wouldn’t be a protracted situation. Realistically how many rounds would one ever be expected to fire in service? I suspect they’d last for more than that and what more did they need?
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I argue they would have been better off just manufacturing some more 10.4x47r (and it doesn't even have to be black powder for that ammo) than converting them to 6.5. Less resources wasted as instead of converting hundreds of thousands of rifles to a questionable last ditch type rifle which is both unsafe to shoot and doesn't even feed reliably, you now have a rifle you can be confident in working effectively, which is lighter and just better all around. I pity literally everyone who was issued those terrible conversions as they were used up until the 30s in places such as Africa, or the Spanish Civil War. I believe it was the Romanians who would rather be issued a single shot black powder rifle than deal with these terrible things.
 
Eaglelord17 said:
I argue they would have been better off just manufacturing some more 10.4x47r (and it doesn't even have to be black powder for that ammo) than converting them to 6.5. Less resources wasted as instead of converting hundreds of thousands of rifles to a questionable last ditch type rifle which is both unsafe to shoot and doesn't even feed reliably, you now have a rifle you can be confident in working effectively, which is lighter and just better all around. I pity literally everyone who was issued those terrible conversions as they were used up until the 30s in places such as Africa, or the Spanish Civil War. I believe it was the Romanians who would rather be issued a single shot black powder rifle than deal with these terrible things.
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The vetterli long rifles were converted to shoot smokeless, well sights were changed for smokeless 10.4 ammo. I believe all 10.4 ammo produced after 1890 was smokeless powder but it was just the long rifles that had the m90 sight upgrade. Forgive me if I’m off by a year or two, I’m going off memory. I guess it made sense for italy to standardize with the 6.5 ammo. These weren’t intended for front line service but rear lines often became front lines. I have an AZF stamped Vetterli in 6.5 carcano. From the factory I’d disagree and say they were safe but I can’t say for how long, I don’t trust a 6.5 vetterli unless headspace is confirmed to be within spec.... but yes they feed terribly
 
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