Rescuing an old Carcano

[Tinman204]

My brother bought this $50 model 91 Carcano Sporter at a gun show several weeks ago.

THE BAD: surface rust and pitting on the reciever, bolt and butt plate.

THE UGLY: the stock was broken in 2 and then fixed by bubba with drywall screws and 1/2 a LB of wood filler!!

THE GOOD: numbers matching, and a MINT bore!!

Anyhow I think the guy selling it thought he got one over on us but I knew I could fix it for my brother.

Anyhow, here's the gun before

Look at this sweet repair!! Bubba would be proud!!

I started by disassembling the rifle to inspect the damage. I removed the screws out which gave me a two piece stock that was broken and splintered. Then I set to work epoxying the stock back together then I cut the wrist in half to attempt a repair. The rear pillar was missing resulting in the rear end of the reciever pushing back and blowing out pretty much everything from the magwell to the rear pillar. I was at this point unsure if I could save the stock, but with some help and pointers of a gun nut or 2 I managed to fix it up. (thanks guys!). I then epoxied rowels through where the screws had been to pin it all together.

Here's some pics of the process.

I'm going to load this in 2 parts as I do all this kind of stuff in my iPhone.

 

[Tinman204]

Anyhow, I think it turned out pretty well considering the extend of the rust and damage. I only stained the wood a little as my brother loves the contrast of the repair and he even wanted a few dings on the new piece which I happily put on!! I just have to put another 10-12 coat of BLO on the stock and then this one will be finished! I can't wait to shoot it!!

I have a snider coming in the mail so I figure this was a good prep for anything that resto will bring my way!

Thanks for looking!

 

[Ballsofice154]

Excellent work tinman

 

[RMXC51]

Good save! $50 for the gun and the repair knowledge you gained is priceless! There's an old Carcano at the farm I will inherit someday, but I think its just going to be a parts gun..

 

[300Spartans]

When it comes to a $50 surplus rifle, who's the snob that calls out a Bubba?

I think you did a great job fixing it up. Do you reload for this cartridge?

 

[Tinman204]

I will be reloading for it shortly. Both myself, my brother and a buddy bought carcanos at that table. Mine and my buddies are chambered in the original 6.5x52 carcano round, while this one was sporterized in England and from what I've figured out was rechambered at that time to 6.5x54ms. No matter though, my brother bought dies for it so as soon as my other reloading projects (8x57 and .577 snider) are heading in the right direction, I'll start developing loads in 6.5x52 and 6.5x54.

I only shot one round through my new model 38 carcano go test function but from that one round I think this will be a nice medium caliber to work with. I bought the carcano for my wife as she's in need of something smaller then my 4-5' long cannons that we usually shoot.

 

[antidote1985]

nice Work!!

 

[Winchester30-30]

looks good steve! i enjoyed stripping mine down, was quite a fun experiance, gotta get myself out to lee valley and get some stains, gotta match up my handguard on my no4mk1, that guy thought he made some money off of us im quite happy!