New addition to the collection here today, a model 1891/1941 Carcano long rifle!
For all those who may never have come upon one yet, the Model 1891 Carcano was Italy's standard service rifle from it's date of inception right up through both world wars! Naturally, they saw service in all kinds of trouble spots, like Italy's colonial ventures in Ethiopea, and in the hands of Finnish and Spanish soldiers in the Finn's "Winter war" against the Russians and the Spanish facist corps.
Along with their siblings like the infamous M38 Short rifle and Truppe Speciale carbines in various calibers, these rifles are a real piece of history.
As the "41" in the model number denotes, this one was made to meet a 1941 revision in the design, and saw service in the second world war.
A couple interesting things about the Carcano...First and foremost how maligned they are. You'll hear rumours abound concering how they are poorly made, unsafe, etc. Let me tell ya, it ain't so. This is a finely made rifle. Italians generally don't muck about when it comes to craftsmanship, ad this rifle is definately proof. For starters, the steel is actually of Czech origins and very hard. I am sure drilling and tapping it would be a lot of fun to do. Secondly, the action has two front locking lugs that lock up good and tight, and the bolt is rather well engineered and safely laid out.
Another rumour is that they are wildly inaccurate. The root of this one might lay in the caliber. This one here is the most common variety, 6.5x52mm. Unlike our common 6.5mm bullets, which would be .264" the 6.5mm Carcano is .268" which probably doesn't help if you are shooting North American bullets for groups.
As is kinda obvious from the pictures, the 6.5x52mm round looks rather strange. It's a small casing with a very long bullet, which turned out to be both a good and a bad thing. The good thing is, the 160 grain round nosed bullet is very heavy for caliber, and very long which makes it both accurate and incredibly stable in flight, and also wonderful in terms of penetration. The bad thing is, it's incredibly stable in flight, leading to a small caliber round which produces ice pick like wound tracks unless it (very rarely) tumbles, which supposedly caused devastation to whatever it passed through. I am sure a lot of people over the years were relatively lucky the round passed through them in good humour, which is why after highlighted by failures in the Ethiopian campaign, the Italians decided to upgrade to a more powerful 7.35mm round. Unfortunately, WW2 broke out right after that, and the logistics of making the change became impossible.
One other nice thing about the round though, it is very mild and pleasant to shoot. Low recoil, and easily controlled.
Here's a picture of it compared to a few of it's European contemporaries, at left a 303 British and at right an 8x57mm Mauser
One other unique feature of the Carcano is the rear sights. For one, they are about the roomiest V notch I have ever seen. Very deeply and widely cut. It lets a lot of light through, and I suppose it would be great for older shooters who might not still enjoy as fine eyesight they used to have. Secondly, it is set to 300 meters at it's lowest setting, but the whole rear sight leaf can be flipped all the way over 180 degrees to expose a fixed 200 meter battle setting notch. Check it out, here it is closed and opened.
And a look down the wide V-notch sight...At Barns! I have no idea how he wandered into this frame, but like me he cannot turn down a chance to play with new guns.
In terms of shooting the Carcano, it was a good and bad experience. Good because it's a light kicking, seemingly accurate rifle and bad because I don't have any charger clips yet. The Carcano is fed by 6 shot en bloc sheet steel clips, and it is very difficult to single load the rifle. In fact, I don't recommend it. Secondly, the sights are not properly set for new commercial ammo it seems, and I didn't have tools with me at the range so I won't be able to post a group for you just yet, however it seems promisingly accurate. The trigger is also surprisingly light and crisp, although it is on the sluggish side once it breaks.
Overall, I am very happy with the Carcano. For the prices an example in good shape sells for, say the $120-$150 range, they are a fine collector's item.
The downside is, if you are not a serious shooter or reloader, get ready to pay a lot for ammo. A box of Norma 156 grain Alaskan set me back $41. Of course I can reuse the brass many times. But for a non handloader, not so attractive. Also, make sure you have the clips!
All in all, a handy, accurate and well built rifle that is going to be as much of a joy on the range as it will be in the deer fields. Kept to 100 meters or so like a 30-30, th 6.5x52mm Carcano will be quite capable of taking medium sized game, and I look forward to trying it out.
