6.5 Carcano For Sale Locally, All You Gurus, Is This A Good Deal?

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

A guy on my local swap groups on Facebook has a 6.5 Carcano rifle for sale, and admittedly, I don't know much about it. I'm including pictures. He wants $250 for it, but I offered $175, and he seems interested. Should I even be paying this much?

It's full of cosmo, and seems to be begging for a restore. Just wanted your guys' opinion on the matter, because I'm kinda stuck.

Here are the pics:

 

[Armed 24/7]

That rifle seems to be in fair condition. In my opinion $175 is FULL PRICE! It's not worth a penny more, if it is even worth that much.

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

Alright.


~On The Road Again...~

 

[rule303]

It is a cavalry carbine, which is somewhat less common than the standard short rifles and TS carbines, most are missing the bayonets. $175 is about right IMO, a pristine example would not be worth more than $250. They are well made guns, that are fun to shoot, but are still mostly thought of as cheap Italian junk. Also ammo is expensive, and correct diameter bullets for reloading are few and far between.

 

[CornCod]

For years the only new ammo produced in 6.5 Carcano was Swedish made Norma at between 35 and 40 dollars for a box of 20! things are a little better now that the Serbians now make it in are part of their Privi Partizan line at a little over 20 dollars a box. That price is still a little steep for me and my Carcano is little more than a wall hanger.

 

[lefteyedom]

$150 if there is a box of ammo in the deal

 

[Deus Machina]

They're not expensive guns, but the way things are, $175 for a good one with great bore, complete as that one is, with a bent bolt would be doable. If it feeds well.

I can't get mine to feed a full clip for the life of me, and so far no owner has said anything one way or the other on if that's common.

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

Well, I'm meeting the guy on Sunday, with cash in hand, but I won't part with the cash until I can get a look at the bore. How do you remove the bolt? He said it was caked in cosmo, and I'm assuming the bore is too, so I'm bringing a cleaning rod and a few patches to push it all out, with some solvent, but that'll only be to check the bore.

 

[nfafan]

I don't think $175.00 is that bad at all - good ones are hard to find as most folks bubba'd them up since Italian military rifles get like zero respect in the gun world.

I had a 1943 one, in a mint, (mis-matched) numbered beech (?) stock set, sold it for IIRC, $200.00-$225.00. Was missing the sling and 2-pc cleaning rod in the butt, but I had like 3 brass clips.

I could never get it to feed 100% reliably from the clips - and they are not conducive to single-feeds due to the way the bolt is made. (Or so I was warned).
Plus the fixed sights are set so that you have to add a LOT of Kentucky elevation to get hits. Takes some getting used to but it was a fun shooter when you figure all these things out - and historic.

But I'm not into wall-hangers - which is why I sold it. That plus Privi isn't the easist ammo to find. Life is too short to futtz with unusable guns.

 

[madcratebuilder]

How do you remove the bolt?

Open bolt, depress trigger, slide bolt out of receiver. Pull trigger to install.

You have a M38 Cavalry Carbine, also called Paratropper. The FNA-Berescia made version has the adjustable rear sight, the Beretta and Gardone made these with a fixed rear sight. About 1.5 million produced overall.

Value can be very subjective and vary by region. I would say $125-$150 for the one in the pic's.

 

[Captcurt]

My first high power was a Carcano that cost me $20 in 1966. It wasn't worth $10 and was in better condition than the one in your pictures. Your gun will have no collector value and accessories are nearly none existant. You would be better served with a 98 Mauser. I have yet to see a Carcano that I would pay money for, but that is just my take.

 

[HOWARD J]

I picked a 7.35 over 50 years ago for $11 with a cheap scope.
It had a chip in the bolt & you would have to slam the bolt closed --- if you did not the cartridge would jump up & out of the gun--bummer
I had nothing to do the other day so I picked up brass, bullets & dies from Graf.
The lee #2 shell holder is very loose---use a RCBS # 9 works better I will load up some when I get around to it.
I cut about 6" off the barrel & put a high sight on front---refinished gun with a $10 kit from Wards ( government stopped sale of these kits--too dangerous for us humans)
This gun is basically junk but in the right hands can be deadly.
If you want something to do go ahead & purchase this rifle & clean it up---
you can talk about it to your friends
Have fun,
H

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[Kyle M.]

Hornady and prvi partizan make ammo, though it's kind of expensive. I don't know if sellier&bellot loads it or not, then theres the issue of finding stripper clips w/o them you have a single shot.

 

[MachIVshooter]

$175? Yikes! IIRC, I paid $50 for my cav carbine in similar condition, just had to make a new bayonet pin. Of course, that was 6 years ago.......I had bought a really nice Spanish M93 at the same time for $125.

 

[303tom]

A guy on my local swap groups on Facebook has a 6.5 Carcano rifle for sale, and admittedly, I don't know much about it. I'm including pictures. He wants $250 for it, but I offered $175, and he seems interested. Should I even be paying this much?

It's full of cosmo, and seems to be begging for a restore. Just wanted your guys' opinion on the matter, because I'm kinda stuck.

Here are the pics:

250.00 is a fair price for that rifle, I have seen em cheaper, but that is nether here nor there, that is a nice rifle, still got cosmo on it. Say you offered 175.00, if he seems a little hesitant throw another 10 on there he will take it................Good Luck!

 

[desidog]

Well, not to buck the curve, but that particular carbine is one of the rarer variants - there were about 7 variants of the Carcano cavalry carbine - as can be seen by the early lever lock on the folding bayonet, and the adjustable rear sight. Further, it is not SA marked; so it didn't go to Finland.

I've seen two other types of lever locks, but not this one, in person. The push-button locks are much more common. So, to a collector like me, that particular specimen is a find...and not only that, but judging by the cosmo on there, it's quite low-mileage. Of course, you should definitely check the bore (btw- they have gain-twist rifling). If it were me, I'd offer the guy 150 - based on fair market for common cav. carbines, and go up to 225 grudgingly...but then, i have two in my collection, so filling in a third part would be of more value to me than most people just looking for a different style shooter.

 

[italy4nra]

What a shame you cannot sell it back to the Italians who would happily pay USD500 to USD850 for such a fine collectible. For chuckles check out http://it.armiusate.it gunmart. Search Carcano brescia

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

Wait so without the clips it a single shot? That's a bummer. :/. I still may buy it if its in good enough shape, but now that's got me thinking.

I'm still debating if I should fully restore it like I did my Mauser, K31, or M44, but leaving the character, or leaving it the way it is now, minus the Cosmo.


~On The Road Again...~

 

[desidog]

Yes....but you have to remove the whole bolt as well. otherwise you risk mangling the extractor.

A common problem with Carcanos, and this is probably why they get a bad wrap a lot, is that they must be loaded from the clip. If you try to single feed them, the case rim will not get under the extractor, and the bolt going forward will mash the extractor into the back of the case, damaging the extractor. Since they are pressed into the bolt body they're a real PIA to replace.

But hey, a clip is like 6 bucks delivered.
http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Detail.aspx?pid=499620&filter=carcano&catid=1574

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

Well if I didn't get a clip for it, it wouldn't get shot. But it'd take some time to shoot anyway, lol. Ammo is expensive, as y'all've said.


~On The Road Again...~

 

[303tom]

Well if I didn't get a clip for it, it wouldn't get shot. But it'd take some time to shoot anyway, lol. Ammo is expensive, as y'all've said.


~On The Road Again...~

Ammo`s not that bad, you can get em for less than a buck a piece.............
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/27...9-grain-full-metal-jacket-boat-tail-box-of-20
You can get enbloc`s for around 5 bucks, come on, get on with it, order you some clips & ammo and go shoot her..............***..........LOL....

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

We'll see how it looks come Sunday. Lol.


~On The Road Again...~

 

[Deus Machina]

Clips aren't that bad, really. I got three with 17 (why instead of 18, I don't know) rounds of 7.35 for relatively cheap, but they can be found on their own for less if you patiently troll eBay and such.

 

[LJ-MosinFreak-Buck]

Well, my birthday is tomorrow... lol I might just get the Carcano as a b-day present.