Old Beat up Carcano question (pics)

[Bridger]

My friend has an old Carcano that he probably paid too much for at an auction. I think it got more beat up during the years he had it since he was young and didn't really treat it like a real gun. I didn't know any better at the time, not being into guns THAT much at that point. It was just an old beaten rifle to me.

And it really is beat up. The wooden upper handguard is missing, and so is the rear screw for the receiver. It would be neat to get those replaced.

But well, I don't know much about gunsmithing and all that stuff, but I assume that the bolt is badly pitted. The rifle has a rusty patina overall, but well, I'll let these pictures speak for themselves:







I know it is in bad shape, but can anyone give me a better assesment of this rifle's condition?

More importantly, Sportsman's Guide has 6.5 Carcano ammo for sale, so would it be totally unsafe to shoot this gun in this condition?

Would there be any place I could find spare parts to bring this rifle to shooting condition?

I should mention that the bolt cycles fine though it can pop out of its track if you aren't careful, and it is gritty.

The firing pin also moves fine and while has some rust on it doesn't seem to have any pitting. The trigger group seems to work fine too.

I don't expect a tackdriver or anything, I would just love to see this thing be able to be shot safely here and there at the very least.

 

[MLC]

I personally wouldn't shoot it without removing all the rust and seeing how much damage there is.
It would be more than neat to get that rear screw replaced, it would be necessary for the safe operation of the rifle.
I think it might want to go back in the pond it was fished out of .

 

[Bridger]

Haha that's why I asked here first. More than neat indeed

What would be the best way to go about removing the rust?

 

[Cosmoline]

That pitting on the bolt face and around the locking lug scare me a lot. The rest of the rifle can look like hell and work fine. I had a Turkey mauser that was almost a smoothbore, but the headspace and lugs were fine and the rifle functioned OK. That rust looks bad enough that the lugs might just pop off, which is pretty much the worst accident you can have with a rifle. As in instant bolt-through-the-head death. A reverse JFK (sorry, sorry)

 

[Bridger]

That's what I was thinking, I've never seen such a bad condition gun heh.

Would there be any way of replacing the bolt, or would that just be impossible to find headspacing guages for?

I guess it may be back to that pond

Thanks MLC and Cosmo

 

[Mikul]

That schmuck on the bolt doesn't look like rust to me. Oh, there's rust on there, but that nasty texture looks more like dried-out cosmoline. Try scraping it off first.

Numrich has parts for it. A new bolt appears to be $18.

 

[MLC]

Is there a chip out of the lug in this pic?

 

[Cosmoline]

That is the LAST PLACE you ever want to see a chip, since those little lugs are the most important pieces of steel in any rifleman's life. I'd hang this one on the wall for sure. If the lug's starting to chip, what about the recesses in the receiver?

 

[Skofnung]

Looks like a no go to me.

 

[Bridger]

dried out cosmoline- I think that might make some sense, I'll have to check it out again when I get back home

I don't think that's a chip on the bolt lugs either, I think that's the design of it but I am not sure, I'll check those recesses in the receiver when I get home too!

So, if the receiver is OK, and I got a new bolt from Numrich, and screw for the receiver, would it be safe to fire? What about tying a string to the trigger and going behind cover?

Of course, no loss to me if it can't shoot.

 

[Stickjockey]

I'd get it thoroughly cleaned up and then take it to a gunsmith that knows old rifles. Tell them you can get a new bolt if it needs one and see what they say.

But DON"T SHOOT IT UNTIL IT"S BEEN CHECKED OUT!

 

[geekWithA.45]

Mikul,

I don't speak Yiddish, but I often hang out with people who do.

Therefore, I'm fairly certain you mean "schmutz" on the bolt.

As I understand it:

schmuck = human dirt
schmutz = actual dirt

 

[Zircon]

The Carcano didn't have a particularly strong action, and has a fairly low pressure rating. I don't know that I'd mess when something this "tired." If you go the new bolt route, you best take it to the 'smith to get headspacing checked, firing pin protrusion checked, extractor set up properly, etc. I've got a Carcano that I sporterized when I was a youngster. Looks cool, but still pretty much a POS rifle.

 

[lbmii]

I have a Carcano. The earlier pre-war made Carcanos are of much better quality than the war time made ones. Many wartime made Carcanos were made with low quality and inproperly heat treated steel. A great many Carcanos were rechambered to a wider caliber (7.5mm??) so yours might not be a 6.5mm. You must also use a stripper clip in the Carcano or use it as a single shot. The angle on the lug opposite of the extractor is part of the design.

The ammo is expensive and hard to come by. The rim width on Norma ammo is thicker than the military surplus ammo. I had to do some careful filing on the bolt face and extractor to get the Norma ammo to feed.

My Carcano shoots very high from point of aim. Full power military spec ammo is very close in ballistics to the 30-30 except the Carcano has a flatter trajectory.

The Carcano is an early designed bolt-action repeater. It is primitive. You would probably be better off if you did not use it. I bought mine because of interest in the JFK controversy and interest in early 20th century military history.

 

[Bridger]

Thanks once again to all of you for this information. I think I'll give the rifle back to my friend and tell him what you all told me.

I think I saw surplus Carcanos in better condition on a C&R site somewhere for pretty low prices if he wants a shooting one

Thanks again.