6.5 Carcano w/ doubleset trigger

[Old Jim]

I recently came into a 6.5 x52 carcano with double set trigger. It has what appears to be a well done sporterized military carbine stock, 20" barrel with a hex configuration where it meets the reciever. The barrel appears to have been cut off, leaving a stub in the receiver, then drilled out and a new barrel pressed in and secured with a set screw on the bottom.
The only markings are 6.5mm on the top flat of the barrel stub, 755 stamped into the stock and a very light marking very difficult to read on the bolt handle.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[mnrivrat]

Any chance we can get pictures ? Your rifle sounds like a custom built gun and possibly with a interchanagable barrel system ? I would not trust the caliber markings - a chamber cast should be done. Pictures are realy needed here in order to identfy your gun.

 

[Snowdog]

I almost bid on such a thing recently being auctioned at Gunbroker. It looked to be very well done.

 

[rcmodel]

and a new barrel pressed in and secured with a set screw on the bottom.

That sounds positively dangerous in any high pressure rifle caliber!

rc

 

[desidog]

^yes, very dangerous...without seeing a picture.

Was it made into some sort of take-down rifle? Is the stock chopped too?

 

[Old Jim]

Well, I found this bit of information...
This is what someone told me (via email) today about double trigger Carcanos. He said they were unsafe to shoot. Any truth to this? Here's what he said (word for word):

"I MAY NOT GET THIS EXACTLY RIGHT but it goes like this. After WW I COOEY made some sporterized CARCANOS with set triggers for the EATONS dept store chain. Because the 6.5 CARCANO ammo even then was hard to get they rechambered them to a specially downloaded 6.5 mannlicher round. Then someone found out the regular more powerful or available load would fit they tried it and a few of them reportedly blew up , so they were recalled, most probably didn't come back.. If that was the only problem , knowing this we could reload a lighter load and safely shoot them but in the process of sporterizing they replaced the barrel and instead of threading it in to the receiver , they pressed it into a stub of the old barrel then held it with a set screw. This may sound like a old wives tale but my brother-in-law had one he wanted to fire ,when I warned him about it he gave me the rifle and when I removed the stock there was the little set screw threaded into the bottom of a portion of the old barrel stub into the the new barrel. S o the problem is you can fire a 6.5 carcano round in an oversized chamber in a rifle with the barrel not held in in the proper way. Probably lots have been fired with no incidents but that was the warnings that I got I believe from a book about the history of COOEY's, it was in the second edition, if I remember correctly. I BELIEVE THE SET TRIGGER CAN BE USED IN ANY OTHER CARCANO."

 

[rcmodel]

He said they were unsafe to shoot. Any truth to this?

That is what I thought I said in post #4.

Did you read that?

rc

 

[Jim K]

Hi, rcmodel,

I think he was just confirming what you said and offering more info on the probable origin of a rifle like that.

Jim

 

[Old Jim]

Exactly right.

 

[rcmodel]

My apologies then!

He said they were unsafe to shoot. Any truth to this?

But I didn't read it that way the first time, and still don't the second time.

rc

 

[Old Jim]

I have found out a bit more. The ones rechambered into 6.5x54 are a much Higher intensity load and they have been known to "come apart" Most likely with handloads.
I will do a chamber cast and go from there. Long string, tied to an old tire, hide behind a berm and pull the string.
Been shooting, building and repairing firearms for 45 years. BUT I am not a gunsmith and only work on my own..

 

[Jim Watson]

I sure would not want to shoot a centerfire with the barrel held in only by a set screw.

It would be something to check. Maybe the new barrel was inserted through the stub from the rear with a retaining flange. Maybe it is threaded hand tight. Either way, the set screw just there for the usual reason of keeping it from getting out of position and not taking the thrust.

As to the "higher intensity load" of the 6.5x54 vs 6.5x52, I would consider it a handloading job either way and the MS round could be held down to Carcano levels.

IF the barrel is installed better than it sounds like.
IF.

 

[Jim K]

A part of the "hatchet job" on Carcanos is that the 6.5 M-S is much more powerful than the 6.5 Carcano and that the poor old Carcano will blow up if loaded to the level of the super powerful M-S round. In fact, those cartridges are much of a muchness, with most M-S "book" loadings only a little more powerful than the Carcano loads and maybe not even then in some loadings. COTW shows the military load for the Greek M-S as a 159 grain bullet at 2223 fps, and the Carcano military load as a 162 grain bullet at 2350 fps. So the Carcano load actually fires a heavier bullet at a higher velocity.

The slightly longer M-S cartridge case does allow for more leeway in loading, but realistically, there is not a lot of difference.

Of course, I am referring only to the cartridges in original rifles, not to rifles that have been altered or modified or rechambered or rebarrelled.

Jim

 

[Jim Watson]

And yet the service load for 6.5x53R Dutch Mannlicher is given as a 159 at 2433, heavier than either Italian or Greek. While the Norma Carcano load is faster than the RWS MS loading. Lots of overlap.

The main thing to do is to examine the barrel installation. If it is only held in by a setscrew, it should not be shot with anything.