Carcano cavalry first impressions

[Kyle S.]

I got this a few days ago delivered to my local ffl from dkfirearms. I didn't take any pictures before cleaning but it was pretty rusty. Theres some pitting on the trigger guard and around the chamber and bayonet. Nothing too serious though. In the third picture there is a name carved into it. I think it says "berzacola". Still have some cleaning to do. The bore is in amazing shape. When I ordered it, it said it would come with an en bloc clip, but the ffl said it wasn't in the box. Im in contact with dkfirearms and if it isn't accounted for on their end, they will send a replacement. They're customer service is great. So far, I'm pleased and might consider adding another one to the collection.

 

[Chevelle SS]

Neat, hope you enjoy it. Numrich has clips if you need them.

 

[ThomasT]

If you were planning on buying one why did you start a thread asking about buying one that went in to 3 pages with most telling you to not buy it?

Thats a neat looking little carbine. I hope it shoots well and you can find ammo for it. Don't some of those have gain twist rifling?

 

[mokin]

What a cutie! Don't clean too hard. That's a lot of well earned character. I love that stock. Imagine the stories that carbine could tell.

 

[Kyle S.]

If you were planning on buying one why did you start a thread asking about buying one that went in to 3 pages with most telling you to not buy it?

Thats a neat looking little carbine. I hope it shoots well and you can find ammo for it. Don't some of those have gain twist rifling?

I was just getting a general consensus of what people thought here. I believe the carbines do have gain twist rifling.

 

[amd6547]

I had one for a while…
I found it to be one of the slickest shooting bolt actions ever. The enbloc clips load into the rifle quickly, and feeding is very smooth. I’ve owned Mausers, Enfields, Mosin…none came close. And the 6.5 is a very balanced round.

 

[ThomasT]

I was just getting a general consensus of what people thought here. I believe the carbines do have gain twist rifling.

I hope you shoot it with the bullet weights that made the reputation of the 6.5 rounds. The bullets that weigh around 160grs and don't try to make it a 500 yard rifle by shooting light weight bullets like 120-130grs. Those heavy for caliber bullets are what the old African hunters used when hunting the large game they killed way back around the early part of the last century.

 

[Kyle S.]

I had one for a while…
I found it to be one of the slickest shooting bolt actions ever. The enbloc clips load into the rifle quickly, and feeding is very smooth. I’ve owned Mausers, Enfields, Mosin…none came close. And the 6.5 is a very balanced round.

Right now, closing the bolt with a round in requires some force. I may need to clean out the chamber. Can't wait to run a clip or two through it.

 

[wiscoaster]

Looks like you got a pretty decent stock w/o extensive sanding and refinishing - clear cartouche and serial number. And it's a Beretta receiver in a Terni stock, which is kind of cool, and I take to indicate it was rearsenalled. Definitely do clean out the chamber extra good and polish the chamber walls if they're pitted else you're going to have problems extracing a fired cartridge. Good luck and have fun!!

 

[Kyle S.]

Looks like you got a pretty decent stock w/o extensive sanding and refinishing - clear cartouche and serial number. And it's a Beretta receiver in a Terni stock, which is kind of cool, and I take to indicate it was rearsenalled. Definitely do clean out the chamber extra good and polish the chamber walls if they're pitted else you're going to have problems extracing a fired cartridge. Good luck and have fun!!

Thanks. My brother thought it was cool that it had Beretta on it. Inmeant to say the exterior of the chamber is pitted. I haven't gotten to the inside. Whats the best way to clean that area? I've used a copper bore brush, ina drill before.

 

[wiscoaster]

Usual bore cleaners for the usual chamber crud. Flitz for the pitting has worked well enough for me. Just enough smoothing so the chamber walls don't grab the expanded cartridge with too much friction to defeat primary extraction.

 

[Mars5l]

Id be excited to get a Beretta one, Id want one to go with the rest of Berettas. The 2 Carcanos i have are Brescias

 

[desidog]

Be sure to check the headspace since it's a parts gun.

(The action says Beretta, but the stock says Terni.)

 

[BigAlShooter]

I got one similar to yours a few months ago. Mine was really dirty, just like all of them. I used mineral spirits and the painting trays you use for holding the paint for your rollers. I took apart most of the parts. Watch a youtube video on how to take apart the bolt and reassemble as there is a trick to align some parts first to get it to go back together. I think I have seen some pictures of what needs aligned on this forum. I let everything soak for 10 - 15 min and used copper and nylon brushes to clean everything up. Your stock looks pretty good, so probably only need soap and water and an old t-shirt to scrub it clean.

Mine had a weak follower spring, which you can replace, but I was able to bend it up to be about a millimeter from the bolt and it works flawlessly now.

Shoots really good. About to take it out today and test its accuracy, after finally getting enough ammo to shoot enough.

 

[Terry G]

I had one for a while…
I found it to be one of the slickest shooting bolt actions ever. The enbloc clips load into the rifle quickly, and feeding is very smooth. I’ve owned Mausers, Enfields, Mosin…none came close. And the 6.5 is a very balanced round.

I've found that the Enfield's and Yugo M48A's have it all over the Carcano's as far as bolt action feeding. Maybe it's just mine, but the bolt action reminds of a sliding bolt door lock that's a little rusty!

 

[wiscoaster]

I've found that the Enfield's and Yugo M48A's have it all over the Carcano's as far as bolt action feeding.

Well, ya, no argument, but you're going to be paying two or three times the price for the same resulting hole in the target. You're not comparing equals. If your budget is $300, like the OP's, you're not going to have anything else to shoot with.

 

[Terry G]

I was talking the action, not the price. Ammunition cost with modern commercial was about the same.

 

[amd6547]

View attachment 1013434 View attachment 1013435 View attachment 1013436
I've found that the Enfield's and Yugo M48A's have it all over the Carcano's as far as bolt action feeding. Maybe it's just mine, but the bolt action reminds of a sliding bolt door lock that's a little rusty!

In my case, my 91 cav carbine was a very clean example. An older import from the days when the importer removed the folding bayonet. Found it at a gunshow. Cleaned thoroughly and lubed with Weaponshield clp, it was smooth and fast.
I like Mausers and Enfields, but overall, I’ll take the k31, lol.

 

[Terry G]

In my case, my 91 cav carbine was a very clean example. An older import from the days when the importer removed the folding bayonet. Found it at a gunshow. Cleaned thoroughly and lubed with Weaponshield clp, it was smooth and fast.
I like Mausers and Enfields, but overall, I’ll take the k31, lol.

I dropped the ball on a k31 when I was going through my "buy every C&R in sight" phase. I didn't think I would find ammunition for it, so I didn't move on it.

 

[BigAlShooter]

Finally figured out the Carcano sights today...well kind of. For my gun at 25 - 50 yards, I have to put the front sight at the bottom of the V of the rear sight and then the top of the rear V is where the bullet will hit. So, at 50 yards, I was shooting a 10" paper plate, and the large rear sight has the paper plate like a dot between the sight. You do your best to align the top of the V in an imaginary horizontal line across the middle half of the circle target, while keeping just the tip of the front sight at the bottom of the V. Mine was shooting about 4 - 8" to the left so I tried to adjust for this (no adjustment for windage, will have to look if I can tap the front sight). I was only able to shoot about a 15" group at 50 yards. Yeah, that is terrible, you don't need to tell me. I think I can practice a lot and get maybe a 6 - 8" group, but I have to say these are worst sights I have every shot. I mean, why have sights that only shoot from 200 - 1,500 m, when you can't hit anything at 25 yards? Will have to do something to make it somewhat usable.

And I am not a bad shot. I then shot my M1 and shoot a 2" 8 shot group really fast at 50 yards, and do that 5 times. And this was only the 3rd time I have shot a M1.

 

[wiscoaster]

Finally figured out the Carcano sights today...well kind of. ....

I've posted this diagram of the "Italian" sight picture before in other Carcano threads, so apologies for the repetition:

So, what @BigAlShooter discovered by trial and error is the "correct" sight picture for this rifle, and please don't try to "improve" it by modifying the sights so that it's more like what you're used to.

 

[Kyle S.]

I've posted this diagram of the "Italian" sight picture before in other Carcano threads, so apologies for the repetition:

So, what @BigAlShooter discovered by trial and error is the "correct" sight picture for this rifle, and please don't try to "improve" it by modifying the sights so that it's more like what you're used to.

I'm running into some clambering trouble. Its a hard to close the bolt with a round chambered. The round isn't wanting to drop fully into the chamber on its own. This seems to be causing some metal to metal friction (the half moon looking metal around the chamber in picture). Would this be headspace problems desidog said, or a dirty chamber? Going to hold off on shooting till I can fix it.

 

[wiscoaster]

Well, headspace and a dirty chamber are two separate issues. I'd suggest cleaning and polishing the chamber first. An unfired round should slide easily into and out of the chamber. If the chamber is properly headspaced, the rim of the cartridge should portrude slightly out of the chamber, with the swell of the main casing even with the back of the chamber. Don't force-close the bolt on a chambered round in a Carcano because it may damage the extractor. Only feed a round from the clip. You're sure your follower has enough spring tension to push the round up into the bolt face to engage the extractor? Might be another possibility if the round isn't being fed properly and inline.

Trying to get an iPad to properly focus and the subject properly lighted is an exercise in frustration and this is the best I could do to show a round properly in the chamber:

View attachment 1013902

If that's not the case with your rifle maybe headspace is an issue, but I honestly think since it's a rearsenalled rifle that's a long shot because that's one thing that would have been addressed, and anyway finding a gunsmith with the proper headspace guages may be a fruitless quest. What I usually do with my milsurps is with the first round I pull the bullet, empty out to a half load, reinsert the bullet, and then test fire the half-load. I haven't exploded any guns yet and I've done that process a couple dozen times. But do so only at your own risk, understanding the consequences if you're wrong. And I do think you're right to be cautious and hold off shooting it until you're satisfied all is OK.

 

[rabid wombat]

one of the slickest shooting bolt actions ever.

Didn’t L H Oswald prove this, or was it a different Carcano?

 

[wiscoaster]

Didn’t L H Oswald prove this, or was it a different Carcano?

Lee Harvey Oswald's rifle was a Carcano 91/38 similar to this, though equipped with a cheap scope:
View attachment 1013911