Carcano rifle - Good deal?

[monotonous_iterancy]

I was at the gun store looking at unrelated things, and I saw on the rack there was an Italian Carcano rifle, and it was only $125. It said "model 1939", and was chambered in 7.35mm. $125 seems like a steal for a rifle in even halfway decent condition, but I don't really know much about that particular gun. Is that a bargain?

 

[rondog]

Better check out ammo availability before you buy an oddball caliber rifle. $125 is no bargain if you can't shoot it. JMHO.

 

[Armed 24/7]

I have a fair/good condition 7.35 Carcano. There is a US company currently loading ammo for it. I can't recall the brand. It runs about a dollar a shot, which is not bad at all for the occasional range trip. I say buy it,you will be the inly one at the range with one. They only made them in that caliber in 39 &40, then went back to 6.5mm due to the War.

 

[Gunner11]

They are clip loaded, and clips can be hard to find. Loading one at a time is quite tiresome.

 

[madcratebuilder]

7.35 Carcano can be hard to find, but it's there, you just have to look. The two Carcano's I have are as accurate as the average mil-surp. I haven't put a lot of rounds through mine but what I have has been pleasant.

 

[returningfire]

They are good shooters and a lot were made into sporterized deer rifles.
Ammo is not so easy to find so when you find it you better buy some.
Some shortened the barrel, which is a mistake. Someone help me with the terminology here, but the twist gets tighter toward the muzzle end of the barrel. It starts out slow and the twists tighten toward the end. so if the barrel has been shortened then the accuracy is probably kaput.

 

[j1]

Gain twist.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

Graff and Sons of Missouri has the ammo but you also need to find the enbloc clips. I found some on the internet back east at a reasonable price. When the clip is empty it drops through a hole in the bottom of the receiver/trigger assembly rather than ejecting it from the top like a Garand. I enjoy shooting my Carcano and it filled another hole in my collection of the weapons of WWII.

 

[Bentley4700]

The clips are easy to find.

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Carcano_Stripper_Clips_it-163909.aspx?TERM=Carcano clip

 

[monotonous_iterancy]

I didn't know the ammo was so hard to find. Wow. I have read about reloading it, that it's possible to use 6.5mm and .308 casings to make rounds for it. Although I don't reload, it's nice to know the relative ease of being able to find some components for future use.

Maybe it's only $125 because it's such a rare caliber?

Also, do you have to use en-bloc clips?

 

[Bentley4700]

I didn't know the ammo was so hard to find. Wow. I have read about reloading it, that it's possible to use 6.5mm and .308 casings to make rounds for it. Although I don't reload, it's nice to know the relative ease of being able to find some components for future use.

Maybe it's only $125 because it's such a rare caliber?

Also, do you have to use en-bloc clips?

They have always been cheap. Ammo usually isn't that hard to find, if you know where to look. But like everything else, it's a little tougher these days. You can load one round at a time without the clips.

 

[nwilliams]

If the gun is in it's original condition (unsporterized) then $125 is a good deal.

Even if you can't find cheap ammo it's a cool rifle to add to any milsurp collection. I have a bunch of milsurp rifles in oddball calibers that I don't really shoot and some I've never shot because ammo is too expensive or hard to find. For me I like having these guns for the history behind them and not so much as shooters.

Also if it is a Carcano Rifle then they are rather rare. The Carcano carbines are pretty common and cheap but the full length rifles are harder to come by.

I bought this Carcano M91 rifle with the original bayonet not too long ago and I feel like I got a smokin' deal on it for $100.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

That is a smoking deal, especially if the bayonet was included. That is a nice looking weapon. Unfortunately, I have the carbine.

 

[MachIVshooter]

$125 is a very good price for a clean, unmolested M38 7.35mm. They usually go for $250-$350 in good to VG condition. It would be a low side of average price on a fair to good condition 91/38 6.5mm. Sporterized models, unless done VERY nicely, are $80-$150 guns.

There is a US company currently loading ammo for it. I can't recall the brand.

Buffalo Arms Co.

I have read about reloading it, that it's possible to use 6.5mm and .308 casings to make rounds for it.

6.5 Mannlicher-Schoenaur is the parent case to use for making 7.35x51mm. .308 win cases are too wide. Remember, though-it's not a .30 cal round; nominal bullet diameter is .298. They are available, 130 & 150 gr. flavors, IIRC.

Unfortunately, I have the carbine.

All 7.35mm guns are carbines, M38

Some shortened the barrel, which is a mistake. Someone help me with the terminology here, but the twist gets tighter toward the muzzle end of the barrel. It starts out slow and the twists tighten toward the end. so if the barrel has been shortened then the accuracy is probably kaput.

As mentioned, it's called gain twist. But unless you SBR it down to about 8" or less, you're not into the slower rifling.

The theory behind gain-twist is sound, but the real-life benefits are negligible at best. Only current production firearm to use it is the S&W .460 XVR.

 

[mokin]

I have a real sweet shooting 6.5 and love it. A companion rifle in 7.35 (especially with Finnish markings) is my Holy Grail.

 

[Deus Machina]

I have a sporterized 6.5, got it for $40.
Balanced well, nice and light, kind of like the sights, love the feed design. Wish they would still produce something like that.

Unfortunately haven't shot it because I swing between being unable to afford to or being unable to deal with the local range.

Can't get it to feed single-shot or consistently from a clip, though. Not sure it that's common or if it's from my mismatched specimen.

 

[monotonous_iterancy]

Why do some surplus rifles not have a full barrel shroud? It seems like it would be easy to burn your hand, the end of the barrel that isn't covered is a natural place to grab a rifle when picking it up. It also doesn't look as nice, in my opinion.

 

[mookiie]

I did a lot of research recently on this topic, and that is a good deal I had a hard time finding a Carcano in good condition unsporterized for around 200. I would snap it up if It was me.

 

[mookiie]

Why do some surplus rifles not have a full barrel shroud? It seems like it would be easy to burn your hand, the end of the barrel that isn't covered is a natural place to grab a rifle when picking it up. It also doesn't look as nice, in my opinion.

Most of the time when you are carrying a rifle one handed it would be just past the reciever. So you would not normally have to grab the upper barrel region. However, I am sure some did dependent on the circumstances of war. When you are short of resources to begin with you cut out parts that are superfluous in nature. At the time Italy was converting 6.5 to barrels in 7.35 but gave up when the war broke out.

 

[Kiln]

The Carcano is a very cool little rifle. The carbines are even cooler. I almost bought one a while back but when I saw the cost and availability of ammo I decided against it.

 

[Ehtereon11B]

$125 is quiet a steal for that rifle it is in good condition. On my hunt for a Nagant a few weeks ago I ran into a 6.5 Carcano carbine, not in great condition. I would give it a "fair" by NRA standards and it was almost $400. But this shop is notorious for jacking up gun prices to unreasonable levels. They have a used HK USP .40S&W V1 trigger two tone for $1100. It has been sitting on their shelf for at least 2 years.