alsaqr
Member
i've owned all the various models of the Carcano rifle: Still have a couple. Mine are accurate when loaded with the proper .268 bullets.
IMO: The Carcano gets a bad rap.
IMO: The Carcano gets a bad rap.
Talk to me about WWII Italian Carcano Rifles? Good/Bad
- Thread starter Rockrivr1
- Start date
Deus Machina
Member
I had one for a brief time. Sporterized, came out of someone's grandpa's attic. They didn't even know what it was, it was covered in a good coat of dust and fossilized grease.
Got it for $60. IIRC I had to tracked down a new floorplate, a couple clips, and a box or two of rounds. That just about doubled the cost.
A lot of complaints about accuracy come from the ammunition. There are reports of multiple ages of rounds and types of powder within the same box.
Overall, it's... Italian. Meaning that they had a lot of good concepts for the time--the en-bloc clip, the V sights--but bizarre implementation. The sights are nice but not precise, at least not the way they made them. Everything seemed pretty precise if not polished... except where it needed to be polished, and there it was rough and rarely precise. It hardly had any extra metal on it, which is nice, except where it should have extra on it, and made it feel fragile.
Maybe it wasn't, and mine was definitely a lot handier than my Mosin Nagant, but it wasn't reassuring.
I don't think I ever got mine to feed more than two rounds in a row.
Got it for $60. IIRC I had to tracked down a new floorplate, a couple clips, and a box or two of rounds. That just about doubled the cost.
A lot of complaints about accuracy come from the ammunition. There are reports of multiple ages of rounds and types of powder within the same box.
Overall, it's... Italian. Meaning that they had a lot of good concepts for the time--the en-bloc clip, the V sights--but bizarre implementation. The sights are nice but not precise, at least not the way they made them. Everything seemed pretty precise if not polished... except where it needed to be polished, and there it was rough and rarely precise. It hardly had any extra metal on it, which is nice, except where it should have extra on it, and made it feel fragile.
Maybe it wasn't, and mine was definitely a lot handier than my Mosin Nagant, but it wasn't reassuring.
I don't think I ever got mine to feed more than two rounds in a row.
Never ordered from them....
https://gunswarehouse.net/product/s...arbine-rifle-6-5x52mm-used-surplus-condition/
https://gunswarehouse.net/product/s...arbine-rifle-6-5x52mm-used-surplus-condition/
I know this good man, Italy continued to manufacture and use said rifle systems and cartridges even while the entire world's militaries began to adopt splitizar shaped projectiles, mauser actions, 30-32 caliber calibers.
This was a design that was outdated when it was built, the rifle worked and was economical and easy to manufacture in masses.
It was just too late for the rifle and cartridge
This seems half legit half scam
BLACKHAWKNJ
Member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2007
- Messages
- 1,122
The poor reputation of Carcanos-like the poor reputation of French military arms-has less to do with design and manufacturing problems than with the dismal combat record of Italian and French forces in WWII. The Carcano-like the Mosin-Nagant-is a good example of a first generation design that stayed in service too long, was not subject to additional R&D and testing, and, because it was a native design had a stronger lobby than other superior but foreign designs. Despite all his bragging and boasting Mussolini's forces went to war in 1940 with WWI equipment, their colonial wars had given them an exaggerated idea of their military prowess. There was quite a furor when we adopted the Krag-Jorgensen in 1892. I read that James Paris Lee joked that one of his designs was adopted by the Imperial Chinese government because they assumed he was a Chinaman, his name being Jim Lee.
Royal Tiger Imports has several for much less than $400, but there's shipping and FFL and such. If you're thinking as a collector, there are a LOT of variations and at least two different chamberings.
https://www.royaltigerimports.com/category-s/1900.htm
https://www.royaltigerimports.com/category-s/1900.htm
Oldschool shooter
Member
Last month Classic Firearms was selling these for $239 in good condition. I have a rifle and a carbine that I bought years ago, just out of high school. $85 each. I think $400 is a bit high, if it is in really fine shape $300 - $325 would be a reasonable price.
alsaqr
Member
Yes,
I know when opportunity knocks you have to take it, but outside of that, it wouldn't be my first choice. Unless you have all the other options and just want to add it to your collection, there are a few other models that rise to the top of the list over the Carcano. If you want to shoot something similar, a lot, I'd vote for the Swedish M/38 if you don't already have it.
Jim Watson
Member
Interesting that Italy had a second class rifle and maybe the best SMG of the say.
Jac Weller wrote that an Italian infantry squad in the post-war NATO era had two Garands, everybody else carried Berettas.
Jac Weller wrote that an Italian infantry squad in the post-war NATO era had two Garands, everybody else carried Berettas.
MachIVshooter
Member
If it's a 7.35mm rifle, they're more rare and $400 is probably about right these days for one in good condition.
I wouldn't pay that for a 6.5mm gun, though, unless it was pristine, then maybe.
They're light & handy, but not the smoothest actions and require en bloc clips.
Do consider ammo cost and availability if you intent to shoot it, especially 7.35mm, which is pretty much a handloading proposition and not easy to find brass for, or the .298" bullets. I haven't shot mine in a long time.
I wouldn't pay that for a 6.5mm gun, though, unless it was pristine, then maybe.
They're light & handy, but not the smoothest actions and require en bloc clips.
Do consider ammo cost and availability if you intent to shoot it, especially 7.35mm, which is pretty much a handloading proposition and not easy to find brass for, or the .298" bullets. I haven't shot mine in a long time.
jmorris
Member
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2005
- Messages
- 24,184
Well, never throwing away anything might actually payoff. No one wanted the one in my Grandmothers pantry, no idea the last time it was fired, no one living has though. I did actually find some ammunition for it back in the late ‘80’s early ‘90’s but it was too expensive for me back then and it’s not a nice enough rifle for me to fool with much. Thought of converting it to 38 spl before but again, that’s a lot of work for what I would have in the end. Not to mention, the day after I did so, would be the day someone calls me up saying they have a couple cases of 7.35X51 in the way and could I get rid of it for them.
Couldn’t imagine paying $400 for one but I would have never thought people would buy pet rocks either…
MachIVshooter
Member
I can't imagine paying $350+ for a run-of-the-mill Mosin Nagant, near $500 for a Yugo 59/66 or the better part of 3 grand for a crappy PSL, but that's the market these days.
I'm glad I did my milsurp buying 15-20 years ago!
Jim Watson
Member
Some years ago, Handloader magazine did a semi-joke article, treating the 7.35 as a new cartridge, calling it the .299 Express or some such.
But no joke, with fresh modern powder suited to its case volume, it did very well. In a sleek commercial rifle, it would have probably sold.
MachIVshooter
Member
My mom made such a statement about 20 years ago.
I hope it'll be awhile before I can say that, as my first and only house set me back $236,500 nineteen years ago. But I do certainly remember things being a lot more affordable in the note-so-distant past. My first truck was an '86 Ram half ton, cost me $3k in 1998. Our oldest is 13, and with prices what they are, he sure as heck won't be driving a 2014 pickup in 2026. Shoot, that '86 would go for 5 grand today. Lol.
So, considering these things, firearms in general haven't gone as stupid with pricing as many other things. Lots of milsurps, Marlin leverguns, nice double action revolvers, yeah, but most haven't skyrocketed lately like homes and vehicles.
MachIVshooter
Member
Probably. It's not a horrible cartridge, and the uber-magnum fad seems to have wound down a bit, with lots of newcomers looking toward much more sedate rounds for all purposes. But rifle and bullet selection kept it from ever becoming more than a curiosity or another obscure chambering for the milsurp collection.
