Testing the 6.5mm Carcano cartridge - OK or poor taste?

Testing the 6.5mm Carcano cartridge - OK or poor taste?

  • OK

    Votes: 87 93.5%

  • No

    Votes: 6 6.5%
  • Total voters
    93
  • Poll closed .
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Brass Fetcher

Brass Fetcher

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I was contacted today by a gentleman who collects old/obsolete caliber rifles asking if I would be interested in gelatin testing any of his rifles.

Among them was a rifle firing the 6.5×52mm Mannlicher-Carcano cartridge. We all know that this was the round used to murder President Kennedy. My question - should I just let this one sit there or conduct the gelatin test due to the historical significance of the round?

Thank you for your input.
 
Hardly in poor taste. Now, if you made a Mythbusters style bust, filled the head with fake blood and dressed it up in the back of a open car you might be close.

David
 
Would you decline to test a 30-06? Wasn't that the round used in the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.?

Weapons bear no responsibility for their misuse.
 
No worse taste than testing the .30-06 cartridge that was used to kill Rev. MLK Jr.

Actually I'd be pretty interested to see a test of 7.35 Carcano as well.
 
ive allways thought someone should do this in a new rifle, a very mild mannered hunting cartridge if there ever was one, i would think.
 
Science can't be modest or shy. If you're trying to learn something and no one is getting hurt....
 
:) Yes, that's true. And thank you to everyone who has shared their thoughts. I got to thinking about it a little bit more - I tested the .32ACP a lot... and remembered that it was the caliber that started WWI.

Just looking at the bullet (long and narrow), I expect big things out of it, even with FMJ because of the likelihood of tumbling.

I will be meeting with the person who owns the rifle this afternoon and will let you know what happens.
 
Just looking at the bullet (long and narrow), I expect big things out of it, even with FMJ because of the likelihood of tumbling.
Click to expand...

It's a round nose bullet though isn't it? Typically don't these have a center of gravity that's pretty far forward making them more stable and less prone to tumbling than spitzers?

If I'm wrong, I'd be fascinated to learn more.
 
Been done, in fact to the Nth degree where they did a sortof myth busters deal on the assanation itself with included a geleten test using the exact range, timing, and firsarm to see if the "magic" bullet could have done what it supposedly did. They were able to recreate the timing of the shoot only with a professional shooter who had supposedly been a military sniper. But he had to do it a few times to get it right....so to speak. Intrestingly enough, the bullet never deformed at all except for a very very slight bend in the middle even after going thru two "fake" people and a car seat!
 
I would have thought the same thing - but I have seen almost every FMJ that I've tested tumble. From memory :

FMJs performance in gelatin:

most .22lrs .32ACP .380ACP .25ACP - straight through the block
9x19mm WWB, 7.62x25mm, 5.45mm, all 5.56x45mm FMJ, 9x18mm Mak, .30 Carbine, all tumbled or yawed significantly.

My understanding of this is that rifle bullets don't become fully stabilized until around 200 meters distance - my blocks are usually shot at 10 feet. Combine that with the density of water/gelatin being so much more dense than air, flipping of the bullet due to understabilization could easily occur. Someone help me out if I am wrong on the stabilization/distance thing!
 
GUYS!!! LIGHTEN UP!!!!!

Weapons are innocent tools. No more and no less. Anything we pick up is an innocent tool. Think of it. You can use a kitchen knife to help you make a wonderful meals to delight your friends and family, and yet, the kitchen knife is the most horrible weapon of it all. More people die from kitchen knifes then from any other weapons. In Russia, people even joke that a kitchen knife, meat cleaver and a normal workmans hammer are true WMD, as they kill more people in Russia then all guns combined. Gun is a tool. Guns do not kill. Those who use them make a consious decision to pull a trigger. Or an equally consious decision to carry a gun while drunk off their asses.


It is not a poor test. I own pistols in 9x19. Which is the cartrige which Nazis used when they killed 16mln of Russian and Soviet civilians.
It is the manner in which you do the testing. For example, if you create a JFK (or Martin Luther King) dummy, dress it up, put it in a car and substiture the head for a melon, or create perfect likeness of the head of JFK and fill it with blood, yeah, that would be a questionable taste. Still, this is USA and you have the RIGHT to do it. However, if you want to shoot a gelatine wall with that bullet. It is perfectly OK. Even if you make a jelatine dummy, it is still ok.
I would be more interested in AP test. As in Armor Penetration. How well can 6.5 round go through steel plate:)
 
I don't see anyone getting out of hand there Tigerclaw, in fact everyone here looks very supportive of him DOING the test....where did the lighten up deal come from...just curious!?



Your freindly neiborhood Sniper.....Sniper X!
 
Why would it be in poor taste?

It's a very interesting cartridge and has accounted for tons of whitetail and Ethiopians. I don't condem the 8X57, 30-06, 7.63X54r or any other cartridge for it's wartime use. If we are that narrow minded we should find another hobby. Before someone jumps on Me, Italy was way out of bounds trying to expand their empire in Africa.........Essex
 
We all know that this was the round used to murder President Kennedy
Click to expand...

We all know this is the alleged round used to murder JFK......

Even if it is, you can't blame the murder weapon for the murder.

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.
 
The 6.5 is supposedly a great penetrator in FMJ form and not likely to tumble. Would suggest a double block setup (if possible) to try to capture the true penetration depth.

Oh, and be sure to think about safety first and secure the shooter behind bulletproof material with only the tiniest slit for the gun barrel. This should help prevent the wicked 'majic bullet' problems the round is reported to produce.

Seriously, it COULD end up wreaking havok by leaving the block early on by bending a bit and turning hard which-ever-way. Will be an interesting test regardless! Thanks for your efforts.
 
Heck yeah

Another vote for OK.

The only way this could be in bad taste would be if YOU were up to no good on the grassy knoll... :p
 
The only gelatin test I know with this caliber show a deep and straigh penetration. ( image here )

It would be interesting to see a test with obstacle, too ( wood plank, for exemple ) to see how this caliber act in gelatin after primary penetration.
 
There was a guy who used to write articles in aussie magazines. Build a rifle, test and hunt with it, write the story. Well researched and written. He did a rifle up in 6.5 Garcano, he really liked it and waxed lyrical about what an effective little rifle it was. We have a female corrctional officer who competes in military disiclipine shooting, uses a stock garcano and is pretty effective with it.

No body wories about the 8mm Mauser, used to shoot squillions of defensless Jewish people.
 
I'm actually generally curious about the tests for that round. It's not exactly the most "popular", and most people outside of gun nuts tend to not know that that was the round in teh JFK assasination. That being said, I do not think it's in poor taste; people still use K98s, even though they were a "nazi weapon". The weapon/round are non-living objects, not responsible for their history.
 
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