Carcano

[roverboy]

Prvi Partizan is good ammo. My wifes cousin bought several boxes of 6.5x55 and its great stuff. Prvi is probably the cheapest reloadable ammo out there.

[Garufa]

....same model that (maybe) killed JFK.

Now, now OS, we all know that guns do not kill people.

I'm utterly astounded no one picked up on this.

[Guest Jamie]

And here I thought it was bullets that did the deed....

[Tncobra]

If anyone around East Tn needs a few rounds (37) of mil surplus 6.5x52 ammo & one clip let me know. I sold mine and apparently misplaced this ammo to go with it. It was dead accurate too

That rifle is nice looking, hang onto it for sure.

[Guest Jamie]

You guys are ruining me... 'Cause the more I think about this, the more I think I may have to have a Carcano now.... dammit.... :-\

[1gewehr]

The Carcano is a good, strong action. As for the Italians being 'weird' in using .268 bore, they had a one of the first 6.5mm cartridges, so they were breaking new ground. In 1891 when they adopted the rifle and cartridge, most countries were still using large-bore black-powder rifles. The 6.5 Italian cartridge and Carcano action were revolutionary, and stole a jump on the vaunted French 8mm Lebel of 1886 (first smokeless cartridge).

During WWII, large numbers of these little Carcano carbines were re-chambered in 8mm Mauser and used with Italian troops on the Russian front. I had one of those, and the recoil was brutal. It makes the M44 Nagant seem tame! Most had reinforcing pins through the stock to keep it from cracking.

If you get a couple of boxes of the current Prvi ammo, you can reload them 5-6 times easily. The cartridge is a relatively low pressure load by modern standards, and there are some excellent plinking , target, and hunting loads available. I don't know why they got a bad reputation, as the action is very strong and almost all the rifles I've seen were well made. Do NOT LOSE the clips!!! They are getting hard to find and expensive. Without a clip you have a single shot. I've seen some people put a piece of tape across the hole in the bottom of the magazine so the clip won't drop out. It's easy to use a finger to lift out the empty clip with the bolt back.

[roverboy]

I should of used a different word than wierd I guess. I meant different. They're decent old rifles and revolutionary.

[Guest hcso617]

UPS and the wait is killing me, it's been sitting in Knoxville since 11:40AM yesterday, and scheduled delivery isn't until Tuesday. I also bought a Russian Capture K98 from Wideners that should be here next week also. Merry Christmas to me.

[Guest hcso617]

Ok it's here and I have more information. This is what is stamped on the barrel (hex portion)

Left side: GARDONE V.I. 1931

Center: Beretta

Right: 14811 with a circle and FF or FB in the middle

The bolt tang top side is stamped: AD 8813

bottom side: 2 (over) F1 or FI

an O or 0 is also stamped on underside of bolt on rail

When you remove the bolt there is a star stamped

The rifle is 36" in total length, fixed front, adjustable rear sights with bayonet lug. Has a cleaning rod screwed in below the barrel, 16.5" long. I removed the butt plate I couldn't see anything. There are no import markings, or ammo type markings anywhere on this rifle. Rifling and bore look very good. There are a few other proofs on the barrel and stock but I can't really make them out, and I don't want to guess.

I've had a few folks tell me I had a few different types, does this help. I can't take any other pictures at the moment.

Thanks,

Matt