Carcano makes meat

[Earlwb]

Nice! Below is a Carcano I built in 7.62x39. Check out this link for an article written by Horady's Chief ballistics scientist on the Carcano.
Attachment 182701
From the above mentioned article:
"The materials used in the Carcano are excellent. These rifles were made from special steels perfected by the Czechs, for which the Italians paid royalties. If you have ever tried doing any work on a Carcano receiver you will find out just how hard and tough the steel is. The Carcano has also received a reputation as being a “weak” design. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Italians made a small run of Carcanos early in WW II chambered for 8 X 57 JS. The Germans rechambered some Carcanos to 8 X 57 JS late in WW II. These rifles were also proofed for this cartridge. The CIP minimum suggested proof pressure for the 8 x 57 JS cartridge is 73,500 psi. I hardly call this a weak action.

The best case I can make for the strength of the Carcano was a personal experience attempting to blow one up for a hunter safety course video. I was asked by the Department of Game and Fish of New Mexico about 12 years ago to help them with this. At the time I was one of the ones ignorant about the Carcano, believing it to be a weak action and easy to take apart. Well, the morale to this story was a full case of Bullseye failed to do anything significant to the action or barrel. We finally had to fill a cartridge case with C4 explosive and detonate it to get anything that looked like what we wanted. One other incident I have experienced with the Carcano further convinces me of the great strength of these actions. In my early experiments with .268” bullets, and loading data for them, I had several incidents of extreme pressure. The bolt had to be opened with a hammer and the cartridge case appeared to be a belted magnum. The headspace of the gun had grown slightly but otherwise was fine and has been fired many times since. I know from my experience as a ballistician that pressures in excess of 90,000 psi are required to do this type of damage to a cartridge case. A good condition Carcano rifle is as safe and strong as any other military bolt-action rifle you will encounter."

I have been wanting to redo one of my Carcanos to use the 7.62x39mm cartridge too. Having one in .35 Remington would be really awesome too. Maybe I will get around to doing it one of these days. I also have some Carcanos made in 8x57mm too. I did not see them as being too weak for the round either. I have other guns to shoot, so I haven't been too motivated to trying one out yet though.

[shoot-n-lead]

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/604608812

[skeettx]

Very interesting
Carcano is not weak?
Thanks
Mike

[JeffinNZ]

Nothing wrong with Carcanos. I like mine. Yes, it is rustic in the finish but it shoots fine. With those Hornady 160gr RNSP .268 bullets and a full charge I would be happy chasing down deer sized animals.

[Brasso]

I have a Type "I" Carcano in 6.5 Japanese caliber. It has the Mauser double stacked magazine and has been "bubbaed". Great shooting rifle.

[nekshot]

Brasso, sure would be interesting to see how they did your rifle. I could not get the 7.62x39 to feed off the clips the way it should so I gutted the mag, welded the bottom shut and soldered a shoulder on each side of receiver rail to hold cartridge down and made a follower and put a spring under it. Works great for 2 cartridges and 3 in a pinch plus one in chamber. The next carcano I was smarter and gutted the mag and used a type of lip on sheet metal for cartridge to feed unto bolt. I also have a clip version using a clip from a savage 340. Sorry I can not get pics on forum but I think there are pics somewhere here on these rifles and my bubbasizing. I love these cute mini mauser type actions!!

[nekshot]

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/604608812

I sure appreciate a lot that gun but at that price somebody got dope in their pipe instead of tobaccy!!

[bouncer50]

I have a Type "I" Carcano in 6.5 Japanese caliber. It has the Mauser double stacked magazine and has been "bubbaed". Great shooting rifle.

Yes they are very accurate. Mine will shoot one inch groups at 50 yards with Chinese surplus ammo i bought years ago.

[Brasso]

nekshot,
These Carcanos were made at the factories in Italy to Japanese specs in the Japanese 6.5 caliber. Standard Carcano action but with Mauser double-stack flush bottom magazine. Kind of like we did for the British P-14 Enfield. All "Bubba" did was cut the barrel back to 22", soldered new sights and put in a Fajin stock. Nice looking and great shooting rifle. Also it has a .264 bore, not .268 like the Italian cartridge.

[map55b]

DCM,

This is an off the shelf Boyd's stock. Just a little fitting for my barrel and home made sight base. You can rind the article here: http://personal.stevens.edu/~glibera...ano/emary.html

[map55b]

I have a Type 1 that has been bubba'd too and the bore is nasty, so its fair game to build. I plan to move the bolt handle to the rear, make the stub from the original a "third" lug, add a side safety and adjustment screws to the trigger and re-barrel it something common on a 7x57 or smaller case. The is no practical reason for this, just going to do it for fun.

I have a Mannlicher style Carcano that I want to convert to use a single stack AK magazine, but will have the check out the Savage 340 mentioned earlier on this thread.

[Brasso]

Do we really need a practical reason for giving an old firearm new life? Its all in the fun and personal satisfaction.
s1skout, congrats on your hunt!!

[c1skout]

I'm backwards from all you guys....... I'd like to have a Savage 110 made in 6.5 Carcano, but with the .264 bore. That would make a sweet hunting rifle for deer and such!

[nekshot]

I'm backwards from all you guys....... I'd like to have a Savage 110 made in 6.5 Carcano, but with the .264 bore. That would make a sweet hunting rifle for deer and such!

Not backwards just thinking out side the box. The experts tell of the wimpiness of the 6.5x52 and then turn around and call it the 6.5 Grendle (brass is a weebit different) and all declare how great it is! Go figure??!