Carcano carbine.

[mrussel]

I just found one of those things I couldnt resist today at the gun show. A Carcano carbine. Its in fairly decent shape (rifling is good for instance),except for a little bubbafication. The top hand-guard on the front is painted in what I presume was supposed to be a camo pattern,except it looks more like a fishing lure. There is also a spot where it looks like a lamp fell on it melted some plastic to and burned the stock(quite badly unfortunatly). The worst part of it is that it was drilled,rather badly for a side scope mount. The holes are seem fairly strait but its scratched up pretty badly.




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 I have two questions Im hoping someone can answer. First,I know Buffalo arms has a few .268 bullets available,but does anyone know any other good sources? Second,does anyone recognize the configuration of those cutouts and screw holes and know what brand of mount was on this? My third question of two is,does anyone recognize what brand and color that amazing cammo on the hand guard is so I can buy some more and do the whole rifle,its just not right to have ti mismatched like that. 

[spruce]

Maybe you have already, but if not you might want to slug your barrel to make sure what size cast bullets you'll need.
Bore diameter on the 6.5 Carcano is the standard .264".  However, I suspect there may be some variance in individual specimens.

Can't help you on the scope mount.

The camo should be easy - just Google "world's ugliest camo paint job" and it should be at the top of the list!

[torpedoman]

contact the makers of the " JITTERBUG" bass lure they used a ton of that paint.

[mrussel]

contact the makers of the " JITTERBUG" bass lure they used a ton of that paint.

 Im debating on whether to strip the whole thing. Most of the finish is in really good shape and I might even be able to get that paint off. The real problem is that big black spot on the stock. That not just discoloration. Its actually a hole about a 1/16 of an inch deep burned into the wood. The wood is charred beneath it so its going to be at least 1.8" deep if I clean it out to the point where it is discolored but solid. Ive considered soaking it with a thinned epoxy,then filling it with a epoxy based filler stained black and then polishing/sanding it carefully to blend it in and then just having a black spot that would not look bad. The other option is to strip the whole thing,mix some wood filler with stain to get it the right color,fill the hole and then refinish the whole stock. The sad thing is,all the numbers match,except for the fact that its missing parts like the folding bayonet (the groove for it has been patched) and some idiot drilled the receiver (badly I must add,as it has terrible scratches where they let the drill wander or something) and cut some inleting (not the worst I have seen but not that great either). I guess its value (they dont go for THAT much anyway) is pretty much ruined by that,so I guess I cant make it any worse.

[nova71]

I sold mine last year on GunBroker for $175.00 it was in good shape all there and matching numbers. It shot pretty good for a Carcano. I had it for about 25 years, gave a whole $50 bucks for it when I bought it. I sold most of my ammo for it, the good Norma stuff. I still have some clips and military stuff and a few Norma. I have a new Lee die set for it too. I was planning to shoot it and reload for it but never got around to it. who knows, I get another one 

[mrussel]

I sold mine last year on GunBroker for $175.00 it was in good shape all there and matching numbers. It shot pretty good for a Carcano. I had it for about 25 years, gave a whole $50 bucks for it when I bought it. I sold most of my ammo for it, the good Norma stuff. I still have some clips and military stuff and a few Norma. I have a new Lee die set for it too. I was planning to shoot it and reload for it but never got around to it. who knows, I get another one  

 Apparently mine can be described as a 91/38 Cavalry Carbine. I just have to decide now what Im going to do with it. I guess I will remove the enamel and see how it shoots and go from there. Im going to try heating that part with a hair drier. My hope is that there might be oil or cosmolene deep in the wood and if I heat it,the enamel might just flake off. What model was yours?

 If you want to sell the stuff you have let me know. I'm in in the market for clips and dies.

[nova71]

I believe mine was the 91/38 Cavalry Carbine also . I'll check and see what I have and let you know.

[mrussel]

Maybe you have already, but if not you might want to slug your barrel to make sure what size cast bullets you'll need.
Bore diameter on the 6.5 Carcano is the standard .264".  However, I suspect there may be some variance in individual specimens.

Can't help you on the scope mount.

The camo should be easy - just Google "world's ugliest camo paint job" and it should be at the top of the list!

Modern Reloading lists it as .268. Ive been googling info on it all afternoon and there seems to be many sources that say that .268 is the number,although I do in fact intend to slug the bore as soon as I get it clean.I was thinking I might be able to size down a .277 like you do with 338 to 329 for the Steyr. Of course,percentage wise thats a large amount to squeeze down than it is with the 338. There is a jacketed boat tail spitzer softpoint,a spitzer softpoint,a round nose softpoint and hornady makes an Guess those are all you really need.

[Mikey]

These rifles wear a 'gain twist' unless they are just a shortened version of the 91 with the barrel chopped off as was done early on.  I used the Hornady .264 diameter slugs and mine performed very well - well enough to pick of gophers and muskrats at better than 100m and Whitetail, Blacktail and small Bear out to 150 yds.  There is nothing wrong with the caliber, just the differences in the variety of rifles available to shoot the round. 

[Merle]

 I have two questions Im hoping someone can answer. First,I know Buffalo arms has a few .268 bullets available,but does anyone know any other good sources? Second,does anyone recognize the configuration of those cutouts and screw holes and know what brand of mount was on this? My third question of two is,does anyone recognize what brand and color that amazing cammo on the hand guard is so I can buy some more and do the whole rifle,its just not right to have ti mismatched like that. 

If memory serves me, Hornady makes a .268 bullet.

There does seem to be some variations on bore size, so it would be good to slug it before going too far.

 

[Swampman]

They seem pretty accurate if the one Oswald used is any indication.

[billy_56081]

I'm not sure why I have this plae in my heart for these ugly basic rifles, but for some reason the Carcano just interests me. And as stated before .268 id the bore size and Hornady makes the bullets.

[mrussel]

I'm not sure why I have this plae in my heart for these ugly basic rifles, but for some reason the Carcano just interests me. And as stated before .268 id the bore size and Hornady makes the bullets.

 I wonder if you could re-barrel one to use one of the rounds based of the 7.62x39,or the 7.62x39 itself. I say that becuase its diameter is closest to the Carcano,its just shorter.

[paulhoover]

I had one years ago and it was drilled for a weaver side mount if that might help.