MAtthew: good trade. You have a 6.5mm Italian M38 rifle, also known as the 6.5mm Mannlicher Carcano. These rifles were built in two different arsenals. Some of the M38 rifles (shortened versions) were shortened from the M91 (I believe) longer rifle of the genre of the day and some of those rifles, when shortened, lost the gain twist at the end of the barrel and lost their accuracy as a result. Those rifles manufactured as the M38 retained the gain twist and their accuracy.
There was nothing inaccurate about the M38. I owned two in the mid 60s and both were more than adequately accurate using the Hornady 160 gn .264 diameter bullet of the day. The 6.5 Italian saw some 'funky' ammunition which was made during WWII. One in particular carried a 'segmented projectile' that was designed for 'perimeter' defense and was designed to 'segment' at the end of the barrel and act like shot from a shotgun to possibly hit more than one target. Interestingly enough, the same type of slug was seen in the picture of Kennedy on his stretcher in Dallas, which is what told me from the beginning that his assination was a internal plot as that slug would never have stayed together to penetrate the body.
Anyhow, I used two Mannlicher Carcanos to cull many, many animals in Colorado in the mid 60s. The only 6.5mm slug I could find at the time was the 160 gn rn and that worked just fine. Later on someone came up with a 120 gn slug, or something like that and that one also worked fine.
Ain't nuthin' wrong with a 6.5 Italian. Geez, if you replace that 160 gn slug with something like the 120s you comeup with 260 ballistics - OMG, did I say that?? Did I even think that the development of the 260 and then the 6.8, etc., could have been fostered by the notion of a rimless 6.5mm Italian round - oh yeah. If you like the idea of the 260 or a 6.5mm round, the Carcano comes close enough to the Swede to be well worth the consideration.
The action itself is a Mauser style but without the external ejector box on the left of the action and the box magazine. I forget if the Japanese looked at the Mauser and Carcano actions to build their rifles or if the Italians looked at the Mauser and Arisaka to build theirs - probably the former not the later.
But, if your bore/rifling is good you should be able to get her to shoot well. I would bed the action just to try to help the accuracy. Good luck and have fun.
