Carcano M38 7.35

I had forgotten that post. That does look much better I may tinker with mine a bit.

I wasn't sure where I put it but had an idea and just went up and found it. It now has rust on the pommel which makes it look even more original :lol:

You have to get it shaped uniformly. The ring on my was oblong. You have to get the original finish off of it. You should drill a clean out in it. Scratch up the metal a bit, only leave finish on the base of the blade. Replace the original wood grips. I made my own. Beat it up a bit. After you're done, cold blue everything but the blade and then steel wool most of it off.

That's exactly what I was thinking of doing if I had ever bought one. I was going to try and reworks the grips it came with. Thanks for sharing.

I know this one is from last month but doesn't the M-38 pictured take the standard type bayonet and not a folder?

The setup on that rifle is for the folder. The later fixed folder will also fit. Bayonet lug is directly under the barrel. The older style bayonet will have the lug on the bottom of the barrel band.

if you think $89.00 is a lot the original's go for as much as $250.00. when you can get the gun for around $125.00.

It all depends on what you want and how bad you want it. If you want "history" you won't be happy with a repro no matter how good it is. Then you'll regret the $89 you could have spent toward an original. I didn't pay much for my repro No5 but at the time I felt I'd never get an original and oddly enough within 6 months I managed to get the rarest of all for what I felt was affordable at the time.

If you aren't worried about the history, this particular repro looks pretty good. I've snagged three of the folders just by being patient and getting lucky on auctions no one else seemed to find. The first was less than $100, the second two both around $150. Basically it takes good searching to find them because some people have no idea what they have and mis-label them and that's how you get the deals.