Newbie Carcano owner

Greetings.

In an impulse move today I purchased my first military weapon, a 1940 6.5mm Carcano M38 Calvary. The barrel markings are F.N.A BRESCIA, 40-XVIII, serial number XF3802 and the matching 3802 is burned into the stock. It appears to be complete with adjustable rear sight and folding bayonet (no cleaning rod under the butt plate).

I knew nothing about these rifles before today and have had a crash course in basic identification. I honestly bought it because it was a cool looking carbine. If I had done just a little checking on ammo availability/cost I may have walked away, but it’s mine now and I’d like to make the most of it.

With the help of YouTube I disassembled the bolt, cleaned and inspected the spring and firing pin. The action and safety both function, seemingly, as intended.

5 surplus rounds and 1 clip came with it; however, after doing some measurements with my dial caliper the cases seems to spec bigger than the 6.5x52 information provided by Hornady or Speer. Once I’m confident that I have the correct ammo I would like to shoot this rifle, but first, I need to have it checked over by someone who knows a lot more about this than I do. Can anyone recommend a qualified candidate within a reasonable distance from the Detroit Michigan area?

Thank you,
Bill

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Originally Posted by CruciBill

the cases seems to spec bigger than the 6.5x52

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How does it differ? It's possible the rounds you have are 6.5x54 M.S.. They are very similar in appearance but won't interchange. Can you post pics of the rifle and ammo?

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Originally Posted by CruciBill

Once I’m confident that I have the correct ammo I would like to shoot this rifle,

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They'll most likely be duds or have delayed ignition at best. Best bet is to get some new production PRVI ammo but don't expect great things in the accuracy department. Compared to other 6.5mm rifles the Carcano is a bit of an oddball, it has a larger bore diameter. Standard bullet diameter for 6.5mm is .264'' and Carcano's have .267''- .268'' bores so factory ammo seldom produces good results. Hornady used to offer 6.5x52 ammo loaded with .268'' bullets but it was temporarily discontinued several years ago, I'm not sure whether it's been put back into production yet or not. Haven't seen any in a while.

Thanks for the reply.

Here are some photos.

The neck dia. seems to be correct, the case overall length is 3.145. A little bit longer than either book I have shows and the clip didn't want to easily slide in. Maybe they don't, but I certainly didn't want to force it. I don't think I'll shoot this stuff, but I would like to know if it's correct. The head stamp told me nothing.

IMO I don't have a lot of $$$ into this rifle. If it's safe to shoot I will probably buy whichever commercial loaded rounds I can find and start harvesting brass for hand loads.

Thanks
Bill

Those are 6.5x55 Swedish M/94 rounds.
Carbine looks nice. Should be a good shooter with the right bullets. If you can find them Hornady offers the 160gr .268'' bullet in component form also but only use load data developed for that specific bullet.

Thank you for the ammo ID.

Now that I know what I have I guess I'll have to start looking for a Swedish 6.5 rifle as a companion piece :)

I appreciate the load info, I'll definitely check into that.

Privi ammo is pretty easy to get. Lots of it at the gun shows and lots of internet dealers. Not the most accurate stuff as already pointed out. Shoot it to make some noise and reload the brass.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

Privi ammo is pretty easy to get. Lots of it at the gun shows and lots of internet dealers. Not the most accurate stuff as already pointed out. Shoot it to make some noise and reload the brass.

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I ordered 5 boxes of Privi from Graf. It was cheaper than getting brass. The bore looks good, so I'll run some through it and save the brass.

Thanks.

I received the Privi ammo from Graf yesterday along with the correct stripper clips from Amazon. Now I just need to get to the range.

Put up a GIANT piece of cardstock, otherwise you may never know where you are hitting. I have a suspicion part of it was not having the right sight picture. I believe the Carcano sights are designed to have the top of the front pin all the way at the bottom of the "V" I was always taught to hold top of pin at top of V so I was probably shooting way high. I did have better luck with my 38 carbine than I did the cavalry carbine.

Good point, I appreciate the advice. Any guess on if the adjustable rear sight was originally zeroed in for 200 yards like the fixed sights were?

I finally brought the Carcano to the range today. It was the indoor range I normally go to and is only 25 yds. It had a few hang ups feeding the next round, but I'm not ruling out operator error. I may have been being too gentle extracting the spent round. I was trying to keep the brass from flying into the shooting area.

Attachment 61993

25 yds may have been a good place to start. Standing I was able to hit paper with all 12 shots (with one possible tumbler?). I'm looking forward to getting to the rifle range and trying it with a bench and sand bags.

The feeding issues are most likely because the clips are worn. They weren't really designed to be reused and most out there have probably been reused many times. New ammo in the boxes are already on the clips and on the battlefield, I doubt anyone was taking the time to pick them up.