1917 Terni 1891

I'm new to this forum and this will be my first post. Thank you to everyone on here for the wonderful information and cool pics/history/ projects that are posted all the time! Very informative! Anyway.... I made a new purchase recently while browsing the used section in my local gun store. I found a 1891 Carcano long rifle made by Terni in 1917. Picked it up for about $90 bucks. To me it looked a little rough but I found some interesting family history that made me want to buy it (I've had a tough time finding an 1891) and do a little refreshing project to the rifle. My Great Grandfather was a Bersaglieri in the Italian Army during WWI and served on the Italian front fighting against the Austrians in the mountains of Northern Italy (Specifically Monte Zebio in Asiago). I put a picture of him in here also. He was most likely issued an M91. I recently traveled to the area and it was quite interesting to see. So anyway here are some pictures of the rifle and what I'm starting with. Any pointers or tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys.

Hi JTN, looks like the real thing.
Good choice. For 90 bucks I can buy the pictures of it here in Italy;-)
By the way, also my grandpa was a Bersagliere. 1900 born, he was on the Piave from mid-'17 to the end of the war.
As a Lieutenant he then served until '22 as occupation troops in Austria.
He kept running until he died at age 96.
Other breed of people!

The exposed metal on that looks very good. I wouldn't do anything with that. The metal under the wood on the other hand looks rough. I'd try to get rid of as much of the rust as possible and stabilize the rest with some good gun oil. As for the stock, I would do nothing other than apply several coats of BLO to bring some life back into it. Looks dried out now.

Nice M91, certainly has that been there done that look that for whatever reason I love.

Very nice rifle, smoking deal for $90. You did very well. A little care as the others have suggested will help preserve it for another 100 years.

This may make some people cringe but I decided to strip whatever finish was on the rifle. It is pretty rough between some gouges in the wood to decent pitting in the metal on the barrel. I figure I'm going to stain a walnut color and go from there. I have since stripped the rifle with Citristrip and used Brownells oxphoblue on some metal parts. I will post pics of the metal when it is finished but here is the stripped wood. Also steamed the stock with a wet rag and an iron to get out what dents I could. Attachment 80136Attachment 80135Attachment 80134Attachment 80133Attachment 80132

Doesn't make me cringe, it's your rifle.

You want to make it look correct, walnut is not the way to go.

Aragorn243 , What would be a more correct looking stain for an M91? I want to make it look somewhat correct. Thanks.

Check my rifle on another discussion. That is 100% original. Never taken anything but light linen oil.

---------- Post added at 07:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:28 PM ----------

I just checked, it's the next thread, M91 long rifle. You can find the pictures there. That's original color with guarantee from me, myself and I;-)

M91's were not stained, they were oiled. Light browns and tans are the norm. Later 38's often had a reddish stain applied but not the M91's.

Thanks everyone. I decided to stain only because of how dark the hand guard was. Looks to me like someone possibly stained it years ago and I could not draw the stain out of the wood at all. I stained with a dark walnut because 1. I liked the color and it made the stock come to a closer color match and 2. I did read somewhere that early M91's had a stock made of imported French walnut. Not sure if there's truth to that or not. I will post some more pics when the stock is done. Wondering if anyone knows anywhere to get a new hand guard? Mine will do for now but it is cracked and I'd like to find a replacement. I check all the usual online places but cannot find any.

I was pretty happy with the way this gun turned out. Shot it today and it went BOOM so I would assume I did everything correctly. Thanks for the help everyone!

Really looks great. Congratulations!

It's a little dark but within the range of colors I've seen. Looks good.

Great stories and was said, ''a different breed of men''.


thank you for sharing....