Need 6.5 carcano reloading help

I have an m38 carcano, and was trying to load up some rounds to test, and went with the smallest load that was in the hornady manual for the powder I had available (IMR 4064 at 29.3gr) for the 160gr round nose bullet that Hornady makes. However, I was using different brass and primer that the manual. The manual uses privi partisan cases and WLRM (Manchester large rifle magnum). I was using Norma cases and Federal large rifle magnum primers. I only fired one shot, as the bolt was somewhat stuck thanks to what I assume was the case being stuck the barrel of the gun due to high pressure. As a note, I did only have one round loaded into the rifle, of which I put into the barrel, then closed the bolt on top of.

Does anyone have any idea of what I could change to get a properly functioning load given the tendancies of this round to have high pressures, or is there another powder I can use with federal large rifle magnum primers that works well? I am a bit limited with primers, but I have a little bit to choose from with powders.

Thanks for any feedback!

Hi Mollusk, I have excellent results with military bullets (Hornady’s should be extremely similar) and 37,0 grs. of W760.
Normally I use Winchester Large Rifle Magnum primers and a COAL of 75,0 mm.
It is also the reload suggested by Emery in his study about the Carcano.
I shoot the long rifle.

Honady make a 160Gn RN for the Carcano it is actually marked on the box for Carcano rifles only.
I was loading Hornady 160 grainers in my 6.5 x 285 for a shooting trip done the load testing and wanted another 100 box of them when I brought another box from my gunsmith I took it home and found that statement on the side of the box so make sure it has that statement on the side of the box if using the 160Gn Hornady projectile.

I took the box back without opening it not keen on trying my luck in with them in my rifle.

It is .2675. Be careful

Sure was Ovidio took it back without even opening it for a refund.

Do you have a picture of the side and back of the case?

I’ll look them up or make ‘em

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mollusk

I have an m38 carcano, and was trying to load up some rounds to test, and went with the smallest load that was in the hornady manual for the powder I had available (IMR 4064 at 29.3gr) for the 160gr round nose bullet that Hornady makes. However, I was using different brass and primer that the manual. The manual uses privi partisan cases and WLRM (Manchester large rifle magnum). I was using Norma cases and Federal large rifle magnum primers. I only fired one shot, as the bolt was somewhat stuck thanks to what I assume was the case being stuck the barrel of the gun due to high pressure. As a note, I did only have one round loaded into the rifle, of which I put into the barrel, then closed the bolt on top of.

Does anyone have any idea of what I could change to get a properly functioning load given the tendancies of this round to have high pressures, or is there another powder I can use with federal large rifle magnum primers that works well? I am a bit limited with primers, but I have a little bit to choose from with powders.

Thanks for any feedback!

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You are loading with the large .268 dia Hornady bullets , correct ? If so that is your problem ,the bullet is made incorrectly and is dangerous in some Carcano's . Whether it will work or not is determined by the Land / Groove combination of the rifle . Emery had no idea how military rifles were designed to shoot , about bore riding , bore friction , jacket material . I have fired about a 1000 rounds with a bunch of different loads and bullets in Carcano's . The info on what to do and not to do is posted on several forums .

Hi Mollusk, here are a couple pictures.
One is an original military round from early 1942, the other one is one of my dummy rounds, with Norma brass and military bullet.
Attachment 108749Attachment 108748Attachment 108747Attachment 108750

About two weeks ago I finally manned up and decided to try a new load. I looked around on some forums and saw that some folks were just using large rifle primers instead of large rifle magnum, thus leading me to start suspecting that the large rifle magnum primer was burning the powder to fast for the bullet to start traveling, resulting in overpressure. I went out and tested it, and it turns out that switching to CCI large rifle primers worked! My load was the same (30gr. imr 4064, Hornady round nose bullets and Norma cases) in both cases, and it seems to be that the primer was the fault. I tested 5 shots of the new load, and not one had issues. I will continue to be cautious and will report back after further testing and tell if everything continues to go smoothly. After all, those five shots could have just been flukes (although I doubt it.)

That is not how primers and powder ignition work . You had some other load problem before . Too much powder , wrong powder , or something and just did not do it this time . . The powder does not burn and build pressure until the bullet moves and seals on the bore .

Could there have been any old grease or debris in the chamber that might have led to hard extraction? Sometimes these rifles sit idle for decades due to lack of easily obtained ammo, and stuff will congeal in there.

hornady 10th edition lists that imr 4064 start as 29.3 and max as 31.4 with a wlrm primer
also I just noticed that hornady 10th ed has a note on the load data for this load. page 295
"note:
only winchester wlrm primers should be used with this data"


Since you had the hornady info I will assume you have that manual and wont list those powders.
lee second ed.
large rifle primer min oal 2.935 160 gr jacketed bullet
h4831 37.0-39.0
h335 27.0-30.0
bl-c(2) 27.0-30.0
h380 28.0-31.0
h4895 27.0-30.0

Is your chamber nice and bright and shiny? Lots of Milsurps have beat up chambers. Try to clean up the chamber and try to buff it up slightly. Should help.