It must be raining 7.35 cavalry carbines...mine needs a nose job.

[Bionicback321]

I picked up what I believe to be a 1939 M1891/38 Terni 7.35mm cavalry carbine at a local gun show this weekend for a c-note. The barrel is clean and bright, the blueing looks to be in good shape ( my opinion ) the stock a little less so. I bought it to add to my WW2 bolt action collection and I am hoping I can find a nose piece and an upper handguard. A few hours on the internet have not been very productive I'm afraid. So I'll throw it out to the forum members and see what happens.

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[Aragorn243]

I believe you have a type 38 short rifle that has a cut stock. Cavalry carbines have a different front sight and do not have finger grooves in the stock.

So you need a new stock, a new upper hand guard, a new middle band and a bayonet end band.

[Bionicback321]

I was comparing mine to the one from Tokguy's thread and it looks almost identical except for the missing the nose cap and handguard. I also found this on that is very similar to mine although the nose cap is slightly different.



I've seen a couple on the web that are very close but just not close enough. I am fairly new to military surplus firearms so I will defer to others with greater knowledge. One thing about the stock though, I am a woodworker and I looked very closely at the end of the stock for signs of cutting as I wanted to avoid getting a sporterised copy ( there was one sitting next to this one on the rack ) and I did not see any cutting that did not appear to be a factory cut and it seems to be the same length as the one in the picture above. Perhaps if someone could snap some close-up pics of their caps I could spot one that looks like the one that’s missing.

And then there is this one that's kind-a, sort-a.....

[barbarossa]

It's a cut down short rifle, that's for certain. If ya wanna spend the money, new condition short rifle stocks and handguards can still be had from SARCO. Good luck.

[Aragorn243]

If it were a cavalry carbine, the wood would be cut square off. It is flat and even with the metal nosecap. In addition, it would have a groove for the folding bayonet. Your first picture is a cavalry carbine, note the front sight, the lack of finger grooves and how the bayonet appears to disappear into the nosecap and stock. The front sight is elongated and has an extension on the bottom for the bayonet. Tokguy's appears to have the proper front sight but the bottom has been cut off. The end on your stock where the band goes is cut straight from top to bottom. A cavalry carbines nosecap tapers narrower toward the front as it goes toward the barrel.

You have a cut type 38 short rifle.

My cavalry carbine along with photos of a couple of others can be found here:

New fixer-upper 1891 Carcano Cavalry Carbine

[Bionicback321]

I believe you have a type 38 short rifle that has a cut stock. Cavalry carbines have a different front sight and do not have finger grooves in the stock.

So you need a new stock, a new upper hand guard, a new middle band and a bayonet end band.

First things first: I would like to apologize to Aragorn243............I looked but did not see....I listened but did not hear....if they had a smiley icon with egg on its face I'd use it but these will have to do.

I found the Liberty Tree Collectors web site after my last post and I realized that it will cost more than I paid for the rifle to set things straight. I'm going to have to think about this for a bit.

[Patrick Chadwick]

I apologize if this seems to be knocking, but it's just my opinion.

The 7.35 Carcanos are cheap over here, because of the ammo problem. And "sporterized" they are practically worthless. So, looking at it from here, my evaluation is:
1) Collector value - forget it.
2) Does it look like it could be a good shooter? Then buy, beg, borrow or make up enough ammo to try it out, after the usual safety checks, bore and muzzle inspection etc.
2a) It is a good shooter - then wait patiently for a wallhanger as a parts donor.
2b) It is not a good shooter - forget it.

That is a rational viewpoint. Of course, I myself do not always act as rationally as that. Sometimes the sheer challenge of getting a rifle fully functional again is satisfaction enough!


Patrick

[Aragorn243]

No need to apologize, I took no offense. You wanted to be sure of what you have and I've asked plenty of questions myself to clear things up in my own mind.

Carcano's are tough these days. They do not share the popularity of other milsurps and their values reflect that. I go to a couple of gun auctions, one nearly every month and the other only occasionally. Cut down Carcano's like yours at the one I go to often might bring $65 but at the other one, I watched them sell two of them for about $150 each. I have no idea why other than they did not identify them as Carcano's, they evidently didn't know what they were and they were selling the one as a Japanese rifle. I was going to try to get one for parts and was pretty dumbfounded with the bidding.

38's are pretty common and good condition complete versions typically sell for less than $150 in my area and that's at both the auctions and the shows/flea markets. I personally don't have one yet because I'm holding out for one at about $100 and with the flat market for them I'm pretty confident I'll eventually find one for that price.

So this is one of those times when you need to decide if personal satisfaction of restoring the rifle is worth more or as much as the money and time you put into it. I really enjoy working on them and if you check around the site you'll see I tend to pick up some pretty rough examples and bring them back to life. Typically, that involves a lot of time and elbow grease rather than money with me. My advice on this one, if you aren't attached to it, try to sell it for what you paid and look for a complete one or an actual cavalry carbine if that's what you were aiming for. Another fair option would be to look for a complete rifle that has a bad bore and buy it for the stock and parts cheap.

[Salt Flat]

Bionic, I restored one similar to yours. Actually your stock doesn't look too bad. The step at the rear band hasn''t been reworked and the finger grooves look pretty crisp. You could make the short forestock piece. Springfield Sporters has the front and rear bands for 6 dollars each and the handguard for 15. I got some of the parts from Numrich. It took awhile for me to restore mine but I think it was worth it. Also I have a lathe so I was able to make some of the missing screws. Salt Flat

[Bionicback321]

You read my mind. I started another thread to document the repair ( My M38 reminds me of Charlie Browns Christmas tree ). I was able to get all the parts from Numrich, the holdup has been getting the wood ( beech ) to extend the fore end and the butt to the proper length. As soon as the beech comes in the sawdust will start to fly.