Reloading 6.5 carcano

[MattE93]

Hello, I am fairly new to this forum but have been reading threads for a while. I just bought a Carcano 91/28 TS, it was originally a 91 TS made in 1899 and was converted to a 91/28 by F.A.G in 1938.

I am going to reload for this rifle and I am looking for advice. I know the original load was around a 160 gr .2665 FMJ round nose projectile. In my area I have access to both the Hornady carcano bullets and .268 140 gr cast bullets. I am leaning towards the cast bullets as they are about half the price and easier on the bore. What load should I be looking at and are cast bullets okay in gain twist rifling? I have read they can come apart but the ones I am looking at are hard cast.

Thanks in advance

Information

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[Ovidio]

Hi, I reload for the long rifle with gain twist and military bullets since the mid nineties. Lately I have started using a great reload suggested by Hornadys’ specialist Emery. I must say that this recipe is really great.
I use the standard military bullets, 160 grs (approximately). .2675”. 37 grains of W760 and magnum rifle primers. COAL 75,0 mm or slightly longer (the bullets are not match ones). No signs of overpressure at all, good consistency and accuracy. I never reloaded with cast bullets, but with military ones this recipe is really great. I used to load less powder and normal rifle primers. Not bad, but every now and then, I felt some “wind” in my face. With this one, no issues!
That is my new pet load. No doubts!

[MattE93]

Thanks for the info!! any idea how long Hornady bullets themselves are? I found some cast ones made by a local guy and want to see how they compare dimensionally

[Ovidio]

If you allow me some time, I can tell you the exact dimensions of the military ones.
I never used Hornady‘s.
Also PPU has bullets for .268. 140 grs. Fmj, spitzer. I don‘t recall if they are also boat tail, but don‘t think so.

[MattE93]

Cheers, thanks a bunch, the dimensions of the military ones would be great. Just trying to get a ball park of around where they should be.

[bob q]

The Hornady bullet was made wrong by the "specialist " and can cause major problems . The PPU bullets are not the best quality but are not dangerous . The 123 flat base will shoot better than the 139 boat tail . The 123 will shoot ok with about any listed power and loading . Any thing from I-4895 to I-4350 .

[MattE93]

I think I am going to go with cast and use 10 grains of unique.

A guy near me makes .268” 140 gr round nose flat points that are 1.11” long. I looked at some calculators online and these should have no problem stabilizing out of the 1:9 rifling at the muzzle of my TS carbine.

I just hope the 20 hardness cast bullets can handle the gain twist rifling

[Ovidio]

Here we are!
30.0 mm exactly.
Attachment 105402
Concerning the Hornady bullets, from what I heard they were initially a tad too big, with exactly .268. Also the distribution of the copper was not correct, causing the bullet to have more trouble getting through the gain twist at the end of the barrel.
That has been changed a lot of time ago, and now many people use them.
They are just quite expensive...

[Eaglelord17]

You might want to look into powder coating the cast bullets. My understanding is it allows you to treat them basically as you would a standard FMJ round except its a cast round. Never played with it myself, but the concept has interested me.

[MattE93]

You might want to look into powder coating the cast bullets. My understanding is it allows you to treat them basically as you would a standard FMJ round except its a cast round. Never played with it myself, but the concept has interested me.

Thanks for the idea. Not looking for max pressure, the rifle these will fire out of is 121 years old so I am not looking for max pressure, just some fun plinking rounds to get some range time out of the old girl