M91 “Calvary” Carbine for my son

[browningautorifle]

Can you provide an answer to the question about dry firing.

Dry firing has never damaged a military rifle.

[oldfoneguy]

I never served Jim and I'm not about to contradict those that have. However as a retired machinist/mechanic and experienced amateur gunsmith I have seen the results of abuse to all manner of mechanical devices including firearms.

I realize dry fire is standard practice in the military but think about how many of the milsurps that you've owned where you say in your mind "I wish they never did that to this piece" no matter what the damage was. When dealing with an approximately 85 year old Italian wartime built milsurp that has come out of Ethiopia of all forsaken places, I would only advise extreme caution in all aspects of handling and use. I will always advise against what I deem as abuse to any firearm. Yes there are some that you have no choice such as certain Shotguns but in those cases I believe they were designed for it to happen regularly.

[KneverKnew]

We went to range finally and despite some sticky extraction the rifle worked fine. It beat my shoulder black and blue. Proud of my 8 year old for powering through all five of his shots. Now we have a full box of PRVI cases to load. Really hit high at 50 yards.

[Ovidio]

Hello K, that rifle has a very weird way to aim it correctly.
With the front sight folded toward the front, and using the fixed rear sight, you have a zero at 300 meters, but...
And here comes the weird thing. You must align the upper flat sides of the rear sight at the centre of the target, while the front sight must be aligned at the very lowest point of the v-notch.
At 50 meters you'll still be high, I guess, but not that high.

[tiriaq]

Take one of the fired cases and section it so that you can see whether or not there is any sign of incipient separation.
A rough chamber can cause extraction issues. If extraction is normal, don't worry about it. No point in excessive scrubbing or polishing if unnecessary. Same thing with the bore - clean it with a good fouling remover, but no need to polish it for the sake of appearance. The bore may never have been cleaned with a good metal removing solvent.

[KneverKnew]

I knew burying the front sight in the Vnotch was a method, but I would have thought you put the front sight on the center of target. The top of the rear sight would just be higher up. This would “lean” the bore down for a lower bullet strike. We will give it a try once I load up some rounds. I have the 19 PRVI (I stuck a case in the Lee set. The Lee #2 shell holder is a definite no go) so I got the hornady dies and shell holder. I also got 50 6.5 Mannlicher Schonauer cases which size down just fine.
Also have 50 Norma cases on the way. I have 50 each of the PRVI .268” FMJ’s and SP’s. I’m hoping the bore still is good enough for a decent group. I’d love my joy to take a deer this coming season with it. We shoot about 40 - 50 yards where we hunt.

[oldfoneguy]

Gey yourself some good current reloading data for the round and see how much you can download it. A lighter bullet at less velocity can help reduce recoil. Start with the lowest power lightest bullet loads in your data and check for accuracy.
You can fiddle with the load from there. Obviously you'll want full power and a heavier bullet for hunting but you have a few months yet before you have to use those again.

For myself I would want to have that chamber issue solved before I took that carbine into the field. As a point of information there are no drill scope mounts available for that model receiver. Considering how notoriously bad those sights are it may be something to consider for use as a hunting rifle. You can try thecountryshed.com they sell many milsurp no drill mounts. Many are the scout scope type.

[KneverKnew]

Gey yourself some good current reloading data for the round and see how much you can download it. A lighter bullet at less velocity can help reduce recoil. Start with the lowest power lightest bullet loads in your data and check for accuracy.
You can fiddle with the load from there. Obviously you'll want full power and a heavier bullet for hunting but you have a few months yet before you have to use those again.

For myself I would want to have that chamber issue solved before I took that carbine into the field. As a point of information there are no drill scope mounts available for that model receiver. Considering how notoriously bad those sights are it may be something to consider for use as a hunting rifle. You can try thecountryshed.com they sell many milsurp no drill mounts. Many are the scout scope type.

Thanks. I believe a scope would be longer than the rifle. LOL!! We are shooting from our back porch at a distance of about 45-50 yards. I think the iron’s will suffice. I appreciate the thought though.

[Ovidio]

You can decide if you want to reload with .264 bullets and stay on the safe side (if the bore is a tad dark but the rifling strong, also the accuracy might be more than ok. I shot quite a few Norma rounds in my Carcano, and they are loaded with .264 bullets.
Or you can use the .268 bullets. But the gain twist barrel causes some headaches sometimes. A wrong powder could cause the pressure to go up. Look for good reloading data if you can.
For what matters, I use 37,0 grs of W760 and a MLR primer and the results are great. Just too bad that powder is unobtanium here...
I don't know if you have it there, but there is another powder used by lots of Carcano shooters, the Tubal 5000. I don't have the reloading data in my head, but I have a reloading manual with them in. If you want, just let me know here or per PM.

Enjoy the little Italian rascal!

[Sapper740]

I'm sorry, I fought it as long as I could but the anal side of me won out. Cavalry.