A Coattail thread to "New fixer-upper 1891 Carcano Cavalry Carbine"

[jmoore]

Found in the "Restorer's Corner" Forum , Aragorn243 started a good thread on refurbishing a Carcano.

Link below:
New fixer-upper 1891 Carcano Cavalry Carbine

His actions were in mind when I found a similar M38 Carbine of 1942 vintage recently.

Haven't had much time to work with it, but here's some early photos.

Shiny!:








Thought the screw was too short, but the drama is elsewhere. Note the sanding and "plastic wood" filler in the stock's dings. Also, note the lack of glare on the circa 1943's (RH) finish...



I particularly like the combination of shellac/varnish and grease in the inletting. Could be worse, though! Not too much old crud.

Will add more as time permits.

[Midmichigun]

Will add more as time permits.

Ummm... I hope you are not planning on adding more shellac/ varnish and grease in the inletting!

Seriously, though, looks like you have your work cut out for you!
However, I do like that rifle! How do you plan on handling the plastic filler???

[jmoore]

How do you plan on handling the plastic filler???

It turns out that the "non toxic" paint stripper (Which smells worse than any other paint remover I've ever tried!) also did a good job getting out the filler. Most of the grease as well.

Have applied the first coat of raw linseed oil- waiting for it to soak in well. Seems that the wood isn't as "thirsty" as most.

This is a mixmaster carbine- the stock's S/N doesn't match the barrel, and won't be as a good example as Aragorn243's, but it just was crying out for a bit of help. As if I needed another project! But it'll get sorted and range tested. If it shoots better than the other M38 carbine I might keep it.

[Aragorn243]

It doesn't look as bad as mine did to start off. Hope it shoots better than mine did with the Privi Partisan. I have a box and a half to go make noise with one of these days, then I can reload it and see what it is capable of.