My Beretta Civilian Carcano

[13bravo]

Just thought I'd share some pictures of my Beretta made Civilian Carcano.

Information

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[westkraut]

Nice wee rifle.......and Beretta made. I have 4 Carcano carbines now and soon to get a similar small rifle with full stock.....British conversion probably for police try outs in post WW2 period. Also have a scoped sporter in 6.5x54MS that a former owner really improved with double gold plated triggers, re-blued and nicer stock. Have you used yours at the range yet? Hunted? What ammo are you using?

[13bravo]

I haven't fired this particular rifle yet. For the most part I shoot the Prvi for the brass, and I have a bunch of old surplus to tear apart for the bullets.
I had a neutered cavalry carbine(milled off bayonet) that actually shot the Prvi somewhat decently, and my other Terni 91/28 won't hit the broad side of a barn with the Prvi. The next gun show I'll try and pick up some Hornady ammo for it.

[Aragorn243]

What makes it a civilian carcano? It looks like military to me, bayonet lug and all.

[13bravo]

From my understanding, what they call a civilian Carcano actually went to something like the Police, which wasn't actually part of the military. You can easily tell a civilian version from a military by the serial number. On the civilians their are no Prefix letters to the actual serial number, and some of them have the serial numbers stamped in other parts of the rifle, which generally wasn't done on the military rifles.
I was told on another forum that the Fascists did go into the Police stations and take any rifles they wanted for the military. That is supposedly why this one has a Made in Italy import stamp on it.

I have also noticed on the few civilians I have seen, that the serial number and date markings are generally opposite than what the military version are. Usually the date is on the right side of the barrel, and the serial is on the left side.

[Aragorn243]

Good to know. I'd never heard about that before.

[cmonster]

Howdy, 13bravo,

I was curious about how much you know about these rifles. I inherited one from my Dad and so far haven't found good specifics for what I have. There is a Wikipedia article for Carcanos, but dates and other information just wasn't as close as I was hoping.

Mine has a 1931 date stamp on the back left of the barrel behind the adjustable rear site. Serial number is on the right side. "Beretta" is stamped on top of the barrel in the same area behind the rear sight.

On the butt of the rifle, there is lettering that says "P. Beretta" and "Cardone V.T." near as I can make out. It's not force stamped into the butt like your pictures show...but it's in the same general area. It looks like it may have been inked or lightly burned into the stock. There is also the same serial number that is on the barrel listed below the Beretta logo/lettering.

It looks like it's missing a cleaning rod that would fit into a hole at the front end of the wooden stock. It reminded me of the way an AK-47 cleaning rod is stuck into the stock in that same area. There does not appear to be any bayonet lugs. There are two holes at the bottom of the stock at the very back where a sling mounting probably was. The cross hatching on the stock where the shooter's right hand would be placed looks like it was done by hand and sort of rough looking.

The wooden stock is actually in fairly decent shape and rather shiny for such an old rifle. The pictures I've seen so far of other models look beat to heck like they've seen much rough use. It's also really short. Just a hair over 35 inches. The barrel is 16 inches to just behind the rear sight and the barrel and bolt together are 23 and 3/4 inches long. It seems like the date, lengths, and most other details of the rifle just don't fit in the descriptions I've seen so far. I haven't seen a caliber marking anywhere on the rifle.

It looks like there were 3 or more different calibers these Carcanos were set up to shoot depending on who used them. I'd love to shoot this rifle and get used to it, but not knowing what caliber it is and if the thing is even able to shoot is a major concern.

If you might have some insight on the rifle or where I can find out some details, I'd be more than grateful. I haven't taken any pictures of it yet, but I'll be glad to post some here if that would help. That would probably be better than my rambling descriptions. Probably the closest match I've seen is the shortened cavalry model. I'm kind of thinking this one might be one of those civilianized models you mentioned earlier in the thread.

Thanks for posting the great pictures of the model you have. That was great to see one with some basic similarities to mine! Thanks also in advance for any input or advice you might have!

[Patrick Chadwick]

"Cardone V.T."

It's actually "Gardone V.T." V.T: stands for Val Trompia. Since the decline of Brescia as a manufacturing area for guns, Gardone is the "hotspot" for guns, being not only the center of a cluster of gunmakers, especially the BP-replica industry, but also the location of the Italian National Proof House

http://www.bancoprova.it/index.php/en/home.html

[Aragorn243]

I think photos would help immensely. Hard to put all those measurements and such into any good order without searching through data books. Photos can narrow it down pretty fast.

[Seamie]

Is 195 USD a good price for a civilian Beretta Carcano carbine? I saw one in a shop for that price. The stock was in very good condition. Slight discoloration on the bolt.