there are a lot of old carcano rifles out there and a lot of disbarging remarks about accuracy, safety and quality ,.The truth is the carcano was in service with Italian army for over 60 years .It was ahead of its time whene introduced in 1891 .these rifles with proper reloads are as accurate as any military rifle as far as safety it is as strong as our 1903 springfield or the german mauser I am agunsmith with over 30 years of experiance .and serious collector of military arms have fired thousands of rounds 6.5 carcano out of a random sampling of carcanos I have determed that the M91 and m41 infantry rifles are very accurate the m41s being the most accurate with 264 dia.Sierra 140 gn. bullet.Two M41s one marked FAT41 the other FAT43 averaged 2inchgroups cosistantly at 200 yards.thats as good if not better than whole lot of rifles out there. Have not fired the Honady 268 dia bullets yet but I see no reason to as what I have works fine .I would also liketo note .Thathe M91 and the two m41 were probably the best off hand prctical shooters I have ever fired at 300 yards and 400 yards after 100 round85% hits on 30 inch dia steel plate these were very effective combat weapons in there day .they were dangerous junk

I don't have a huge amount of experience with the Mannlicher-Carcano, just handled and shot them on occasion. Most everybody slams the M91 action, and the cartdidge. Funny thing is, the 6.5x54 Mannlicher Schoenauer, which has an almost cult like following is almost identical to the 6.5 Carcano. Some folks even go so far as to say that Ritter Von Mannlicher "borrowed" the 6.5 Carcano, and made some very minor dimensional changes.
I do know the Italians used the M91 for NATO rifle matches well into the 1960s.
The M91s I looked at and slugged did need a .268 bullet, I believe. For those who sneer at the accuracy, ask yourself what your pet M1A would do if it were shooting bullets of .304 diameter instead of .308.
I agree with the above post....for the most part the M91 Carcano has gotten a very undeserved bad reputation in the US.

Suppose Lee Harvey Oswald had something to do with that.

Geeze, everytime I bring up the little carcano I usually get flamed and bashed about the head over it. Where are the carcano police now?

Geeze, everytime I bring up the little carcano I usually get flamed and bashed about the head over it. Where are the carcano police now?


Matter of preference; I've no problem with the folks who like Carcanos. As far as military rifles go, it will work about as well as most others.. There are uglier rifles.

I have always liked the Carcano, looks and handling. In fact I bought one from Klein's about the same time as LHO. The problem I heard was that the firing pin only had screw threads holding it in and it could come out the back of the action. Is there any truth to this?

[QUOTE]Suppose Lee Harvey Oswald had something to do with that.


Not to the general public! To them, a gun is a gun is a gun! To most casual shooters, a military rifle is "one of them old army rifles". They don't know a military rifle from shinola...

Do remember the news media of the immediate post-assassination decribing the gun as "junky", "cheap", but they did mention it as an italian Carcano...so even some non-gun people made the connection.


Believe the firming pin isn't well locked into the bolt..but the Carcano is certainly not the only military rifle with that problem.

I do believe I'd rather shoot the Carcano rather then the Ross.

Still remember the fear of shooting Japanese rifles after WWII. Those made toward the end of the war were truly junk. Those prior to and at the beginning of the war had one of the strongest Mauser actions ever built.

Back then, the rule was "don't shoot that thing - you'll put your eye out!"

Still remember the fear of shooting Japanese rifles after WWII. Those made toward the end of the war were truly junk. Those prior to and at the beginning of the war had one of the strongest Mauser actions ever built.

Back then, the rule was "don't shoot that thing - you'll put your eye out!"

Can assemble a Ross wrong, bolt not really locked, and have the bolt blow out the back...can assemble a P-38 or Nambu pistol without the part that does the locking, but they usually just beat themsevles into crap rather than blow up....were a whole bunch of rifles converted to 8X57 in the last moths of WWII that shouldn't have been...cast iron Jap. training rifles mistaken for "real" actions. Add to this the fact that many of the surplus rifles had seen decades of hard use and sometimes abuse.

Yep..are several rifles I'd not fire...but a good condition Carcano fed correct ammo isn't one of them.

there are a lot of old Carcano rifles out there and a lot of disparaging remarks about accuracy, safety and quality ,.The truth is the Carcano was in service with Italian army for over 60 years .It was ahead of its time when introduced in 1891 .these rifles with proper reloads are as accurate as any military rifle as far as safety it is as strong as our 1903 Springfield or the German Mauser I am a gunsmith with over 30 years of experience .and serious collector of military arms have fired thousands of rounds 6.5 Carcano out of a random sampling of Carcano I have determined that the M91 and m41 infantry rifles are very accurate the m41s being the most accurate with 264 dia.Sierra 140 gn. bullet.Two M41s one marked FAT41 the other FAT43 averaged 2inchgroups consistently at 200 yards.thats as good if not better than whole lot of rifles out there. Have not fired the Hornady 268 dia bullets yet but I see no reason to as what I have works fine .I would also like to note .That he M91 and the two m41 were probably the best off hand practical shooters I have ever fired at 300 yards and 400 yards after 100 round85% hits on 30 inch dia steel plate these were very effective combat weapons in there day .they were dangerous junk

The Carcano did perform good service in WWI and WWII. I have several including one with "SA" markings that was acquired by Finland and may have served against the Russians.

It is interesting that the Madsen (Danish) bolt action rifles made after WWII and sold to Columbia were based in the Carcano action and were chambered in .30-06. All the best...
Gil

I got a M1891 Fucile 1918 dated Terni for Christmas...probably won't shoot her much...ammo costly (6.5...20 rds Hornady $19.95!)