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Model 91/38 Fucile Corto (Short Rifle). Manufactured 1941, Terni. Caliber 6.5 x 52mm

For the sake of this post, I do not want to discuss whether or not a man could shoot this rifle three times within 5 to 6 seconds and hit a moving target at approximately 80 – 90 yards. I am not here to provide my opinions on assassination and conspiracy theories. There are literally hundreds of websites and blogs out there on the interweb where those discussions can be had.

For this post, I would like to talk about MY new/old rifle.

Much has been said about this little rifle, both good and bad. From some who say it can’t hit the side of a barn at 10 paces to those who say it is a tack driver at 100 yards. Much of that argument has to do with the ammunition being fired through the rifle. The factory ammo usually comes loaded with .264 diameter round-nose bullets while the rifle generally has a .268 diameter bore. From everything I have seen and read on the interweb, if you hand load or know someone who hand loads and you load your cartridges with .268 diameter bullets rather than .264 diameter bullets, you can achieve stellar accuracy from this rifle. I have yet to fire mine as I just received it yesterday, so I’ll let you know what I can do with it when the time comes.

Let me cover some basic history. The rifle known as the Carcano was designed by Salvatore Carcano in 1890 and was manufactured from 1891 through 1945. Because of wartime needs, there were 11 known factories that produced the Carcano rifles at some point in its history. It was most commonly manufactured for the 6.5 x 52mm cartridge although for a short period of time there were some manufactured for the 7.35 x 51mm cartridge. Some were even converted to 8 x 57 mm Mauser by Isreal. After the end of WWII many rifles were recovered and reassembled from parts so to find one now with matching serial numbers (as mine has), while not altogether rare, is still rather unusual.

Since I just picked up my rifle yesterday let me share my initial impressions. The rifle is actually in much better condition than I anticipated. Buying from GunBroker.com you can never really be sure of what you are getting but the seller described it in “poor” condition. Taking it out of the box at the gun store I can tell you that I, Aaron, and the 3 guys working in the store at the time would all tell you that this rifle is far from being in “poor” condition. Yes, there is a small amount of rust on the barrel, not at all unusual for a rifle almost 75 years old. While I was waiting for the rifle to come I was imagining that I was going to have to strip all of the metal down to white and re-blue it, now I do not believe I will need to do that at all.

Normally on these old Carcano’s the bolt is sticky and does not fit well because they were pieced together and an ill-fitting bolt was placed in the rifle. I cannot say for sure but I suspect that mine may have the original bolt because the bolt on my rifle is smooth as glass. Not only that, but the trigger pull is better than any modern rifle that has a lawyer trigger on it. I would estimate that it would come in at about 5 to 6 pounds of crisp, no-travel, trigger pull.

The wood bears clean serial number and inspector marks. The barrel shows clear manufacturers marks as well as the year of manufacture. It is quite possible that this rifle never saw action in the war as many of the Terni rifles were shipped to Finland to be used by security forces and legend has it that the Finish security forces did not like the rifles and laid them aside in favor of battlefield pick up rifles.

So this is what I believe is in the future for my rifle. I will completely strip it and check all internal and external parts. It will need to be de-gunked of the thick old grease on the bolt and receiver so I will probably de-grease all of the metal parts. At this point I will decide what I will do about the finish on the steel, whether to re-blue it or possibly just do a cold blue touch up. I may replace the firing pin spring just because of the age of the spring and because a new one is only $5.00.

The wood is in good condition for a rifle of its age and history and I do not want to destroy any of the inspector or manufacturers marks so I probably will just clean the wood and give it a coat of lemon oil or linseed oil.

At that point, I should be able to locate some ammunition and some stripper clips and take her to the range to see what she will do. I don’t plan on shooting her on a regular basis and she will make a great wall-hanger/conversation piece, but for me just imagining the history of what this rifle has been through in the past 75 years is quite intriguing all by itself.

I will post more as I delve into the cleaning and refinishing of this rifle, and of course, there will be more pictures.

Tags: 6.5, 91/38, Carcano, Terni

3 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

FeaturedPermalink Reply by Charles Sample on October 12, 2014 at 17:05

Great post and a great rifle Data!

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on October 12, 2014 at 17:12

Data,

I am amazed that first you thought to bring a project like this together.I think it is a fantastic way to spend time with Aaron and for him to learn side by side with you about this gun. It is something he will long remember and I think it will ensure this rifle has found a family. Please keep us updated as the progress goes along, this is the first time I have heard of these and it gives me a chance to learn along with you both

Permalink Reply by Bob Robinson on October 12, 2014 at 17:27

Nice little rifle. I know nothing about it, but great to read and learn from the discussion.

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on October 12, 2014 at 19:27

The round was considered unstable and underpowered during WWII due to the rounded nose on the bullet and the lower velocity of other main battle rifles. The carbine version (what you are picturing) was accurate to 200 meters with iron sights and was devastating to soft tissue because it had a tendency to tumble once it went in the body. It might bounce off 1/4 slab or hardened steel but you didn't want to get hit with it.

Most of the negative feed back on the rifle is due to conspiracy theorists. (That and the general negative opinion of Italian weapons during WWII. But the negativity for Italian weapons should be limited to the their light machine guns, their need to employ machine gun carriers in the roll of light tanks (they knew it was a bad idea!)

The Germans equipped entire Regiments Carcano Rifles, Beretta Pistols, 8mm Breda Medium MGs, and M1938 Beretta SMGs for their anti-partisan operations in Greece and the Balkans. In short this Rifle is nothing to sneeze at, especially at ranges where combat normally takes place.

Permalink Reply by Ms Data on October 28, 2014 at 22:10

Update Oct. 28, 2014. I have received a box of ammo, 2 clips, and a bottle of Blue Wonder gun cleaner. I sat in my living room Sunday while I was watching football pushing a cleaning rod with a phosphor-bronze brush soaked with the Blue Wonder through the barrel. To recap, the barrel was in bad shape when it arrived. Much dirt and possible rust inside the barrel. When I went to push the first 6.5mm brush through the barrel it got stuck and I had to pound it out with a rubber hammer. That told me there was a lot more dirt/rust in the barrel than I realized. I then moved down to a .22 brush until I got enough crud out of the barrel that the 6.5mm brush would fit. After scrubbing and soaking and scrubbing and soaking for the entire length of the football game my arm finally had enough. I sprayed some G-96 down that barrel and set it aside for round two. I think my arm saw as much work as Russell Wilson's during the game.

Now, the barrel IS much, much better, there is no argument there. In all my life of cleaning guns I have never seen patches come out of a barrel looking as black and disgusting as some of those patches. I now can see a fairly clean, shiny barrel but I will continue to clean it with the Blue Wonder until I can get clean patches coming out the other end. If you ever need to clean a truly dirty and rusty bore I now can highly recommend the Blue Wonder gun cleaner. It does the job. However, I pretty much trashed my only 6.5mm brush so now I need to get a new brush or two to finish the job. That's ok, my arm needs a rest for a little while.

That's all for now. Once I get the barrel clean I will move on to taking the bolt apart and cleaning it from the inside out. This promises to be a new adventure I am sure. I will keep you posted.

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on October 29, 2014 at 8:17

with all that crud and rust are you sure it is going to be safe to shoot once it is cleaned?

Permalink Reply by Ms Data on October 29, 2014 at 21:21

It is a good point Tobias and I am not seeing the barrel pitted at all, just horribly neglected. A friend of mine is an excellent gunsmith though and I will have him check it before I ever decide to fire it.

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on October 29, 2014 at 21:29

glad to hear that. We all know it is worth a lot more if it can fire but it isn't worth serious injury or death to find out! Might need to remote fire from a bench first.

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