Milsurp After Hours

I am still waiting for the paperwork to collect my M1941 Carcano so I thought I would post a few pics of my M38 in 7.35mm. It is a nice handy rifle if a little, shall we say, unsophisticated. The clips I have are not the best and cause a few feeding proplems. Anyone know a source of Carcano clips in the UK? I have never seen another one of these on the range in the UK. Does anyone else have one?

A few pics.

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The butt with the stamp to tell you that it is not a 6.5mm rifle.

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The fixed sight with calibre marking.

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Barrel stamps. They stamped the proof marks over some original marks. The arsenal is Terni. The Roman numerals next to the date signify how long Mussolini had been in power.

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The slot in the barrel band and stock is to take the blade of the folding bayonet.

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I am looking forward to getting the 6.5mm to go with this one.

Regards

Peter

Neat weapon, most of the ones I have seen were pretty grungy looking.

Can anyone think of any other fixed sight rifles from the same era?

If you can't find any clips over there, let me know they seem to be available here anywhere from $2 to $6 a piece.

Mine is grungy, like Brass Rat said. It was converted during WWII to the same round as the German 8mm. Think it was an effort to cut down on ammo supply problems. It has been pretty much shaved of proof marks during the remake. Moshettoo TS is the official name.

This one came from Springfield Sporters in 1999 for $62.50. No clips.

I have fired it with some old, possible too high power, suplus Turk Ammo loading one round at a time. Shoots pretty good actually. No more kick than a M44 Nagant and less than a Mannlicher carbine.

There was some kind of marking on the butt stock in paint. These were , according to Springfield Sporters, part of a haul found somewhere in North Africa.

Notice how the sling has different attachments than the original and maybe restocked too. And there is the bolt through the stock to possibly give it a little more strength.

that is one nice looking Carcano how does it shoot ?

...but it shoots OK. The bore is bright and not pitted. Not having a sight to adjust means you have to aim high or low to change point of impact which is not the best way to get a consistant result if you are aiming at a patch of white somewhere between the black and the bottom or top of the target.

Regards

Peter.

Nice rifle Peter, I have never seen a M38 in the metal, only on Captain Corellis Mandolin. If your M41 is as tasty as the M38 you are a lucky chap.

Can`t help with the chargers but i see that Krankies is advertising PPU 6.5 Carcano brass at £36 a 100.

What do you do for 7.35 brass BTW?

Joe

To get 7.35mm brass you just run 6.5 Carcano brass through the 7.35mm die. The Lee die has a tapered expander to expand the neck to 7.35mm. Trim a mm off and you are ready to go. The bullets are more of a problem. The 7.35mm takes .300 bullets. The bullets I have used have come from Henry Krank. They had a bunch of 7.35mm ammo that had been dismantled and I bought 200 odd rounds and used the pulled bullets. I have about run out now and will have to see if they still have some left. Otherwise, it will mean getting a sizing die and squeezing .308 bullets down to .300. Loading data came from an old Lyman manual. I just loaded up 50 rounds for it last week.

Regards

peter.