7.35 Carcano

[JohnK]

I was given a little Carcano several years ago and never really paid much attention to it till I saw some discussion on here about them recently. I took it out and gave it a good going over and was surprised to see its in excellent condition with a bright bore, strong rifling (after some elbow grease and lots of Hoppes #9) and probably 95% original bluing.

I want to reload for it and have a few questions. I see Lee has a 7MM mold that casts .305, 130 grain boolits (90766). I slugged the bore and it mics .3005. What I am thinking of doing is having Lee make me a .301 sizing kit??? Or would I be better off with a .302??? Also will 30 caliber gas checks work and will I be able to install them with the Lee sizing kit? I have absolutely no experience with gas checks and Lee sizing kits.

I really want to reload and shoot for this little rifle. I think it will make a good rifle to introduce my grandson to high power rifles. My 45 2.4 would probably be a little much for him to start out with :smile: .

I would really appreciate any help you guys may offer.

[45 2.1]

I don't think that LEE 7mm mold casts at that diameter, you had better check it out before you go any further. Hornady used to make a jacketed bullet for this caliber, but the cast molds available are very hard to get. Maybe a board member (Buckshot) can supply you some. The cartridge is quite fussy about what size bullet you can chamber versus what you need to get it to shoot, at least mine was before I got rid of the entire caliber.

[JohnK]

I was looking at the ballistic coeffecient :( Guess I'll have to go with the 30 caliber at .309. Yeah, I know its probably gonna be somewhat a pain to load for but I would still like to try. Thanks for your quick reply 45.

[45 2.1]

The old Lyman bullet mold for the 7.35 weighed in at about 146 gr. If you pick a 30 cal to size down get one with narrower bands to help with the squash when you size it down. It would probably be better to get a push thru to size them down also.

[Buckshot]

..............Hey JohnK! I think the Italian Carcano's are vastly underappreciated rifles and carbines. Since your's is 7.35mm it would be a model 1938 or M38. Italy shipped most of these to Finnland as aid against the Soviets. The Finns issued these short rifles to rear echelon troops. If you check the reciever ring you may find a small boxed "SA" mark, meaning Finnish army property. If unmarked then it's less common.

The Carcano reciever, while obviously dated in design (1891) was very well thought out and was constructed of top quality materials. The reciever ring is larger in OD then the so called large ring M98 Mausers. Like those, the Carcano also has an internal ring the breechface butts against. In addition, not only does this ring encircle the bolt face but the barrel breech extends into this ring and also encircles the boltface.

The dual opposed locking lugs are heavier then the Mausers, and the left one is not split to allow passage of an ejector. The negatives to the action are a split action bridge and mid-bolt handle placement. This makes centerline scope mounting impossible and ditto reciever sights. The rifle also requires the packet clip to operate as a repeater. Due to the design of the extractor, it really doesn't lend itself to use as a single shot.

Something else less then endearing to us used to silky smooth bolt cocking and operation is that the Carcano's bolt requires deliberate operation. Recruits were admonished not to baby them and to operate the bolt 'With Gusto'. The safety is somewhat hard to put on and take off and there is no aftermarket replacement.

Something neither good nor bad, but different was sight treatment. The sights on this rifle are fixed, which in itself isn't bad. People used to the fine Buffington sight of the Springfield, or the Garand, not to leave out the nice sights of the SMLE or P17 & 14 among others, may have a tendancy to sneer at these simple things. After all they don't display the ability (however unlikely) of being able to use them to 1600 yards or more.

I have a tendancy to think the Italians were really on to something though. At the end of WW2 answering questionaires from the various departments, reports made to ordnance by company grade officers said they very seldom, if at all ever saw their troops adjusting thier sights. Especially NOT in combat. I think the Italians realized fixed sights were the least likely to cause problems (plus cheaper) and they could be utilized to the ranges common to infantry firefights.

The M38 like the other fixed sight Carcanos were intended to be used with the front blade buried in the rear V for close in targets. The front blade was allowed to raise in the V as ranges increased. With the front blade equal in height to the top of the rear V you were assured a hit on a human type target to 400 yards. A note though was that some of the M38's had their front sight blades changed by the Finns to be taller, so to be used the same as thier various M91's. Ie: front blade equal in height to the ears of the rear 'V'.

If not done and you'd like to, simply apply some epoxy to the blade and then file to shape and height. I did that to mine so it's be in the 10 ring at 50 yards. Basicly about 4" above POA.

The 7.35 Carcano jacketed slug in military ammo mikes about .298". Rather uncommon to military rifles as a group, is the fact that the chambers were held very tightly to spec and chamber necks are tight, as are the throats in these rifles. There only 2 cartidge case makers for the Carcano, Norma and the European made brass exclusive to Graf & Son. I would suggest the Graf brass as it's great stuff. The Norma is notoriously expensive, and it also has a rather thick rim which sometimes can cause feeding problems.

My M38 has a .301" groove and a .290" bore. I made a .302" push through die to make 30 cal cast slugs useable. The throat in my rifle is almost .301" and the .302" slugs get scuffed in the the throat. Since the noses of the 150gr Lee slugs I've used run right at .300", you have to seat them a bit deeper in the case then you might like. Ideally you'd have a 2 diameter size die to run the slug up into to make a .291"x .301" boolit.

http://www.fototime.com/9C06A0D0704C216/standard.jpg
This is my M38. At the time thephoto was taken it had an incorrect straight bolt from a much earlier rifle. It's been replaced with a correct bent bolt from Springfield Sporters. I paid $75 for this short rifle.

http://www.fototime.com/802765D10573352/standard.jpg
This is a M91/38 Moschetto Truppe Especiali in the original 6.5x52 cartridge. It's a cute little thing, and was a post war production item by Beretta. It looks unissued in all respects. Almost need a holster for it. It's no problem to hold it out with one hand at arms length and shoot it. I paid $75 for this one too.

http://www.fototime.com/E0A1B5840281F81/standard.jpg
A 7.35x51 with the Hornaday 128gr SP. These are Norma cases and you might be able to tell in the photo that the necks have been turned? In order to chamber them with a .302" slug it's a have to. Tight chambers!

http://www.fototime.com/058EDB5DDBDF445/standard.jpg
Results of the first outting at the range with the M38. The slug was the Lee C309-150F sized down to .302". These were shot at 50 yards. Some of the groups aren't real spectacular and some aren't bad. Several of these groups (5, 6, 7, & 8 ) were approching or were over 2000 fps. I've had much worse showings with other rifles the first time out!

.................Buckshot