Anyone shoot a Carcano M38s 8mm with cast boolits?

[wellfedirishman]

Recently a nice little Carcano M38s in 8mm Mauser came my way. It looks in rather nice shape with good wood (aside from a crack in the buttstock) and very clean bore. I suspect it was shot once with factory ammo which cracked the buttstock and the shooter's shoulder, and got put away.

Does anyone shoot these with cast boolits? I know you are supposed to have a special clip to feed cartridges from into the chamber. I should have one coming in the mail soon.

It has fixed sights so regulating the load to the point of aim should be fun. It is a very handy little carbine.

I haven't slugged the bore, does anyone what bore size these are, and what shoots well in them? I have the Lee 175 grain 8mm mold to play with.

[Rick459]

http://personal.stevens.edu/~gliberat/carcano/ammo/reload_data.html#8
http://www.carbinesforcollectors.com/carcano.htm
http://personal.stevens.edu/~gliberat/carcano/models.html

[wellfedirishman]

Thanks Rick, that is very helpful. Tons of good information there.

[milsurp mike]

I had a Carcano in 8mm mauser.I reduced loads by 20 percent for jacketed to be on the safe side.The Carcano action doesnt do well with full house 8mm ammo.Should be a good cast boolit Rifle.Mike

[Rick459]

wellfedirishman,
i left out this important link if you plan on shooting a converted 8mm carcano..
http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?243111-Seriously-can-I-shoot-8mm-in-my-Carcano

[wellfedirishman]

Thanks Rick, this would be with fairly mild cast loads only. My shoulder would not appreciate a full-house 8mm surplus load through this little carbine :)

I am thinking around 175 grain boolit moving at 1200 fps, nice and light. 10 gr of Trailboss should be about right.

[junkbug]

I am virtually positive any clip you can buy for a carcano will be for the 6.5mm or 7.35mm Italian service cartridges. they are similar enough to each other to use the exact same en-bloc clip. The 7.9mm Mauser cartridge is too wide to work in it. That is the legacy of these M38S carbines; basically single shot only.

Some people have, with mixed success, taken the standard clip, and re-bent it in a vice so as to work in these carbines. I have not, so I cant help there. Maybe others can.

Good luck. I've wanted one of these for a while now.