Carcano conversions.

[sav300]

Mate has a Carcano with a deadful bore and looks like a slight twist to the barrel.
Looking for suggestion as to a conversion to another calibre,with the same base size.
Thanks.

[kycrawler]

I have 2 in 8x57 mauser they were converted by the germans I think for the peoples guard

[Frank46]

Two cartridges come to mind. 7.62x39 and the 35 Remington. There was a lengthy post with excellent pics done by one of the members here that showed the step by step work he did converting a carcano to 7.62x39 using one of the single stack 10 round magazines from one of the ak-47's that used such magazines. Last time I was at Cabela's I found in their magazine boxes two of the single shot mags which were marked Romania at $5 each.Frank

[Ballistics in Scotland]

The one that comes to my mind is the 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schoenauer. As long as "another caliber" doesn't mean a strong preference for different bore dimensions, of course. A lot of people don't realize how close they are to actually being the same cartridge, and I think it is pretty well guaranteed that the 6.5x54 would feed with the Carcano clips, which unlike some are available, e.g. from http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Manufacturers/Carcano-33174/1891-35653.htm?page=4 . The same should apply if your Carcano is the 7.5mm. version.

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't the German 7.92mm. conversion do away with that beautifully machined magazine? It is a feature of the Carcano and many Mannlichers which I really like, for it serves as a useful palm-rest in a deliberate standing shot.

Your barrel will need replacing. Stress-relieving after barrel straightening would probably have been good enough for inserting a barrel iiner, but I think these would be hard to get in 6.5mm. For somebody with a good Carcano barrel I would recommend setting back the barrel by one thread and rechambering, which would take care of the very slight difference in the chamber. (I think the cartridges might be interchanged without mishap in some cases.) But a new barrel would take care of the slight oversize of Carcano groove diameters. (How much harm this would do you with ordinary commercial .264 bullets probably depends on the jacket thickness, weight and a flat base.

The Carcano gain twist barrel doesn't exactly revolutionize its performance, with the military ammunition loaded more lightly than it needs to be. But it is interesting. Anybody shortening the long Carcano rifle this way would be limited to much lighter bullets than the military load, as he would have cut off the place where the rifling is fast enough for these.

The 6.5x54 MS is an excellent cartridge, and surprisingly effective on heavy game, although its legendary use on elephant was by specialist ivory hunters who knew the business very well. Some will tell you the long throat makes it unsuitable for lighter or pointed bullets than the standard 160gr. But this photograph shows two bullets I used in my Mannlicher-Schoenauer, supported by a caliper set at the land diameter. One is the 160gr. Hornady softpoint, and the other a commercial clone of the 130gr. Swedish military bullet. The rifling would contact them at exactly the same distance from the base.

[nekshot]

carcano's are simply fun project guns. Can put the 357's thru them, the older 25,30,35 remmies in them, the carcano case forms into a 225 very nicely and of course the 7.62x39. Their trigger will clean up to be the best trigger I have used on milsurps. Easy to restock and if you do your own work not alot of money. Nice light weight gun from my perspective! I can not show pictures because I am too shtupid to work this newer computer.

[troyboy]

Thing is,they arn't so cheap these days.

[Hang Fire]

I prefer the 7.35x51 as they are most often found with near perfect bores, due to having been fired very little, if at all. I like it loaded with 150 grain cast boolit from Lyman 300136 mold.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y92/TANSTAAFL-2/P1010011.jpg (http://s3.photobucket.com/user/TANSTAAFL-2/media/P1010011.jpg.html)

I made a custom .302" lubrisizer die for it.

[WILCO]

Thing is,they arn't so cheap these days.

That's true.

[WILCO]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?75056-convert-a-Carcano-to-7-62X39

[merlin101]

Thing is,they arn't so cheap these days.

What is?

[Artful]

What is?
Carcano's

Going rate is $200 to $400 now a days from what I have seen.