6.5 carcano "square" boolit

[x101airborne]

just slugged my 6.5 cacano and found it is a 4 land and 4 groove bbl. Makes a "square" boolit! anyway, my barrel slugged at .2697 at the widest. put a headspace gauge in it and it is a normal to tight chamber. looking at available boolit designs, i am looking into the boolits for the 270 winchester and maybe sizing them to .271. Anyone have any suggestions? comments? cconcerns? opinions? experience? ESPECIALLY does anyone have a box clip for this rifle they are not going to use? i like the carcano and may have my 7 year old use it next year for deer / hogs. I appreciate any words of wisdom.

[Andy_P]

Any of the 270 (0.277") boolits will size down nicely to 0.271" (along with their gas check). You might even find that the 6.5mm "Cruise Missile" custom Lee mold that MidSouth sells for less than $20 might drop large enough to suffice. "Buckshot" can make you a custom Lee Style Push-Through sizer too.

[epj]

Used to cast for a Carcano, bout 40+ years back. I found the boolits needed to be very hard. Something about gain twist rifling and the softer boolits not gripping well. YMMV.

[HORNET]

There is some discussion on stability problems using the Cruise Missile in Carcanos. Check down in the CB Loads/Military Rifles Forum.

[JeffinNZ]

The CM in my Carcano is stable. If it wasn't it would not shoot 2 MOA @ 100m. It just has a wobbly bottom and creates oval holes.

[HangFireW8]

It might help to qualify whether experiences are with long (Model 91) or short (Model 91/38) or non-gain-twist Model 41.

[JIMinPHX]

I've been messing with a 6.5mm Carcano recently. The bore dimensions on this one are just about exactly the same as what you have (which is like .006" over nominal). Factory ammo shot terribly & fouled badly for me. I just got that rifle to shoot well with low velocity cast the other day.

I used a shortened version of the cruise missile that Geargnasher made up for me in a mold that he shaved down by hand. His boolits are about 1.07" long & stabilized well, even though I was shooting at very low velocities. The shortened (1.07") CM weighed in around 150 grains. The full sized CM is about 1.25" long. Raw boolit diameter on the CM boolits that I have seen from 2 different molds have been .2710-.2715" in diameter. I sized to .270" before loading. I seated to a COAL of 2.92" with the short CM which kept the gas check just inside the case neck. They fed well from the clip, as long as the follower was working properly & actually pushing the cartridges up where they belonged. Those clips are a little temperamental & they are getting harder to find.

Saeco also makes a mold (#264?) that should work well for that caliber, but probably not in your particular gun. It's a pointed bore rider that is about the same length as the shortened CM. Unfortunately, the example of it that I have seen dropped a boolit with driving bands that were around .267" & that's going to be a bit small for your barrel.

The brass in that caliber is getting hard to find too. Norma brass is available, but it goes for around $1.50/each. Privi Partisan (sp?) still loads ammo in that caliber that may have boxer brass, but I haven't tried any yet. I've been taking Berdan surplus cases & boring out the bases to accept a #209 shotshell primer. So far, so good with that using low pressure loads.

The twists in those guns can to vary. Faster twists will stabilize longer boolits. A quick cleaning rod with tight fitting patch test showed about a 1:9.5" twist on the one that I'm messing with.

The surplus ammo that I had to work with had round nose bullets that were .266" diameter & 1.19" long.

Hopefully, in a week or two I'll manage to work up some load data at reasonable rifle velocities & be able to add a little more useful info here.

I think that is a great choice for a youth deer gun. It's a short, handy little rifle that hits plenty hard & doesn't kick that bad. I like the sights on them too. They're good for a quick elevation estimation if you need to take a fast shot at an unexpected range.

Just remind him not to step on the clip when it drops out of the bottom of the gun after he chambers the last round.

[x101airborne]

Wow, Jim. Thanks. I would love to hear about your findings with your loads. i have the short carcano with the octognal section just forward of the reciever. not sure what model it is. I got 10 rounds of ammo with the rifle for around 45.00, so that is all the brass i currently have. My boy will only be taking shots under around 50 yards. We stalk hunt hogs in thick brush and occasionally run across a deer worth fooling with, but not often. I was thinking about getting a 270 cal nose rider in around 140 grains.

[geargnasher]

101, the Midsouth Lee Cruise Missile has been running way oversized for a couple of years, and that's the one I have and modified. One member here recently posted of getting one in the last month that cast .267" IIRC, but I can't vouch for his measuring accuracy or alloy, and he hasn't responded to my pm request for more info, so there is no telling. I'm just saying that the current run of special-order moulds might have been cut more to the original "Oldfeller" specifications for that mould, which is suited to the Swedish Mauser but too small for the Carcano.

JiminPhx can shave down that mould and enlarge the gas check shank so you can use 6.5mm checks if you want, he is familiar with exactly what to do to make it work in the Carcano so I'd sure go to him first for that particular modification. The CM is probably too long the way it is, and needs some velocity to stabilize that long boolit in its original form so cutting the mould down is the best option IMO.

Gear

[JIMinPHX]

I got 10 rounds of ammo with the rifle for around 45.00

That's rifle & ammo both for $45? If you see another deal like that on a Carcano, please let me know where it is.

Thanks,
Jim

[x101airborne]

Jim, If nothing goes right, I may let you have mine for what i paid!! I like the rifle, but if I cant make it shoot, there is no point in keeping it. my son does not know I have it for him yet, so no hurt feelings. Yes, it was ammo and rifle for 45.00. i will keep my eyes open for another and let you know. i am not stingey. Maybe we could trade for other molds / items..... Anyway, numerich gun parts has magazines for 4.95 ea. I thought about getting a few.

[wheezengeezer]

Hornaday makes a 6.5 bullet at .268 dia for the carcano.My folding bayonet carbine will not shoot the .264 dia bullets. http://www.hornady.com/store/searchammo.php?mode=search&main_cat=250&categoryid%5B%5D=259&categoryid%5B%5D=391&categoryid%5B%5D=&x=33&y=6

[Uncle Grinch]

Jim, If nothing goes right, I may let you have mine for what i paid!! I like the rifle, but if I cant make it shoot, there is no point in keeping it. my son does not know I have it for him yet, so no hurt feelings. Yes, it was ammo and rifle for 45.00. i will keep my eyes open for another and let you know. i am not stingey. Maybe we could trade for other molds / items..... Anyway, numerich gun parts has magazines for 4.95 ea. I thought about getting a few.


I just bought four Carcano clips at Numrich and they look good. The price was excellent, especially compared to "other" auction sites.

[Bullshop Junior]

On the CM mold may I ask which end is being shortened?
If the base end then does it become a PB?

[JIMinPHX]

I just modified one a few days ago. I took about .190" off the base end of the boolit cavity & then opened up what was the lube groove to about .254" to form a new gas check shank. If you cut the mold down a little further, or if you bored out the last lube groove, you could also have a plain base boolit. I may try that with one cavity of the mold that I have.

I didn't need to remove the handles from the blocks before machining, but I did need to skim cut the nose end of the mold blocks to get a flat locating surface before lining up to cut the other end on a Bridgeport. I indicated each bore separately, just to be safe, but they were dead nuts .700" apart.