M38 Carcano

[panzerman]

A few weeks ago I picked up a little M38 Carcano in 7.35, got my ammo later and went to the range yesterday. I had some issues with the fixed rear sight and was wondering if anyone knew of literature I could read on how to properly use it? She seems in nice condition though someone oddly chromed the front sling and barrel band. Anyway I was all over the paper at 50 and 100m, I do need to drift the front sight to the right a bit and operator error is a huge possibility. Still fun to shoot and an interesting piece to the C&R collection

[ironhorse1]

I see that the front of the stock has been chopped off.

You are missing a metal cap and the cleaning rod as well.

The sights are just plain hard to see on the target.

What ammo were you using? I shoot a 128 grain Hornady bullet and groups are not great even at 25 yards.

I partially blame that on the sights. The Carcano uses gain twist rifling so don't ever cut down the barrel.



irh

[mosinnagantm9130]

IIRC, the sights on the carcano don't work like normal iron sights, you have to put the front sight blade in a different spot in the rear sight than normal irons.

[knucklehead0202]

Ok, here goes: Firstly, NO 7.35 carcanos employed gain-twist rifling. 6.5's did up until the early 30's I believe and then used a standard twist rate. For the most part, carcano sights are meant to be used with the tip of the blade in the bottom of the V. Notable is that your particular 7.35 is marked with an "SA" in a box on top of the receiver. This denotes use by the Finnish, who installed taller front sights to eliminate the need to aim super-low and provides a battle zero of roughly 150 meters, instead of the 3-400 like standard sights. Ammo also plays a large part in this equation. When I got my first 7.35 it was sporterized similar to yours but shot great. Check for looseness of any screws, as well as pressure points on the barrel, but I would suspect ammo and perhaps lack of familiarity with the rifle as the main parts of your accuracy problem. I now own 2 carcanos in 7.35 and both shoot very well with my handloads. In my experience it's a much easier cartridge to handload for than the 6.5 carcano, which can be finicky and vary quite a bit from rifle to rifle. Any other questions or concerns shoot me a PM and I'm glad to help. I don't know everything about carcanos but I have kind of a sick obsession with them.

[panzerman]

Ok, here goes: Firstly, NO 7.35 carcanos employed gain-twist rifling. 6.5's did up until the early 30's I believe and then used a standard twist rate. For the most part, carcano sights are meant to be used with the tip of the blade in the bottom of the V. Notable is that your particular 7.35 is marked with an "SA" in a box on top of the receiver. This denotes use by the Finnish, who installed taller front sights to eliminate the need to aim super-low and provides a battle zero of roughly 150 meters, instead of the 3-400 like standard sights. Ammo also plays a large part in this equation. When I got my first 7.35 it was sporterized similar to yours but shot great. Check for looseness of any screws, as well as pressure points on the barrel, but I would suspect ammo and perhaps lack of familiarity with the rifle as the main parts of your accuracy problem. I now own 2 carcanos in 7.35 and both shoot very well with my handloads. In my experience it's a much easier cartridge to handload for than the 6.5 carcano, which can be finicky and vary quite a bit from rifle to rifle. Any other questions or concerns shoot me a PM and I'm glad to help. I don't know everything about carcanos but I have kind of a sick obsession with them.

Thanks much, I had no idea that this was not the orignal configuration. I had seen pictures of carbines such Ironhorse1 posted but also quite a few of mine as well so I simply asssumed mine was just another variation. To be honest I am not too butt hurt about the modification. I was shooting Priv 128 grain ammo which I plan on reloading once I get some time with the carbine and figure out the do's and dont's. I do like her as it is light and feels good in the shoulder, the bore is dark and seems a bit rough but has strong rifling ( I thought so anyway). I will go back to the range next weekend with your information on the sights and apply that to see what happens. Thanks for the offer to PM and rest assured I will.

[knucklehead0202]

if you continue to have trouble with it try to come to the West End Gun Club shoot next month. I should be there and probably will have one of two of my carcanos, as well as other stuff. We could try shooting it with my handload to see if it makes any difference. I presume you're shooting the P.C.I.-loaded stuff, which in my experience shoots pretty good but who knows. Anyhow, best of luck and if you decide to restore the old gal back to original I can help you run down parts. I've done it myself a few times and it's the only kind of shopping I enjoy.

[panzerman]

Thanks Knucklehead, I just may take you up on that. Not alot of shooters out here in my AO that enjoy the old stuff.

[panzerman]

My mistake I just checked the box and I was shooting Precision Cartridge Inc ammo. This was my first exposure to this ammo.

[nesfoalady]

Any other questions or concerns shoot me a PM and I'm glad to help. I don't know everything about carcanos but I have kind of a sick obsession with them.

[knucklehead0202]

Yeah for some reason Prvi loads 6.5 carcano and not 7.35, but P.C.I. uses their brass and hornady's bullets to load it so the result is the same. Speer used to make a 150gr .298 bullet for this cartridge but I think it's been a long time. You can use a lube-sizer to resize .308 bullets down to .298-.300 and I plan to do this sooner or later because the hornady bullets seem to be kinda spotty in production or distribution. P.C.I. makes ammo for a few of the hard-to-find things like 6.5 and 7.7 jap arisakas. Prvi makes brass for these but not loaded ammo for whatever reason. When I bought 7.35 carcano brass the primed stuff was cheaper than unprimed so that was a no-brainer. The primers were high-quality and I didn't have any trouble. Prvi's brass is also very high-quality and in some things, has lasted longer than norma for me. Anyhow, enough blabbing, enjoy your carcano and let me know if I can help you run down any parts for it or anything else.

[gunboat]

Lyman had a mould for the 7.35 - 300136 a 146gr RN gas check -
It may be obsolete now -- sold mine last year along with a batch of boolits
One sort of nice thing is that the Italian GI ammo uses a smaller diameter berdan primer than is commonly used-- Makes it a mite easier to convert to .210 dia primers -- Not too important today with brass available -

[knucklehead0202]

True story gunboat, have talked to a lot of guys that used to convert the military brass. I joined the carcano thing at just the right time i guess. Don't really plan to do cast bullets but time will tell. I have a good amount of good brass for these things now and with my 7.35 load, it'll probably last forever.