[James McCoy]

My brother-in-law recently died, and left me with an old Italian 6.5 Carcano - I believe an M41 model (NOT the JFK killer 7.35 M38 carbine!) It is in shootable condition, Ithink, but can't find ammo. I did pick up some brass for it, and still awaiting a set of dies from Lee/RCBS/Hornady/Whomever! Anyone know where I might find the .266-.268 bullets to reload this brass?. I know the Carcanos were notoriously,inexplicably over/under sized from the rest of the world (Leave it to the Italians!!..... JK!!) and some have said you CAN use the "regular sized" .264 bullets, but accuracy naturally suffers.I just want to try a few of the "designed" bullets to see if this gun is worth using on pigs here in TX, or whether it would be best utilized as a club!! Anyone got a line on some of these projectiles??

 

[sharps4590]

Mr. McCoy, unless you did and didn't mention it, the first thing I would do is slug the bore and learn exactly what you're dealing with.

I mistakenly bought some .268 bullets a few years ago and I believe I purchased them from Graf's. Who knows what they might have these days.

 

[zant]

Hornady had .267 bullets....C2766 was a 6.5 Carcano,,,You can also buy the original white box surplus from the 50s for about 80$ BX OF 20,which we did for experimentation. You can also paperpatch .264s

 

[soonerfan66]

I second the Hornady 6.5 Carcano 160gr round nose .267 bullets think it was Graf's also . . I shoot them in my Carcano with very nice results . And got the Lee dies . Finding bullets right now might be a issue like everything else !! And by all means if you not sure about your rifle being safe and don't know enough about them find someone or a gunsmith who does now about that stuff . And like sharps said slug that bore , you never know what has been done to the rifle in its life . A previous owner could of done many things and without checking for it you can't tell by just eyeballing it . Example is the Mausers rifles many have been turned to 30-06 but still says 8mm on rifle .

 

[James McCoy]

Thanks, y'all, for the info.... I checked Grafs and was able to pick up a few 139 FMJ in .268.... The barrel is going to be slugged for sure. I know of a gunsmith in Breckenridge that reportedly has some extensive experience with these old rifles, so I will see what more he can tell me about it. I am still waiting on a couple parts from Numrich to put all the pieces together properly and also waiting on some clips for ammo...... it is slowly coming together...hopefully will know soon if she is a shooter or not!! If NOT - after all this - there may be some freshly loaded ammo for sale on here!!....LOL

 

[soonerfan66]

Give us a range report when you take it out !!!!

 

[James McCoy]

Y'all will be the second to know!!😉

 

[sharps4590]

Sooner, those Mausers you mentioned, were you thinking of 8mm-06? Slugs of them were converted to that wildcat because it was so easy to do, just run an '06 length reamer in to lengthen the chamber 6mm then just resize the neck to 8mm, Voila'!! One fine wildcat cartridge! Kind of a shame it fell from favor.

 

[soonerfan66]

I am getting worse and worse !!! You are right sharps !! Seems past few days my fingers don't match what trying to type !! Use to see them around , can't remember last time . I sold a Mauser/ few years back to someone and last thing they said before driving off cause I said hang on I got a few extra stripper clips can give you " was they were rebarreling/chambering it . Not sure what way were going do but it was real popular for awhile to do that with Mausers .