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6.5 Carcano bullets and dies

5K views 18 replies 6 participants last post by  soonerfan66 
#1 ·
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??
 
#2 ·
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.
 
#13 · (Edited)
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.
+1. Never a bad idea to slug the bore of a newly acquired rifle. You might get a pleasant surprise. Groove sizes on old military rifles vary a lot. My youngest boy has a Carcano that slugged a hair under .265. Hornady still makes their .264 160gr roundnose but the .267 version has been discontinued. PPU makes a couple of .268 bullets, but nobody I can find has them in stock. Anyways, good luck with your new rifle.
 
#4 ·
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 .
 
#5 ·
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
 
#8 ·
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.
 
#9 ·
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 .
 
#10 ·
FINALLY!!... Back up and running!! Loaded up some 139 gr FMJ bullets and some 130 HPBT bullets (and some pretty pricey Norma brass!!) I had procured from Gungouger.com . Got the gun all checked out, tore it down and cleaned the CRAP out of it. Put back together, and after recently receiving my new chronograph, I went out yesterday and fired the 50 rounds I had loaded up in different powder charges. Used Accurate 4064 in some pretty mild charges, new Norma brass, WLR primers. At 25 yards, with open sights and my old tired eyes, I was able to print a 1.25" group with one particular FMJ load and one 1-9/16" group out of the hollowpoints.... over all average grouping was in the 2-1/16" range..... decent overall velocity and manageable recoil....... not a great brag for 25 yds... but for my old ass, that's not too bad out of iron sights!! And every round went bang when the pin dropped, so I'm happy with it!..... I picked up some .268 lead cast bullets I want to check out next...... I've been seeing some powder-coated bullets out there... wonder if any of y'all have heard of anyone doing that to this caliber/size?? Next project for this gun..... drill and tap the front receiver for a red dot sight my old eyes can see better and then it gets assigned to the truck for use as my "hog gun"!! Think one of those hollow points behind the ear of a big boar oughta make his eyeballs pop out... ya think??
 
#12 ·
Sooner, I will attempt to do just that!!.... I did have to make one small cosmetic adjustment to the stock....the front portion of the stock had been burned somehow, and looked ugly... I cut it off - Like I'd seen several others online had done - just in front of the middle barrel band, thus eliminating the bayonet lug/band. It still needs some dressing up, but it looks 100% better! and din't affect the accuracy, as far as I can tell!! I'll post pics as soon as I can figure out my new LG phone.... ran over my Iphone with the tractor a few days ago, and with Apple's antics of late, I was not in the mood to get another of that manufacture! 😤..... This new LG is nice, a little bigger than I like, but it ISN'T an APPLE!!... now just gotta learn all the new little secrets to its use!! 🤷‍♂️ once that is accomplished...pics shall be seen!! (y)
 
#15 ·
I have been (relatively) fortunate to have picked up several different bullet lots from Gungouger.com auctions. I picked up some of the 160 gr.Round nose, and the aforementioned 135 gr leadcast bullets.... already lubed and gas checked..... Looking for a good powder charge for these lead ones..... I just picked up 8 lbs. of IMR4227... mighty good for subsonic 300 BO, but not sure if it would push this lead to a respectable speed.... still poring over the manuals for inspiration!!..... Stay Tuned!!
 
#16 ·
When you think of it grouping at 2" or more it depends on how one goes through life and experience it. Is the glass half full or half empty. With this rifle the way I would look at it is, I may be off by two inches from my aim point. Nothing to sneeze at unless you are aiming at the edge instead of center mass.
 
#18 ·
Well, Sooner,with the four different flavors of bullets I have for this caliber, I will soon see how much I like shooting this thing... the ammo was NOT cheap, even loading them myself...but the costs do diminish the more I load these new Norma brass cases. Getting the costs down to a minimum and seeing results, both on the range and in the field, will be my ultimate goal..... I'll try to return here often with any favorable ( or not so favorable!) reports on my experiences with this old relic..... I DO need to do some polishing on the sear surfaces... it has extremely gritty trigger pull, so the 'stones' will be employed to smooth that little annoyance..... might even improve my groups!! We shall see!!
 
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