6.5 caracano

C

centralmainehunters

New member
any thoughts on this caliber? Have a chance to get a surplus in what appears to be different shape with no mods, for $75. I know that ammo isn't cheap or easy to get like a mosin, but my hopes for it would be half novelty and half back-up deer rifle. Any personal experiences to share, or better ideas...$75 seems hard to pass up, even though a decent mosin is $150 or less...help me out here!
 
A buddy of mine has one, its a nice surplus shooter. i will say that in my experience firing 2 different ones, it seems that they may have a battle sight, the 2 i shot at 50 yds were shooting 12" high, but grouping, on one i drifted out the rear sight and remove the elevation guide then put the rear sight back in, this put it at and inche or 2 high at 50 yds. i have seen alot of nice scout scope mounts for them, no drill or tap setups, they replace the rear sight. i just put one on my k98, developed a load, and can hit a quarter at 50 yds all day. also, my experience with the surplus ammo hasnt been great, there rifles did better with factory! i hope that helps, i would grab it for 75!

the 6.5 works out to be a .268, legal to hunt with in ct anyway!
as for the mosin, i believe you are looking at a .30 cal bullet, case is a little shorter than on 06, itll drop deer as well! perhaps a little more knockdown power.

hope that helps!
 
well I would be leery about $75 for a carcano with no mods. $75 sounds just about right for one that has been chopped up and cut and drilled and mangled into a sporterized model. without pictures it would be very difficult to give an appraisal. as for 6.5 carcano there are a number of hurdles to overcome.

the ammo is pretty hard to find. cabelas online store often has hornady ammo in that caliber but from what I understand they use .264 diameter bullets. the problem is that all other 6.5mm bullets use .264 bullets, but 6.5 carcano requires a slightly larger diameter of .268. this also makes reloading difficult since most manufacturers don't make a special bullet just for a single chambering which frankly was new very popular. 264s are safe to shoot out of a carcano but the accuracy will suffer. also carcanos don't really have a magazine per say but rather rely on 6 round en bloc clips kindof like the M1 garand which ejects out the bottom of the rifle when the last round is chambered. without those clips then the rifle effectively becomes a single shot.

if it truly is a non modified 6.5 then it would be a very good buy but the ammo would be problematic.
 
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I also look for .268" bullets for my over bored Arisaka type 38. Here are the sources I have found

1. Hornady has it. ~ $40 per 100.

2. Graf and Sons sells the second of Hornady's bullet <$30 per 100. They shoot fine.

3. Cast bullets with gas checks from Gardner's cache. $60 per 500. Haven't tried them yet. Problem is they only accept order for 15 minutes every 2 weeks.

-TL
 
The Hornady ammo has the proper diameter bullet...it is the PRVI ammo which has the smaller bullet which may or may not shoot well.
In the Carcano carbine I used to own, PRVI shot well enough for 100yd shooting.
The other thing to be aware of is that you will need Carcano clips...you cannot really shoot without them. They are usually pretty pricey, but they are available.
As far as the sights are concerned, the Carcano has a deep V notch rear sight. If you hold the top of the front post even with the top of the rear sight as most do, you will shoot very high. The Italians held the front post low in the V.
Carcanos are good shooting rifles. With clips, they can be fired very quickly. The carbine I had was one of the smoothest operating bolt guns I have ever fired, and I have fired just about every major milsurp bolt.
 
price

they're asking for $99, but I when I said I may be interested it would be in conjunction with some other purchases and he said he'd knock it down to $75. Its been at my LGS for a couple years since I've been going there.
 
what appears to be different shape with no mods,
Click to expand...

What do you mean by different shape?

Since you can get your hands on the gun to inspect it that makes a load a difference.

Basically check the bore for pits and the action for function. I don't think there are any specific problems with the Carcano you have to look out for.

Ammo and clips are in short supply. But it should inspire you to reload.

iirc clips from one other milsurp will work in the Carcano, but that might just be me having a senior moment.
 
I have a horrendous looking carbine my sister found in the barn at the farm they bought. I put a scope on it and shoot box Hornady ammo through it. Shoots OK @ 100 yards, but the side mount scope takes some getting used to. Kills deer for me. *"THE GUN PARTS CORP." usually has the clips.
 
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