7.35 Carcano

L

lordhedgwich

New member
I got it back in July for my B-day. I finally found some ammo online and some reasonably priced clips. So now im just waiting for everything to come in the mail :D Anyone shoot these? How do they shoot?

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Carcanos are FUN!

Be sure to bury your front sight blade at the bottom of your rear sight ... and you still want to aim low, you are dealing with a fixed 200-250 yd battle sight! (I've forgotten the actual number). I use a 1/2 sized silhouette target with a 5.5" bull overlaid on the chest and at 50 yards, aim at the belt-line.

They're not target rifles ... but can "get the job done".

I'd not be inclined to shoot any surplus ammo because of combinations of powder deterioration from iffy storage and age, but it's a perfect caliber for reloading, with affordable Lee dies, brass from Graf and bullets from Buffalo Arms (or pulled milsurp).

I've been a Carcano-freak for decades and it was the 6.5mm that actually got me into reloading!:D
 
I shoot the 7.35 Carcano. PPU makes brass and ammo. I reload and Grafs has .298 bullets. There is reload data out here, but you best have older manuals. Lees latest manuals have some data. I have printed some excellent groups with reloads.


I still see these rifles at gunshows going for around $200. Many are in excellent or better condition.
 
I normally don't give reloading advice, but .30-30 data should be OK for the 7.35mm Carcano. As usual, start low and work up.

Jim
 
That was the type rifle Lee Harvey Oswald used to telling effect in Dallas Texas ...don't sell it short. It can get the job done on the battlefield or hunting deer.
 
Mine shoots fine. They were sighted in at 300 yards so you do indeed have to bury the front sight in the rear sight for shorter distances. There is windage adjustment by tapping the front sight left or right but no elevation adjustment My local gun shop had 60 reloads which I bought and I now have the dies and bullets to reload my own. Recoil is mild and accuracy is decent.
 
ALWAYS WEAR SHOOTING GLASSES!!!!

Carcanos are not was well equipped to divert gas from a ruptured case or pierced primer away from the shooter as some other milsurps.
 
I just saw a Gunbroker ad for a 7.35 TS starting at $800 ... with a BIN for $1200. Sure glad I got mine decades ago when Ken Harfmann in Cleveland had one for $300! KRIKEY!!!!


And I SECOND, 44 AMP's post! I ALWAYS wear safety glasses whenever I shoot anything ... just in case.
 
a compromise on the way

I have never shot a carcano. the last time I was at cabelas there were 2 full racks(about 24 total) of nothing but carcanos, perhaps that says something of how many people are happy with theirs. the wood on all of them could be compared to driftwood and not be an exaggeration. I would never take one home, I don't know whether it was how they were stored or what but they were all beat to hell, had virtually no metal finish left and they are kindof ugly little guns to boot in my opinion(everybody's different). yours looks really nice compared to anything I've seen before. this spring I went in with my brothers and we all bought an entire basement full of reloading equipment with the intention of taking what we want and selling the rest at the gunshow to break even. there were 1300 7.35 bullets in the lot and we essentially had to give them away because nobody in town are real big into carcanos and most of them only have 6.5s.

however I just won a gunchoker auction for an arisaka type I. built in Italy using japanese stock and magazine features and carcano styled barreled actions. and it's chambered in 6.5 jap so I don't have to start buying non standard reloading supplies. it's about as close to a carcano as I'll ever end up buying. good luck with yours though, I'm sure grafs has the components if you reload.
 
The Carcano has been disparaged in this country ever since they started coming in, when they sold for $12 or so. But at the time they were adopted by Italy they were on a par with other guns of the era, both in power/caliber and in quality. A pre-WWI Model 91 is well made and operates smoothly. Its clip loading makes it capable of quite rapid fire. But its design, like other Mannlichers (including the commercial Mannlicher-Schoenauer, which achieved a cult status here in the 1960's) it does not lend itself to over-the-bore scope mounting, and many wartime models are fairly rough. Further, the gun and loading system cannot be feasibly converted to any other cartridge, making it unsuitable for gun tinkerers.

Jim
 
Jim, wasn't there a thread on here a while back about 1895 mannlichers being converted to 45/70? I know it's comparing apples to potatoes but they are both mannlichers and both use en blocs.

there was also the 8mm conversions the nazis did.
 
I have one of the 8mm conversions and fired it with standard 7.9 ball. It didn't blow up, in spite of various warnings. But the clips are nearly unknown, though the Germans reportedly had them made. They definitely intended them to be loaded from the magazine, not just used as a single shot, because the magazine has been lengthened and a "half moon" cut made in the rear of the receiver ring.

As to converting a Model 1895 to .45-70, I don't recall the thread, but I suspect it is like a lot of other conversions, it is possible but not feasible unless one simply wants to show that it can be done.

Jim
 
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