M38 Carcano short rifle study (Patreon)

When I was learning how to shoot in the 1970's, if you were to study the  history books and poll the population of shooters at that time you would have came away with the conclusion that the only military bolt-action rifles worth owning or discussing in great detail were  Mausers, Enfields, and Springfields, Every other type of military  bolt-action rifle existed just to show how superior the other three were. Nothing more than exotic oddballs that shot weird ammo that you could rarely find in the States. Why bother. After all the great  bolt-action huntings were generally derived from big three anyways, what more proof did you need! 

      I know better now.

      This is the Italian  M1891/ M38 Carcano short rifle. In reality it is carbine and it  represents the last of the bolt-action Carcanos. It was suppose to chamber a 7.35x51mm round, but troubles with Italian industry and logistics during WWII meant that most were built to fire the 6.5x52mm cartridge that had been designed for the original M1891 rifle from which it is derived.

      It  uses the Mannlicher-style clip that allowed a number cartridges, six in this case, to be loaded as one unit through the top of the open action.  Unlike the famous Mauser or similar stripper-clip systems the Mannlicher  remained in the weapon until either the last round was chambered and  then the empty clip fell out the bottom of the magazine, or a release  was depressed that allowed the whole clip to be removed from the top.

      The  Carcano was not the best bolt-action, nor was the 6.5x52mm cartridge greatest round ever used by an army. There were complaints about the  stopping power of the 6.5 round, but it served it Italy in two World  Wars. And then one unfortunately changed the course of American History.

     On November 22nd 1963 at 12:30pm John F. Kennedy was assassinated in  Dallas TX. by Lee Harvey Oswald. From the sixth floor of the Texas  School Depository Oswald fired three rounds from a scoped M38 he had  purchased in March of that year. In a few seconds Governor John Connally was critically injured and the 35th President of United States was dead.

FYI. The bayonet in the bottom is not related to that model of Carcano rifle. 

Note C&Rsenal has done a couple of excellent videos on the Carcano rifles and carbines. They're focused on WWI at the moment so they don't into much detail about the M38 because it is a rifle developed in the interwar years. However the videos are fascinating to watch.