Have you ever made an impulse purchase that was way out of your wheelhouse, but it looked like such a good deal you had to go for it? Me neither. Okay, that isn’t actually true. But just because I make a serious, serious mistake doesn’t mean I don’t write about it on the internet. So that others may learn. Or have a good laugh. Or maybe both this time.
I was at a garage sale not too long back, when I stumbled across the gun table. Still perhaps somewhat taken aback that I live in a place where they still sell guns at a garage sale, I spotted an old Italian rifle. Now I know next to nothing about old guns, Italian guns, or old Italian guns. But at $100 cash money, I didn’t really think I could go wrong. The pressure was on as customers streamed in, and I had to take my shot. Bundled with small rifle primers, some 40 S&W hollow points, and a semi-used hammer, I paid my money and hoped I was scoring big. How many wire stock Carcano Paratroopers could still be floating around?
You know how on TV they take the prize home and then discover, usually right after the third commercial break, that they paid $100 for something worth $100,000? “That’s no unmarked prototype Remington! It’s actually King George VI’s Holland and Holland double!” Well, turns out, that only happens on TV. A quick Google search, that perhaps I should have done on my phone hours earlier, revealed some bad news. There is no such thing as a wire stock Carcano Paratrooper. Like, not even a little bit. Not an unfielded prototype, not a post-war import. There is nothing. And that is when the trouble began.
It turns out, I had purchased a highly modified (by amateurs), many owner, very high mile Carcano. It might be the worst gun I have ever laid hands-on, and is certainly the ugliest. I say that having reviewed everything Kel Tec has ever made, so the bar is high. Pretty much anything a feral savage would do to a gun, this gun has. It makes the Taliban’s blinged-out Enfields look like museum quality show pieces. It makes Somali pirate AK-47’s look like white glove specials. It’s so bad…it’s good. And I had to share this abortion in a can with you. I have had enough joy showing this pile of garbage off to friends and strangers that it has been well worth my $100.
The stock has been shortened, and by that I mean cut off with a hacksaw. The new wire stock is made of what looks like ¼ inch round stock and is in no way even close to straight. It mounts into two uneven pipes of questionable origin, which are attached to the wood stock in a manner we can only guess. Most likely, wood screws. The same thing holding the sling on.
The barrel looks to have been shortened, but thankfully it is still above 16”. I can’t really be sure, since the crown looks like it has doubled as a hammer for the last couple of decades. Either way, no Carcano spec I can find matches it. It has been “upgraded” to Williams sights, the first brand in Italian firearms.
On an interesting note, the grip has been changed to a 90 degree one, not unlike what we see on modern PRS guns. I mean, this one is pieced together with wood glue, but the spirit is the same. The bottom of the grip features a green bee, which is either the mascot of the Italians in Ethiopia or a local community college. Still researching that one. It has a layer of ½ inch plexiglass protecting it, custom hand-fitted. Obviously.
So while this gun is bad, is it useless? Well, we already bought it, so we were going to find out. Carcano ammunition is at least available, in stock at the time of writing from SG Ammo. The rifle’s barrel is stamped in 1939, so I did have some concerns about safety. In the spirit of our “Paratrooper Carcano”, we decided to strap it down to some saw horses and pull the trigger with a string. For science.
One safety note here- It probably would have been better to take this into a pro to examine first, but I was too embarrassed to tell a gunsmith I owned it. Being an amateur Glocksmith and sometimes captured enemy gun aficionado, I decided we could handle it in-house. I did remove the bullets and gun powder from the first three rounds we shot, for good reason. I saw a negligent discharge once from a dude playing with a captured Makarov. The firing pin had rusted stuck in the forward position, and it fired the moment he finished chambering a round. Not good. I screw around, but ancient guns should always be examined by a gunsmith before firing if you aren’t an expert.
To my surprise, the Carcano did fire. One thing about WW2 era guns, they die hard. Across the board. Our tester did in fact put a bullet through cardboard, even if the first one was tumbling at a distance of 3 feet. This does not speak well of the condition of the bore. I also didn’t have the stones to fire it with the “wire stock”. I have done some dumb things in my day, but age has at least seasoned me some.
What did we learn? Well, a $100 gun beats no gun. In a pinch, this monstrosity would defend you. Maybe not well, but still beats a slingshot and harsh words. And we learned you get what you pay for. Probably less. But what to do now? I will leave that to a vote of the readers, add your two cents in the comments. Do we try and restore the Carcano to at least some of its former glory? Parts are plentiful. Or do we go full Mad Max with this blaster, considering the damage that has already been done? Suppressor, weld on some scope rings, maybe even a trigger job? I don’t know, but either way, you haven’t seen the last of Clay’s garage sale specials.
Mad Max that sucker. The crazier the better. Max budget should be like $50
Isn’t it crazy that 10 years ago you could get a Mosin for $100 and a spam can of ammo for $50. Those who bought deals like that can arm their entire neighborhood for less than the cost of a custom 1911.
Re the Carcano – I say, remove the stock, cut the barrel down to 12″ and SBR it. I guarantee you that it will be fun.
And also, when you fire it, you will only be putting your hand at risk rather than your entire head and face.
I dig it and would keep it. Plus I haven’t seen the Mickey’s Malt Liquor Bee logo in years!!!!
give the bore a good cleaning and recrown the muzzle. if you’re really feeling it get a custom mold that drops .268 bullets and reload the Yugo brass. have fun with it. if the bore is too pitted maybe re-rifle it to.277 (270 win bullets) fireform your Yugo brass and make rounds.
I nerd out on this stuff
Well JB, I’m in no way convinced that Oswald and his Carcano killed JFK. I have it from a reliable Marine Corps. sniper and NSA operative that a 4-man Marine Corps hit team took out JFK, not Oswald. Oswald was the fall guy.
Great article. Better than alot of reviews where the author thinks they did a great job.
Laughed through the whole article. Had my wife laughing too, and she’s not a gun nut like some of us. I vote with the buyback crowd. Get your money back and use it for something worthwhile.
Well Clay, that’s impulse buying at it’s finest. It makes “my” Carcano look really cool.
In 1977, while living in Calif., my neighbor comes over to me and said, “Hi, I’m Bud and I just bought the house across the street.”(The old man that owned it died and the family sold the house) Bud says, “I heard you were into guns and I found this wooden box full of gun parts on the upper shelf in the garage.” “Do you want them? “I said, sure ” and took possession of the box. I figured I had accepted junk and didn’t get too excited. In the box were two complete rifles, in pieces. An 1878 Mauser 11mm bolt action and a 1938 Carcano in 7.35 mm. The bores were decent, the outsides rusty, wood beat up, but not too bad. This was pre-internet. W/O any manuals, I took all the parts, refinished them and assembled the rifles. I had no experience with any of this stuff. When I was done, I had two decent looking rifles that both shoot just fine.
Great story and I always enjoy your writing. You must surely have kept the guys in your unit in stitches. I certainly feel much better about my $75.00 HiPoint purchase. BTW the FDE Cerakote job on the HiPoint did not improve the looks or weight one bit, but now I am in it for an additional $40.00 and time. You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.
Gun buyback, or wall hanger in the garage.
Guys, have you forgotten how accurate this rifle is ? Remember, Lee Harvey Oswald, by himself, used a 6.5 Carcano to shoot JFK. Not only was it accurate but from a fourth story window in Dallas, he managed to get off two shots which hit JFK in the back of the neck , head, etc. in 6 seconds in a car travelling at 10-15 mph. This is verified by our government in Washington, D.C. Just for it’s accuracy alone, I’d want to have such a magnificent firearm ! Of course, I’ve still got several shares of the Brooklyn Bridge, which I’d be more than willing to sell you as well.
Being the inveterate hobbyist gunsmith I very seldom see something that doesn’t have “potential”. You never mentioned if you had determined if this was actually a 6.5 instead of a 7.35, nor did you say what the bore looked like. Just remember, according to “experts” it was a Carcano that was used to assassinate JFK. Many people denigrate the Carcano and the Arisaka, but both were effective weapons for their time. Get a cheap stock to put on it, check the bore to see if it is actually shootable and what diameter bullets it needs if it is. You can always rebarrel it to 7.62X39 (I did that to an old Carc., had a friend thread an SKS barrel into the original barrel stub.) You can junk it or you can play with it, but you can give it to me if you are going to toss it.
Not so fast Clay! Surely you or someone you know has a young hunter without a deer rifle? A proper stock and check out by a gunsmith and the young Davie Crockett is in business.
I never post but I couldn’t resist….
I’ve hauled home some garage sale junk in my days but had I seen this gem… a C-note, a quick decision and it would have ridden home in the shotgun seat position and with a smile on my face! I mean really, that hundred bucks couldn’t buy a better campfire story for the rest of your life.
Mad-Max it all the way! I’m looking forward to seeing the results!
I’d HAVE to buy it just out of fascination.
There’s an interesting story hidden in the gun for sure. In the unlikely case that there is NOT… I’d just create one.
For instance, try this one on:
For folk “of an age”; Does this NOT look just like something that some crowd of urban militants might not have in a photo?
I’m thinking SLA/Panthers and the like.
Retain it as a wall hanger, inciting all kinds of conversations with firearm buddies; until next buyback. Tell them it’s not an 80%-er, just a 20%.
Can’t help wonder what else rolled around in the mullet bubble of it’s creator.
I vote wall hanger intended for comic relief. Always remember the old maxim about sporterizing military rifles. You spend $500 for a good rifle, spend another $500-$1,000 to “customize it” resulting in a $250 rifle. You have the poster child right there.
Clay, you have done all gun owners a great service by purchasing this piece of crap. Not just by removing it from circulation, but more so by providing us with an unbeatable standard by which we can all measure our own regrettable purchases.
Rather than double your money at a Bloomberg buy back, or loose more money by polishing the turd, keep it as the memorial to the mistake that most of us all have made.
MAD MAX!!! All the bells and whistles. Keep us posted because this article was hilarious
Definitely Mad Max it. I can see it with an old Tasco 3×9 scope attached with some hose clamps. Add a 1960s style aluminum D cell battery flashlight and some type of bayonet using duct tape to mount both. Maybe upgrade the wire stock with some small steel rod. Change it up every once in a while so you keep getting some amusement for your c note. Of course the best thing is you will save lots of money by not having to buy ammo to feed it.
Great read, hahahaha, loved it! Either full-Mad Max it or “Buy Back” it to recoup your “C note” and make a profit, then you’ll already be ahead with the ammo….
Looks like something used to hold up liquor stores with.
I like it. Not well enough to give you $5 for it but it is one hell of a conversation piece – it has a unique character all its own. What to do with it? 1) You must have a friend (no machining experience necessary) who has a lathe and can clean up the crown – just enough to remove the hammer marks. 2) Mad Max may actually be too sedate for what this uh, this uh, this … thing deserves. And thanks. I haven’t laughed this hard in days.
A delightful read Clay! Thanks.
If there’s no “gun buyback” coming up, throw it away. Carcanos at their tippy-top aren’t worth much. And spending any actual cash 💰 on trying to fix it it good money after bad.
This article cracked me up!!! Long live Bubba!
Clay, read Frank DeHaas’s chapter on the Carcano in “Bolt Action Rifles” before doing anything rash — not that there is anything left that is truly rash that can be done to it.
If it doesn’t make it to a Bloomberg buy back program, you could re-barrel it with a Hart barrel with a Mauser action and a Timney trigger. Then put it in a McMillan stock. Throw the leftover parts off a bridge into deep water, which would be what you bought at the garage sale.
Hey my friend I’d find an original stock and modernize it’s look a little and load a 140gr bullet for it and use it for a tracking weapon on deer and antelope its decent round just a crappy weapon with gain twist that doesn’t work that well
Definitely needs to be a “buyback”. Do NOT invest another dime in that pos. Get your money back + some, be thankful you got lucky and try again. Look forward to checking out your next purchase.
Usually, being an old school collector, I try to restore bubba’fied guns but this poor thing has been screwed, stewed and tattooed beyond redemption so go for broke and Mad Max the hell out of it.
A delightful read. I myself would have succumbed to the temptation to drop a c-note for such a rarefied piece of rubbish and then deeply regretted it later. Made my morning. Thanks.
My vote is for the GI can! I’d be embarrassed to admit I gave even $20 for such an obvious piece of crap! There’s so many good project guns out there that deserve your attention! Dump this junker!
Wait for a police no name buy back!
Take it to Chicago or LA for their next “gun buy-back” weekend and you’ll get your money back plus some!😜
In 1966 as a new teenage deer hunter I couldn’t afford a nice gun to hunt in the Everglades. The local big box store (Zayre’s?) in Miami had a 5 gallon bucket of 6.5 Carcano Carbines for $20 each. I bought one and had a higher front sight welded on by a local gunsmith who checked it over, to get the groups lower. He said it would probably be fine, but not one he would shoot! It shot fine, I had lots of fun with it plinking in the Everglades, ammo was cheap, even for a $1/hour part time busboy. I never shot a deer with it, but it did take the head off a Water Moccasin that crawled up under my feet in a swamp while I was sitting on a fallen log. It might have saved my life! Shot right between my legs as it coiled up. I kept that rifle until I retired then gave it to a friend. It was amazingly accurate for what it was.
Oh you’ve got to go full auto Mad Max mode on this thing. I died laughing reading this so the story must continue. Thanks for sharing!
Clay,
One fairly likely reason it would tumble has to do with the barrel itself. The model 1891 Carcanos (the full length rifle variant) had a gain twist rifling(yup, the same thing the precision guys are getting into again). Cutting one down has some rather obvious built in problems. But this was done, and far more commonly than you’d believe. The good news is that I have heard of people getting ok results by handloading light for caliber bullets. Bore size can be a bit tricky with those as well, and if your particular example has the correct .268” bore it’s certainly not helping your efforts with factory ammo(which is usually loaded with the more common .264 bullets-just like yours says). Anyway, if you can find a load that agrees with it, Carcanos are pretty tame for recoil even with full power loads, and make for decent plinkers. Looks like you have a good candidate for a project.
IMHO, returning it to a carbine-length stock is a minimum step 1; you’re into it for $100, another $15-20 at least makes it shootable…and a stable MadMax platform!
Well an old Carcano worked well enough to kill a US president. I would have left that iron spaghetti behind though. Its not a collectable, its not rare, and it is junk. Even an Afghan Enfield .303 has more potential.
The grip logo is a Mickey’s Fine Malt Liquor “Beer Hornet”. I can only guess that the builder was “influenced” in more than one way. Lol
Clay I’m disappointed this has to go for a vote. Mad max is obviously the answer here.
I don’t know about that last part, nowadays harsh words are more dangerous than guns to some.