History of WWI Primer 030*: Italian Carcano 1891 Rifle Documentary | C&Rsenal 

It is fascinating how people read later perspectives back into history so much. People really struggle to understand that just because a milsurp is cheap doesn't meant it was cheap to the original purchaser a century ago. It apparently is equally difficult for people to appreciate that just because the USSR would LATER make simplicity a prime requirement for military weapons didn't meant the Russian Empire shared the same requirement when adopting the Mosin decades earlier. People are funny creatures, no?

i can take this rifle to a local good gunsmith to make 1 to 1 replica of a carcano the can make it in a shed because its so damn simple and straight forward bolt action design.

This. I do think the Mosin is a historically interesting and fun gun, and I want to get one someday (especially the Finnish guns, I actually think the Finnish guns are both the best and the only "good" Mosins, maaaaaybe the Polish one in 8mm Mauser but not much is known about those), but mechanically it's a terrible gun. Interesting, but overcomplicated and it underperforms. If I were a soldier in WW1 (say a Russian soldier, or a Serbian or Romanian receiving Russian aid), I'd want literally any other repeating rifle. Standard-issue Mauser, captured Mannlicher, gifted Berthier, purchased Arisaka, whatever-unless it's a Lebel or a black powder rifle it's probably better than a Mosin. WWII, same deal, even more so since SMGs and semi-automatic rifles are commonplace.

@@aker1993 It'd be even easier to make the Carcano a better gun if you did that-just by default, your gunsmith would probably take his time and fit the bolt properly, adjust the sights, tighter tolerances, etc. More so if they made changes, even super small ones. Extend the bolt handle root so you have an extra lug like a Krag or Mauser? Easy. Lower minimum sighting by default? Not difficult. Different caliber or loading style? Not as simple, but much easier than modifying an existing gun.

Simplicity is a hollow virtue, as it is useless to have a simpler in some sense design that doesn't fit your manufacturing capabilities and tactical needs. Carcano's rifle could be as simple as it was by virtue of having a low-power rimless cartridge and industry that could make en-bloc clips at the required rate and allow for cheep retooling of your numerous arsenals. Even at that it couldn't be made at a rate high enough for Italy's WW1 needs, as evidenced by vast numbers of Mod 1870/87 still in service at the time and the whole Mod 1870/87/15 fiasco. To return to the 6.5×52 mm cartridge which allowed Mod. 91 to become as as simple as it was, its drawbacks caused the adoption of both the 8×59 mm and the failed 7.35×52 cartridges, as well as the German 7.92×57 mm later during WW2, and later an altogether switch for the 7.62×63 & later the 7.62×51. Meanwhile the 7.62×54R, for all its shortcomings, still soldiers on, having survived numerous well-thought out attempts of replacing it by virtue of being better future-proofed when it comes to bullets and powders. Already in the early XX century it was understood that magazine rifles weren't the arm of the future, and the time of self-loaders is coming, so the relative merits and downsides of particular bolt-action rifles mattered little when compared to the ability to retain the same cartridge during the next big rearmament (the French had learned this the hard way), even if it causes headaches when designing feed systems. Belt-fed machineguns (not that Italy had them, being stuck with crazy feeding systems), in turn, have no trouble using rimmed cartridges (except in very hot & sunny weather), and WW1 had shown them to be of much greater importance in war than any rifle. What they had trouble with is lack of cartridge potent enough for long-range area-denial indirect fire, which was a very important role for medium machineguns until roughly the mid-'30s, and for anti-aircraft role, which arguably was still relevant for them early in WW2. Thus you have a simpler bolt-action rifle and have trouble with everything else with no costs saved at all. This lack of holistic approach and short-sightedness is sadly all too common in these debates. People fail to see the battlefield as anything more than sporting grounds at best.

seems fitting with recent events

​@@beargillium2369Isonzo?

or whatever the Italian equivalent is? 😮

"star" is the same thing but British, while being more subtle/neutral/readable.

Perhaps Mk1*

@@beargillium2369 Episode 030/199

Episode 030 M Episode 030 MOD 1 Episode 030 Ausf. B Episode 030 Neue Art .............

I hope it's looking beautiful

+1

Restoring, or conserving?

@@Tunkkis De-sporterizing.

⁠@@PrebleStreetRecords”De-sporterizing” sir you are beautiful.

I love the Carcano. The simplicity of it is beautiful and has me hot and bothered.

Hopefully you get both and don't die

Carcano was an excellent rifle for the Italian front, flat shooting, extremely accurate, 6,5 x 52 mm Carcano is an excellent mix of velocity and stopping power, 6 rounds instead of 5, the only crappy thing was the en bloc clip only, unless you ram one round into the breech personally.

@@dobridjordje they should've take the hint from the Japanese order and changed the mag system to the Mauser style.

And learned how to make a proper rifle sight

IDK man, those Romanian Mannlichers were gorgeous rifles. I do like the Carcano's look, though. Simple and purposeful.

​@@chrisdooley8155 either way, I'm playing some Isonzo when I get off work

Not only does that not make sense, but the Lee-Enfield, Gewehr 98, Mannlicher-Schoenauer, and Mosin are all cooler looking.

Yep, I have to agree, the Carcano is a beautiful rifle. I'm especially fond of the very short carbine with the folding bayonet.

​@@chrisdooley8155The bayonet lug and placement kills it for me on the m1893, Carcano is a very aesthetically pleasing rifle in every way

I assume the joke got stale? Any idea which episode was the last to have one?

smells like ass

An excellent product for use on a bicycle, they even have a specific product for that these days

I used it to clean up an old camp stove a coworker gave me. It worked like a charm and the only result was my fishing/camping trip included fresh cooked food. Ballistol: a delight in peace and harmony.

They discontinued that a long time ago because it was taking too much time to put together, which would be better spent on actual content

Probably, but the ones I have tried have been floppy and difficult seat

You are obviously ignorant of the three shots that actually got fired (and the seriously weird and unique seating in the limo).

6.5 caliber bolt rifles rock

They haven’t covered the M38 or 91/38 yet. I’d imagine it’d at least get a brief callout

The 6.5X52 Carcano has a flatter trajectory at every distance, and remains supersonic for longer. Even the Carcano carbines outpace the M95 rifle muzzle velocity.

It does seem like the problem for Italy (and not just for it) was that half of the country was undeveloped and, some would add, suffering from a long spell of colonial exploitation, first by the Spanish and then by its own compatriots. What marvels of engineering could one sell to a poor Sicilian tenant farmer?..

Colloquial mispronunciation

@@TenaciousTrilobite Interesting, sort of endearing, in a way.

Also the precision ammo were spitzers. However, of all the 6.5 users, only the Japanese converted early to spitzers. The Rumenian didn't (they changed to 7.92 Mauser in 1938), the Greeks didn't (used round nose in WWII), the Dutch didn't (used round nose in WWII), the Swedish didn't (converted to spitzers only in 1941). The Italians didn't convet to spitzers after WWI because they wanted to change service round entirely. First with the 7.33X33mm of the Terni 1921, then with the 7.35X51mm.

Maillechort is the French word for what we’d usually call nickel silver or German silver. It’s an alloy of nickel, copper, and zinc

@@TenaciousTrilobite Thank you! Those Frenchies should learn to spell logically like we English language speakers do. :) Btw, tributes are my favorite Cambriam explosion fossils. I have a pet one on my bookshelf.