Just bought one of these to add to my Italian firearm collection. The first thing I hear on this video is “it’s one of the most difficult rifles I’ve had to take apart” which doesn’t give me confidence!
Screwdrivers are hard steel. I seen it stop against the receiver rather abruptly because of the wedge shape. I would suggest using a brass drift to knock out those pins so as to avoid marring anything.
Disassembly is not exactly that hard, although finding out how to remove the bolt was interesting. I was cautious figuring out how to remove the bolt wedge, without damaging it. Using a screwdriver and hammer does work, although there has to be a better method.
I just picked up one of these today in mint condition and absolutely packed in Cosmo. I was not going to get it, but when I saw the mint bore, and the price, I could not turn it down. Thanks for the video, I can normally figure these guns out, but this was a different story. What would one of these in NRA antique excellent condition be worth?
The concern about the locking lugs is justified for 6.5 Carcano, these rifles were originally meant for black powder cartridges, the 6.5 Carcano conversion was a wartime emergency stopgap when WWI started and Italy was lacking in modern rifles. They were mainly used for training and I don't think they were ever fired with normal military grade Carcano ammo. If you were to fire it I'd use black powder loaded rounds, the original 10.4mm cartridges used 60 grains of powder which I'd use as a reference point. Probably lighten it a bit due to age of the rifle.
Thanks for the info. I was planning on shooting and enjoying the rifle with cast bullets, but I told my friend I got it, and he bought it before I could enjoy it. Oh well, I cant complain, because he traded my an 1891 carcano long rifle for it.
In 1870 when this design was developed most other repeaters were lever actions and a fair bit more complicated. Indeed it's really not that complicated mechanically, just more complicated in terms of actually taking it apart than later bolt actions.
