Italy's Mannlicher-Carcano: how did such a good rifle get such a bad reputation?

Guns Magazine, August, 2007 by John Sheehan

The bolt of the Carcano is the picture of simplicity while still remaining both functional and effective. The bolt was based on a modified version of the early Mauser design with a one-piece hollow body with dual opposed forward locking lugs engaging two recesses in the receiver just behind the breech. The unusual safety was designed by Salvatore Carcano and is attached to the bolt sleeve centering the striker within the bolt body. The safety is located ,just ahead of the cocking piece and is engaged by pushing the knurled tab forward with the thumb while rotating it counter clockwise. When engaged, the safety effectively locks the striker and prevents the bolt from rotating.

The early Mannlicher-Carcano's were cut with gain-twist rifling. This unique system of rifling was not entirely new, having been used in a number of earlier black-powder rifles and artillery pieces. The initial twist in the rifling at the breech of the M91 begins with a twist rate of 1:19.25" and finishes tip at the muzzle with a twist rate of 1:8.25". When matched properly to the correct bullet with the right velocity, it can be amazingly accurate. However the small amount of advantage gained relative to the expense in manufacturing eventually lead to the abandoning of this system of rifling in the late 1930's.

The first issue of rifles was delivered to elite regiments of the Italian Army during the spring of 1894. Before every regiment had received their new weapons, the bolt heads were strengthened and changed with the introduction of the first smokeless loading of the 6.5x52mm cartridge, which was introduced as the 6.5x52mm Modello 1891/95. The original smokeless load consisted of 30 grains of Balistite with a cotton wad topped off with a 162-grain cupro-nickel jacketed bullet with a listed velocity of 2,296 fps.

The M91 was produced in several different variations to arm the various troop types, part of the tactical doctrine of the era. The Infantry version of the Model 1891 weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces, was 50 9/16" in overall length with a 30 11/16" barrel. Smokeless powder was too new in the late 19th Century to allow the designers of the Carcano to fully understand the relationship between the burning rate of the powder and the pressure curves generated relative to the length of the barrel, hence the typically long barrel of the Infantry rifle. It would be another 10 years before the development and adoption of the first of the general-purpose rifles such as the British SMLE and the American Springfield.

The infantry rifle was issued with modern knife-style bayonets at a time when many countries were still issuing unwieldy excessively long sword bayonets. Experience in the trenches would gradually lead most of the other combatant nations to eventually adopt some form of knife bayonet.

6.5mm Moschetto per Cavalleria, Modello 1891

The second variation of the Model 1891 Mannlicher-Carcano system officially introduced was the M91 cavalry carbine. This diminutive carbine was one of the first widely issued weapons with a permanently attached folding bayonet. When not in use, it pivoted rearward and locked into a small recess in the underside of the forearm. There are at least nine different variations of the bayonet locking system on these little carbines allowing the worst afflicted of we collectors to attempt to find one with every bayonet locking variation. While the collecting bug struck me long and hard when it comes to WWI stuff, I'm happy to say my infection hasn't quite advanced far enough to drive me this far! Perhaps someday....