Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles Rechambered Type I Carcanos?

So, I'm currently working on building some flavor of 6.5 from a Carcano action that's had the bolt face and extractor opened up for a 0.473" rim and a Type I barrel (no pesky oversized bore). Got a Type I magazine coming in, and while I know plenty of folks have converted the Type 38 (same 6.5 Arisaka chambering, double stack magazine, etc) to 6.5 Swede and 6.5-257 Bob, I haven't been able to find much on it being done to the Type I Carcanos. The magazine box wouldn't need to be elongated for either of those rounds, would it?


I do understand I'd need to open up the receiver to use the double stack box magazine, so I'm not concerned there. I'm just concerned that either of those cartridges won't in the magazine without excessive modification. I also understand that carcanos are very simplistic designs, but I've got it so not really vibing with any "wHy NoT jUsT uSe A mAuSeR aCtIoN" responses

I've had a Greek Mannlicher action laying around for years. Dunno what I want to do with it. Action is the same as the 1903 Mannlicher Schoenaur. It's a bit rough but works smoothly. I figure that getting a chamber reamer for the 6.5 M/S might be difficult, maybe the 6.5 Jap would work if I can find a reamer. Altering an M/S rotary magazine for another cartridge can be a bitch but he 6.5 Jap is close enough that it would work. Guess that's what makes me a frustrated loony. Work like that can take a lot of coin to make come true.
PJ

Years ago, over 30 years ago, I had a 1903 Greek Steyr that had been restocked and rebarreled in 257 Roberts. It never fed well, even after I had a couple of "name" New England 'smiths work on it, and the trigger was much closer to awful than it was to good. Your project sounds like a potential money pit, but a rifle looney will spend both time and money in an effort to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. If you have enough time and enough money, maybe you can make it happen.

Why are you trying to make a silk purse from a sow's ear? There are much better military rifles out there and available than a Carcano, the guns that were rarely shot and only thrown down once.

Time is free, and I already had a bare Carcano action with the bolt face opened up and A Type I barrel on hand. Figured why not

A friend built a 35 Remington on a Carcano. It seemed at the upper limit of what the Carcano magazine would handle but it did work. He loaded it pretty warm with 200's at about 2380 fps. A 6.8 SPC should work pretty well. GD

I think making it staggered feed would be a bridge too far. With the boltface already at .473", pick something off the 300Savage/CM/308 case, maybe a 35 Rem case will work. Make it different enough to keep the parent high pressure round from chambering.

Keep in mind that I have never owned a Carcano, much less pulled them apart. You lost me on a Type 1 barrel - what does that mean?

The Type I (as in Italian, not 1) was a carcano variant with a 0.263" or so bore made in 6.5 Arisaka just before WWII for the imperial Japanese navy. Originally the plan was rechamber in 260 Remington, and then slap a regular Carcano magazine and stock on it. However, I got lucky with a staggered, Arisaka/Mauser-style Type I magazine assembly as well as access to a mill at about the same time, which has me debating doing a larger case like the 6.5x57/6.5-257 Bob or 6.5 Swede like some folks do to the Type 38 Arisaka. The only hangup on caliber is I am uncertain if the Type I magazine is long enough internally to do that like the Type 38 is since it's still in the mail.

If the action will handle 260 pressures, that is where I would go. The Sweede might have slightly different rim diam & thickness depending on if your brass is American or European. In the beginning of the ammo hoarding, 260 was still on the shelves (along with 50 Beowulf, 218 Bee and 375 H&H). I just sold a 6.5 Roberts - good round, but why, if a 260 will work. If you do a 260 and have magazine space over 2.8", you can throat it and seat them out further.

I had a Type I and I can't remember how much room there was in the magazine. I think the magazine was relatively longish since the 6.5 Jap bullets are seated way out there anyway. I don't know that I would be real comfortable with a Carcano action behind a 260, although I think it would probably be OK. I loaded a Carcano with a compressed load of 3031 and a 156 gr bullet and it held up. It did not hold up to a similar load using 4198, however! I think my choice would be a 6.5/250, loaded to Jap levels. GD

260 is probably pushing the limits of the action, seeing as the CIP rates the 7.35 Carcano at 51,000 PSI and SAAMI rates 260 at 60k psi. I could see 6.5 Swede being a problem due to case dimensions, but 6.5 Mauser/6.5-257 Bob I think is the safe spot of where I’m willing to hot rod this action to at 54-56k psi and having a similar enough taper to 6.5 Arisaka to avoid the follower issues the arisakas have with 308 based cases