Re: Antique M91 Carcano in 6.5X54ms?
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:18 am
Back into limbo on the caliber stamping. My Carcano Calvary and Short rifles both have commas in the measurement instead of decimals.
This is entirely hypothetical, but "IS" once scenario on how this rifle could have possibly ended up here.
The rifle saw action during WWI and was likely captured by Austrian forces. Due to the lack of captured 6.5X52mm ammunition, these rifles were re-chambered to use readily available 7.62X54 Greek ammo. Since it was war time and since each rifle was being re-chambered, it was not prevalent to stamp the barrel.
After WWI, this rifle most likely bounced around the Balkans and was involved in the various skirmishes that always seemed to be taking place.
Then in or around 1940, it was sent to Ethiopia to help defend against Italy's advances into British Somaliland. There was an influx of both the Austrian re-chambered rifles and original captured 6.5X52mm rifles. The League of Nations in their efforts to organize the Allied effort likely stamped the barrel at this time to differentiate the two chambers.
Since most of the weapons used in 1940 Ethiopia were primitive at best, these Carcano imports would have been prized as modern, accurate and effective weapons among the Ethiopian troops. This is likely why this rifle was preserved so well.
Sometime after the War, as American Missionaries, entrepreneurs and adventurers flocked to the wild land, the discarded rifle was found and kept as a souvenir. It is also likely that it made its way into the United States during the initial North East Africa immigration surge sometime between 1965 and 1968.
Sometime after the rifle was here in the US, it was restored and re-blued to be the rifle we see in Martin's photographs. One thing is for certain, like most other military surplus rifles, this one has a history. We may never know their journey, but the day dreams they provide us are priceless!
