World War II Database

Country of Origin	Italy
Type	Rifle
Caliber	6.500 mm
Capacity	6 rounds
Length	1.295 m
Barrel Length	780.000 mm
Weight	3.800 kg
Range	600.000 m
Muzzle Velocity	700 m/s

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Carcano M1891 bolt-action rifles were designed by Salvatore Carcano of the Italian Army arsenal at Turin, and were the standard rifles used by Italian troops in WW1. In 1938, the variant design M1891/38 began production, but the new rifles were short lived as by 1941 the arsenals reverted back to the original design, though with the new designation of M1891/41. After the Italian Armistice in WW2 in 1943, large caches of Carcano M1891 rifles were captured by the Germans; these Italian rifles were later assigned to the German Volkssturm units toward the end of the European War. After WW2, the Italian Army retired the venerable Carcano M1891 rifles, opting to standardize the British Lee-Enfields and American M1 Garand rifles instead; the Carcano M1891 rifles were then sold to the civilian market. The most famous example sold into the civilian market was perhaps the one purchased by Lee Harvey Oswald, which was used to assassinate US President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

Source: Wikipedia. ww2dbase

Last Major Revision: Jan 2008

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