I have one and am having a hard time getting ammo. Decent barrel. Any idea on ammo source? Not worth the money to make it a different caliber, I don't know if that's ever been done. Neat old gun.

I was lucky to find a few boxes of milsurp ammo when I bought mine.  And even luckier I am set up to reload Berdan primed brass...

I think you can probably buy boxer primed brass from either Buffalo Arms or maybe Graf & Sons.

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Italian_Carcano_Reloading_Brass_it-157809.aspx?CAT=3830
https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/category/categoryId/3786?

I think Prvi may occasionally turn out a batch of it, but I haven't seen it for sale.

Surplus is around, if you just want to try it out and you will need the mannlicher chargers anyway.. Don't expect reliability or accuracy from 7.35 surplus, stuff didn't age well.

Alot of shooting... Reload.. Lee Dies...Hornady bullets...PPU brass from grafs.

I have about 50 rounds surplus left, I have shot about 15 rounds thru the gun over my time owning it. I kept all my brass. I have a mauser in 8mm so If it's worth it to invest the time and money into this gun. Near gun though! Very old school in how it's made. And no, no a great shooter. Literally the worst trigger I have felt. I want to take a closer look at the markings. I wish I would have bought the 6.5 version...

I have two in 7.35. Brass I found at grafs and got 100 ct. Unfortunately the places that I found that even showed stock would windup canceling my order saying they were out on the projectiles. I did luck out though and happened across several people selling pulls or old stock Hornady projectiles.


I can say that it is a fun rifle to shoot and at 100 yards it's very accurate with my reloads. Surprisingly so. It's also one of the few rounds that I actually hand load for vs my progressive.

6.5 Carcano is one of the most finicky to reload surplus rounds there is, very powder/primer sensitive, weak case rims that easily let go during re-sizing, best bullet for reloading has been discontinued   . If your frustrated by 7.35........you will hate 6.5


Sure you can find 6.5 Carc PPU and Norma loaded ammo but they use under sized bullets so its a real crapshoot on accuracy gun to gun......

Has anyone kicked around the idea of doing on of these rifles in 30I? Oitutside if the destroying history part of it I assume it would be a lot of money and custom work. Its a nice little compact gun though. As of now I don't do any reloading but maybe someday...

I bought a 7.35 Carcano to shoot.  Never got to shoot it as it was a bitch to find ammo for and then I got divorced.  Good luck with it.

Fortunately mine came with a 100 round box and strippers in a box.  I think the box is from Samco back in the old days.  That and my dad had a few of the original Italian paper boxes holding 2 or 3 clips.  Woolworths, $8-10.......for the rifle.


My dad described it to me that it was the most inaccurate rifle he ever shot. Couldn't hit a barn unless you were inside it.  Not what he meant but in true language he was right, the accuracy was "off" because it's very high shooting with it's battle sight setting.  However, the rifle's precision wasn't all bad.  As I recall I got 3.5-4" groups that were about 15-18" above the point of aim at 100 yards.  Seemed a bit excessive of a battle setting to me.   For the coarse sights though the groups weren't bad.   Both carcanos in the family had been sporterized.  My dad did his when he was 16 in the early 50's.  The other one came into the family from his 2nd wife's uncle who did nearly the same sporterizing job.  Both are Finn marked as most 7.35's are.

I saw a 6.5 sporterized in the gun shop yesterday.   It caught my eye but I put it back on the rack when I saw it had a barrel sleeve welded in.  It's something in .22 caliber now but the shop owner didn't know in what chambering.

You need to be careful with sportered 6.5 versions. The early rifles have gain-twist rifling (i.e. the rifling becomes tighter as it approaches the end of the barrel) and sporterizing them effectively removed their ability to stabilize bullets. This was one of the reasons the Carcanos developed a reputation for inaccuracy (which was unfounded).