Warning on 8mm Carcanos

[HerrdoktorSchuetzengruvin]

According to Alexander Eichener, the author of the Carcano Homepage, there are indeed design flaws in the M38S 8mm Carcano being sold by Springfield Sporters, which could become a safety concern if you shoot hot loads from them.

My previous position of discounting SS's nonshooting statement, is therefore reversed.

[zouavexx]

Thanks for the heads up :(

[neilwest]

1. I had considered getting one but I think I'll stick with the 6.5 carcano's. Thanks for the heads up.

[HerrdoktorSchuetzengruvin]

Well, they should be fine if you shoot commercial ammo, but that gets a bit expensive.

If it's any consolation, Hornady Bullets has taken Carcano actions to at least 90,000 CIP without failure during their tests. For reference, standard 6.5 X 52 Carcano produces 38,000 CIP, and 8mm (7.92 X 57) produces 73,500 CIP.

Here is an excerpt of Dave Emary of Hornady Bullets' article on Carcanos and strength of their actions:



The materials used in the Carcano are excellent. These rifles were made from special steels perfected by the Czechs, for which the Italians paid royalties. If you have ever tried doing any work on a Carcano receiver you will find out just how hard and tough the steel is. The Carcano has also received a reputation as being a “weak” design. Nothing could be further from the truth. Carcanos were rechambered to 8 X 57 JS late in WW II. These rifles were also proofed for this cartridge. The CIP minimum suggested proof pressure for the 8 x 57 JS cartridge is 73,500 psi. I hardly call this a weak action.

The best case I can make for the strength of the Carcano was a personal experience attempting to blow one up for a hunter safety course video. I was asked by the Department of Game and Fish of New Mexico about 12 years ago to help them with this. At the time I was one of the ones ignorant about the Carcano, believing it to be a weak action and easy to take apart. Well, the morale to this story was a full case of Bullseye failed to do anything significant to the action or barrel. We finally had to fill a cartridge case with C4 explosive and detonate it to get anything that looked like what we wanted. One other incident I have experienced with the Carcano further convinces me of the great strength of these actions. In my early experiments making bullets I made several bullets with jackets that were too thin. The bullets would on occasion come apart. On one occasion apparently the bullet failed early in the barrel and became temporarily lodged. I know this because out of the clear blue I got a round that was so hot the cartridge swelled so much it had a belt. The bolt had to be tapped opened with a plastic hammer and the primer fell out. The gun showed no signs of this abuse, no gas leakage, no marks on the bolt lugs and no change in the headspace. I know from my experience as a ballistician that pressures in excess of 90,000 psi are required to do this type of damage to a cartridge case. I immediately abandoned this bullet design. A good condition Carcano rifle is as safe and strong as any other military bolt-action rifle you will encounter.



Here it is full text: http://attila.stevens-tech.edu/~glibera1/carcano/emary.html

Neil - Dave posted today and said Hornady's 6.5 160 grain (.268 diameter) bullet goes on the production line next week, and that they will make reloading dies specifically for this bullet. Their commercial ammo will use PRVI Partizan cases.

[neilwest]

1. I am going to take the dive on the 8mm and can we get on a list for Hornady purchase of ammo?

[HerrdoktorSchuetzengruvin]

I have shot Remington 8mm through mine with no problemas. It's a fun little gun to shoot. But I were you, I would get that gun headpaced before shooting it. I normally don't concern myself with 6.5's headspace because of their track record, but the 8mm is a different animal apparently!

Neil - here is what Dave has posted so far about the Hornady bullets:

http://www.gunboards.com/forums/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Read&BID=15&TID=2779&SID=1737460