Need some help Caracno

SmokeEaterPilot · Nov 1, 2016

Looking for some advice.

I have a rifle in my collection that I've never fired and pretty much know nothing about. Still trying to decide whether to keep it or sell it to buy another 1903 (which is what usually I gravitate towards).

I was told it's an M38TS. Is this correct?

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

MilsurpDan · Nov 1, 2016

Correct. It's an M38 Trupe Speciale (TS) in 6.5mm. Looks like it's in pretty good shape, especially since it's a Beretta Gardone made example.

Probably an earlier import as it has the "Made in Italy" on the barrel. Most of the time you see it stamped horrendously on the receiver.

Does the stock match the barrel?

The barrel bands look a little odd, I'm not sure if it's just the lighting in the pictures or if they were replaced or polished by somebody.

SmokeEaterPilot · Nov 1, 2016

MilsurpDan said:
Correct. It's an M38 Trupe Speciale (TS) in 6.5mm. Looks like it's in pretty good shape, especially since it's a Beretta Gardone made example.

Probably an earlier import as it has the "Made in Italy" on the barrel. Most of the time you see it stamped horrendously on the receiver.

Does the stock match the barrel?

The barrel bands look a little odd, I'm not sure if it's just the lighting in the pictures or if they were replaced or polished by somebody.

No idea, I'll have to check. I got it from an older collector that bought it back in the 60s I think.

I think I backed myself into a corner, I just made an expensive impulse buy and need to raise funds.

What do these go for?

Melnic · Nov 2, 2016

Hmm, does not match my 6.5 M38 in some respects (front barrel band does not have 2 screws), front sight and the lower sling at the butt.

91/28 ?

Some things that you would look at from my limited experiance is
front sight
Rear sight (fixed?)
Front barrel band # of screws and shape\

I thought that the only 6.5 M38 was done in one year (the Oswald/JFK rifle was a scoped one of these)

j8064 · Nov 2, 2016

Melnic said:
Hmm, does not match my 6.5 M38 in some respects (front barrel band does not have 2 screws), front sight and the lower sling at the butt.

91/28 ?

Some things that you would look at from my limited experiance is
front sight
Rear sight (fixed?)
Front barrel band # of screws and shape\

I thought that the only 6.5 M38 was done in one year (the Oswald/JFK rifle was a scoped one of these)

I agree with MilsurpDan it's a T.S., but a 91/38 T.S. The date of manufacture syncs with Beretta's manufacture of the model. It's a nice specimen. Many were bubba'd post WWII.

T.S. is a different design than a 91/38 Fucile Corto which has two screws in the nose cap.

Lots of identification info here:
http://personal.stevens.edu/~gliberat/carcano/models.html

kingfish · Nov 2, 2016

Sell it and don't waste your money on ammo and clips. I owned one and it was by FAR, the worst, low quality, most inaccurate rifle (curio and all) I have ever used. I saw one once that had the lever on the safety (I think it's a thumb piece but don't know the actual name for it) which snapped off. They are junk, and most likely the bottom of the c&r barrel.

iH8DemLibz · Nov 2, 2016

kingfish said:
Sell it and don't waste your money on ammo and clips. I owned one and it was by FAR, the worst, low quality, most inaccurate rifle (curio and all) I have ever used. I saw one once that had the lever on the safety (I think it's a thumb piece but don't know the actual name for it) which snapped off. They are junk, and most likely the bottom of the c&r barrel.

Tell us how you really feel about them. :lol2:

MilsurpDan · Nov 2, 2016

Carcano's can be a little tricky to value, as people's opinions seem to vary from "complete junk" to seeing them as collectible rifles with many interesting variations. I'd say if you wanted to sell it, $275-350 wouldn't be a bad range to ask.

If I had some cash to spare at the moment I'd probably be interested in it as I don't have a M38TS yet (or more technically M91/38TS).

Carcano's are far from junk in my opinion. Sure they aren't as good looking or refined as a nice Mauser, but I don't think they're garbage. I think the ideas of them being inaccurate stem from the incorrect bullet diameter being used in commercial ammo. Carcano bores run around .267-.268 and most commercial ammo used .264 diameter bullets.

Another problem was people sporterizing M1891 rifles and cutting the barrels down. The M1891 used progressive style rifling, so the bullets weren't able to stabilize well with a shorter barrel. The same thing happened with the arsenal cutdown M91/24TS.

kingfish · Nov 3, 2016

MilsurpDan said:
Carcano's can be a little tricky to value, as people's opinions seem to vary from "complete junk" to seeing them as collectible rifles with many interesting variations. I'd say if you wanted to sell it, $275-350 wouldn't be a bad range to ask.

If I had some cash to spare at the moment I'd probably be interested in it as I don't have a M38TS yet (or more technically M91/38TS).

Carcano's are far from junk in my opinion. Sure they aren't as good looking or refined as a nice Mauser, but I don't think they're garbage. I think the ideas of them being inaccurate stem from the incorrect bullet diameter being used in commercial ammo. Carcano bores run around .267-.268 and most commercial ammo used .264 diameter bullets.

Another problem was people sporterizing M1891 rifles and cutting the barrels down. The M1891 used progressive style rifling, so the bullets weren't able to stabilize well with a shorter barrel. The same thing happened with the arsenal cutdown M91/24TS.

To complete my collection I did a lot of research on them and the most expensive one I found at a gun show was $200. And looking back, I think that was $200 too much

Machodoc · Nov 3, 2016

I like it!

SmokeEaterPilot · Nov 5, 2016

Hey everyone, thanks so much for the advice. I went ahead and listed it. Tried to price it in the middle of the range everyone recommended.

I'm a m1903 and US Arms nut, so this really doesn't have a place. Plus I just made a ridiculous purchase on a pristine 1903 and I should probably put a dent in what I paid for that. (We've all been there, or at least I hope I'm not the only one).

Thanks so much for the advice.

somd_mustangs · Nov 6, 2016

SmokeEaterPilot said:
Plus I just made a ridiculous purchase on a pristine <insert type here> and I should probably put a dent in what I paid for that. (We've all been there, or at least I hope I'm not the only one).

no, you're definitely not the only one

Good luck with this, it seems like a nice example.

Need some help Caracno

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