7.35×51mm Carcano

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7.35×51mm Carcano

From left, 8x57mm IS, 6.5 mm Carcano and 7.35×51mm Carcano
Type Rifle
Place of origin Italy Kingdom of Italy
Service history
Used by Italy, Finland, Nazi Germany
Wars World War II, others
Specifications
Parent case 6.5 mm Carcano
Case type Rimless Bottleneck
Bullet diameter 7.57 mm (0.298 in)
Neck diameter 8.32 mm (0.328 in)
Shoulder diameter 10.85 mm (0.427 in)
Base diameter 11.40 mm (0.449 in)
Rim diameter 11.40 mm (0.449 in)
Case length 51.50 mm (2.028 in)
Overall length 73.70 mm (2.902 in)
Case capacity 3.26 cm3 (50.3 gr H2O)
Maximum pressure 350 MPa (51,000 psi)

The 7.35×51mm Carcano is an Italian rifle cartridge.

After reports of inadequate performance of the 6.5×52mm Mannlicher-Carcano at both short and long ranges[1][2] during the campaigns in Italian North Africa (1924-1934), and the Second Italo-Abyssinian War (1934), the Italian army introduced a new short rifle in 1938, the Modello 1938, together with a new cartridge in 7.35x51mm caliber. In addition to the slightly larger caliber, Italian ordnance designers introduced a spitzer-type bullet for the new cartridge, with the tip filled with aluminum to produce an unstable (tumbling) projectile upon impact in soft tissue (a design most likely copied from the .303 British Mk VII bullet). Although the intention was to create a more powerful and precise rifle cartridge, the decision to adopt a lighter bullet than in the 6.5 mm Carcano,[3] and various design problems of the 91/38 rifle, didn't permit the cartridge to have the intended success.

Notes

  1. ↑ Dunlap, Roy F., Ordnance Went Up Front, Samworth Press (1948), pp. 47-48: The 6.5mm Carcano had reportedly proved inadequate in stopping charges of native tribesmen for a number of years, prompting various stop-gap solutions such as brass-jacketed multiple projectile or frangible explosive bullets, apparently for use against tribesmen in colonial conflicts.
  2. ↑ Weeks, John, World War II Small Arms, New York: Galahad Books, p. 47: the 6.5mm's blunt bullet and relatively low velocity also gave poor long range performance in machine guns, compared to the cartridges used by most other nations.
  3. ↑ http://bobshellsblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/735-carcano-rifle.html Bob Shell's Blog


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