Carcano M91/38

About the Carcano M91/38

The Carcano M91/38 is an Italian bolt-action rifle, a shortened development of the Modello 1891 service rifle adopted by the Royal Italian Army in 1938. Originally introduced in the more powerful 7.35x51mm cartridge, production reverted to the standard 6.5x52mm Mannlicher-Carcano round in 1940 for logistical simplicity. It feeds from a six-round integral magazine loaded by a Mannlicher en-bloc clip and was the principal Italian infantry rifle of the Second World War. A 91/38 carbine is internationally notorious as the weapon used in the 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

The Carcano M91/38 carbine became one of the most infamous rifles in history when a surplus example, purchased by mail order under the alias 'A. Hidell', was identified as the weapon used by Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on 22 November 1963.

Carcano M91/38 specifications

The M91/38 used fixed battle sights set for 300 metres, unlike the graduated tangent sights of the earlier M91. Like all Carcanos it uses progressive gain-twist (gain-twist) rifling. The en-bloc clip is integral to feeding; the magazine cannot be loaded without it.