What cartridge is this ?
 

Found this in a buddy's Dad's ammo rack. What caliber is it and what is the name of the cartridge? Any history there? What is it primarily used for and why is it so long?

Thanks

Tom

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

Here is a picture of the primer.

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

Can you measure the diameter of the bullets??? And the total length in mm???

My first guess would be 7x57...

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

NC,

They are up north so I can't measure them. Wow I really thought this would be an easy one. I've never seen a cartridge with such a long tip.

Tom

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

If I'm not mistaken (which I often am:D)...The military version of the 7x57 used a 160 or 175gr bullet...Which is very long...

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

Iwould be willing to bet big bucks that is a clip of 6.5X52 Mannlicher-Carcano.

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

Check out the pic on this page.


http://www.municion.org/pintes/carcano.htm

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

6.5x52 Carcano That is really strange. I'll have to ask his dad how those got in the pile. I bet he won't know.

Any idea why the long bullet tip? Wouldn't that make the bullets susceptible to damage during transport or in battle?

Tom

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

Same cartridge that killed JFK.

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

The plot thickens. I'm going to have to ask my buddy's dad where he was on that day.

Tom

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

also has a Berdan primer

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

7.5 MAS

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

I agree, Oswald's gun.

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

Based on the 2 pictures (the one in this thread anfd the other link supplied)it must be Carcano 6.5
BTW, statjunk,the long bullets are precisely why they were such great penetrators....long for caliber helped them have the freight train effect. The long tips were not susceptible to damage as they were FMJ.

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

......Hope he wasn't inTexas, and didn't have a friend named "Lee"......

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

I'd go with the 6.5 carcano as well- the mannlicher enbloc clip is a dead giveaway.

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

Tom, just off the top of my head at first glance, those are 6.5X52mm Italian Carcano rounds, in the Mannlicher-style en-bloc clip that is inserted into the M/C rifle. After feeding the last round, the clip drops out of a hole in the bottom of the magazine that projects down in front of the trigger guard.

Sadly, the same round that Oswald used to kill JFK.....

This is one of Oswald's 6.5X52mm rounds,made in USA by Western Cartridge..... Until I read the Warren Report, I was totally unaware that we had ever made that ammo in the U.S.(As far as I know, there were never any Mannlicher rifles that used en-bloc clips chambered for the 7X57mm mauser cartridge. So you won't find that round in such a clip.)

Prior to the 1905 German adoption of the 154-grain "Spitz-Geschoss" (pointed bullet), ALL modern smokeless-powder militarycartridges adopted by the U.S. and European powers used long, heavy-for-caliber roundnose bullets like this Italian one. Ours were the 220-grainers in both the .30/40 Krag and .30/'03 Springfield rounds.(ALL were deep-penetrating FMJ bullets)

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

It was late 19th century military round through WWII. The length of the 6.5mm bullets gave them a huge sectional density which gave them penetration that rivals and sometimes exceeds that of dangerous game bullets.

The funny thing about the length of the bullet is what has given Carcanos the mistaken reputation of being inaccurate. Earlier carcano rifles used gain-twist rifling (rifling gets progressively faster in twist rate from the breech to muzzle) and sometimes were cut down to shorter lengths to make carbines and no doubt cut down by bubba to make a deer rifle. When the faster twist portion of the barrel was cut off, the resulting rifle could no longer stabilize the long projectile leading to very poor accuracy. After Kennedy was shot with a Carcano, conspiracy wackos picked up on the idea of the 'inaccurate carcano' and the 'clunky carcano'- neither of which is true to those who have shot them.

FWIW, Finland purchased a large number of carcanos on 7.35 cal, and to put to bed the notion that carcanos were inaccurate, Finland had a much higher accuracy standard than the United States, Great Britain, or Germany at the time for acceptance of rifles for miliatry service.

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

So did the Japanese. They had theirs made in Italy as modified barreled actions only, and sent to Japan for completion and stocking. The Japanses contract weapons were chambered for the 6.5X50 Arisaka round, and were fitted with a Mauser-type five-round staggered box magazine instead of the unsatisfactory Mannlicher type. These rifles were designated by the Japanese as the "Type I", probably because of their Italian origin.

RE: What cartridge is this ?
 

[quote]ORIGINAL: Briman

I have shot one and accuracy was OK but it has to be one of the loudest rifles I have ever shot.