converting a carcano to 7.62X39

[justashooter]

picked up a nicely sporterized 1891 carcano in 6.5 and thought what a shame that it is in a nearly unavailable caliber. sure, i have (100) 220 swift cases that could be trimmed and reformed for it, but what about something more common? sure enuf, i found a used SKS barrel at numrich, and am in the process of converting the rifle now.

initial thoughts: the carcano threads are reportedly 26.5 X 1 mm, while the SKS thread is 25 X 1 mm, so cutting off the original barrel in front of chamber and boring it out to about 18mm with a counterbore of 24mm at the chamber end, then turning the SKS barrel with a matching ring at chamber end, drop in from the breach and cross-pin after setting headspace by adjusting counterbore depth.

was going to adapt the floorplate to a single stack AK magazine, but have a friend that is willing to part with a half dozen carcano clips. will install a magazine block in the front of well and include a ramp, then remount the current sporter sights and walnut. plugging the existing gas vent on the SKS barrel and bluing a clean-up turning on the lathe should finish out the job.

these rifles languish out there for under 50 bux, so adding a $25 barrel and making a nice little shooting machine seems an inevitable process. pix to follow in a week or so.

pix on page 2.

[Me not you]

Something most people don't know about the Carcano, it's among the super strong actions, such as the Japanese Arisaka. I'm not an advocate of super hot loads by any means, but it is comforting to know that the rifle will probably be quite safe with anything reasonable you use in it (barring flaws or damage).
Apparently they can be exceptionally accurate too if in good condition.

BTW,
6.5mm Carcano brass is available from Grafs, and the proper bullet is 0.268 diameter.

I've thought of buying a M41 rifle (not carbine) myself.

[sqlbullet]

I am really curious to hear how this works for you. Just last weekend I was looking at my Carcano and had arrived at the same conclusion for a re-chamber. There are a gazillion of these out there. I wonder what the market would be for these if someone were to nail down the process.

Even better, figure out a way to alter the whole thing to use AK mags. Talk about a scout rifle .

[Multigunner]

i found a used SKS barrel at numrich, and am in the process of converting the rifle now.

How do you plan to deal with the huge honking gas port of the SKS barrel?

[sqlbullet]

i suppose you could tap it and put art screw in as long as it didn't extend to the rifleing. I was thinking of a 30 caliber blank and then cutting a 7.62x39 chamber. That would allow me to handled 309 instead of 312.

What is going to be done with that gas port?

[justashooter]

How do you plan to deal with the huge honking gas port of the SKS barrel?

now how am i gonna hang that thing over my shoulder if'n i don't have a sling swivel on a barrel band? band will be soft soldered in place over the port and about 3" in front of schnaubel forend.

[justashooter]

I am really curious to hear how this works for you. Just last weekend I was looking at my Carcano and had arrived at the same conclusion for a re-chamber. There are a gazillion of these out there. I wonder what the market would be for these if someone were to nail down the process.

Even better, figure out a way to alter the whole thing to use AK mags. Talk about a scout rifle .

thought about making more than 1, but people won't pay for anything these days unless it's like new and comercial. gone are the days of making a living as a gunsmith. but if i could find a barrel in 35 remington...

double stack is a no go due to bolt config. would not strip cartridge bases well. single stack would work if you relieved receiver feed lips to allow magazine feed lips to come right up under the bolt lugs (in horizontal travel orientation).

[MtGun44]

Actually, Hornady is supplying boxer primed ammo with correct diameter bullets that are
reported to massively improve the accuracy. It should be pretty easy to get the gun
shooting.

Bill

[gnoahhh]

Putting a screw in the gas port, or soldering a swivel base over it is ludicrous! They will blow right out/off. If you are insistent on throwing good money after bad, then a regular re-barreling job is in order. Remember, when it's all said and done what you'll have is, well, an old Carcano worth not much more than it's worth now, but only with a whole lot of your dollars hanging on it.

[sqlbullet]

It's the joy of the chase...The fun is saying "I bet you've never seen one of these" because you made it. That is the fun for me.

[DCM]

Actually, Hornady is supplying boxer primed ammo with correct diameter bullets that are
reported to massively improve the accuracy. It should be pretty easy to get the gun
shooting.

Bill

Yup!

Grafs .com sells brass for both the 6.5 and the 7.35.
These are great candidates for cast boolits.
I have to wonder how well the 7.62X39 will feed from the enbloc as the case taper is quite different than the standard rounds.
I have considered rebarreling a Carcno in the past and the only standard round that has the "same" case head, body taper, and OAL that would make it a "breeze is the 6.5X54MS. This round would also give you a standard 0.264" bore to work with without using a special reamer and dies that would be required for the 6.5 Carcano to function properly with a standard 0.264" bore.

If you are going to cover the gas port I would make a thick sleeve with set screws on the side opposite the gas port. or you could time the barrel so the gas port is up and you have a bubba magnaport.

But on the other hand I can buy the rifle for $50.

[swheeler]

picked up a nicely sporterized 1891 carcano in 6.5 and thought what a shame that it is in a nearly unavailable caliber. sure, i have (100) 220 swift cases that could be trimmed and reformed for it, but what about something more common? sure enuf, i found a used SKS barrel at numrich, and am in the process of converting the rifle now.

initial thoughts: the carcano threads are reportedly 26.5 X 1 mm, while the SKS thread is 25 X 1 mm, so cutting off the original barrel in front of chamber and boring it out to about 18mm with a counterbore of 24mm at the chamber end, then turning the SKS barrel with a matching ring at chamber end, drop in from the breach and cross-pin after setting headspace by adjusting counterbore depth.

was going to adapt the floorplate to a single stack AK magazine, but have a friend that is willing to part with a half dozen carcano clips. will install a magazine block in the front of well and include a ramp, then remount the current sporter sights and walnut. plugging the existing gas vent on the SKS barrel and bluing a clean-up turning on the lathe should finish out the job.

these rifles languish out there for under 50 bux, so adding a $25 barrel and making a nice little shooting machine seems an inevitable process. pix to follow in a week or so.

"nicely sporterized" sounds ,well ,NICE. Brass is readily available and bullets of .268 diameter from Hornady are on sale right now from Grafs, I bought a bag of 100 blems for 18.00. As far as I can tell the blemish is discoloration, after 30 minutes in the tumbler they look as good as the boxed regular ones, bet they shoot as well too. Why not leave it as 6.5 Carcano, shoot it and enjoy it for what it is.

[flounderman]

I don't know where the gas port will be located, but you can put a screw into it and a sleeve over it and it isn't going anywhere. I had a magnaported 7 mag with a short barrel and it was an eardrum destroyer. I have a sleeve over it, now. depending on the location, you could put a front sling swivel base on the sleeve

[justashooter]

It's the joy of the chase...The fun is saying "I bet you've never seen one of these" because you made it. That is the fun for me.

bingo, we have a winner!

as far as having a ton of money in a piece of junk, well, it ain't a piece of junk, and it's about $75 total cost to finish in 30AK. now that it shoots cheap ammo, it is double cheap.

[Multigunner]

I don't know where the gas port will be located, but you can put a screw into it and a sleeve over it and it isn't going anywhere. I had a magnaported 7 mag with a short barrel and it was an eardrum destroyer. I have a sleeve over it, now. depending on the location, you could put a front sling swivel base on the sleeve

The SKS gas port is about midway and on my Yugo it was big enough to take the shaft of a Q-tip when cleaning. The gas port is raked backwards, so if a plug blew out it would be headed in the general direction of the shooter. If fired from the shoulder a blown plug would likely sail over the shooter's head, though theres no guarantee that it would, but fired from the hip it would head straight for the shooter's neck or face. Also if firing on a range in prone or sitting position a bystander behind the shooter might be placed in jeopardy.

7.62X39 rifles built with .308 bores seem to shoot okay. Theres some increase in pressure when a bullet is a couple of thousandths over sized, but the standard 7.62X39 ammo is not a hot load to begin with, .308 J-word bullets could be used for handloads, and cast boolit loads should be no problem.

[Buckshot]

7.62X39 rifles built with .308 bores seem to shoot okay. Theres some increase in pressure when a bullet is a couple of thousandths over sized, but the standard 7.62X39 ammo is not a hot load to begin with.................

..............I've seen published 7.62x39 load data showing 52K pressures. I wouldn't want to shoot it and it's .311" or .312" bullets in my 7.62x39 small ring Mauser with it's .308" barrel.

...............Buckshot

[justashooter]

The SKS gas port is about midway and on my Yugo it was big enough to take the shaft of a Q-tip when cleaning. The gas port is raked backwards, so if a plug blew out it would be headed in the general direction of the shooter. If fired from the shoulder a blown plug would likely sail over the shooter's head, though theres no guarantee that it would, but fired from the hip it would head straight for the shooter's neck or face. Also if firing on a range in prone or sitting position a bystander behind the shooter might be placed in jeopardy.

7.62X39 rifles built with .308 bores seem to shoot okay. Theres some increase in pressure when a bullet is a couple of thousandths over sized, but the standard 7.62X39 ammo is not a hot load to begin with, .308 J-word bullets could be used for handloads, and cast boolit loads should be no problem.

mountains out of molehills.

of course, the gas vent exists. it can be welded shut, but that would warp the barrel. it can be brased or silver soldered shut, same result. it can be wrapped in a .005 clearance barrel band that is plumber soldered in place, no worries.

chinese SKS barrels tend to run .311, so are GTG with cheap surplus soft point ammo.

[Multigunner]

..............I've seen published 7.62x39 load data showing 52K pressures. I wouldn't want to shoot it and it's .311" or .312" bullets in my 7.62x39 small ring Mauser with it's .308" barrel.

...............Buckshot

Tests run on a Ruger single shot rifle built using a .308 barrel and chambered for the .303 showed an aproximate 7-8% increase in pressure when standard .303 ammo was used.

The SAAMI maximum working pressure is 45,000 PSI, thats PSI not CUP. That figure sounds a bit low to me, perhaps its a misprint and they meant CUP.
The European CIP standard is up to nearly 52,000 PSI.
A Carcano action in very good condition should handle this sort of pressure on occasion,(7+% above 52,000) but I would be concerned about feeding it a steady diet of maximum pressure loads if the bore was much smaller than the bullet.

7+% percent above 45,000 PSI would not be much to worry about.

In other words a 7.62X39 rifle with .308 bore isn't likely to turn into a pipe bomb from using ammunition with .311 bullets, but it could cause excessive wear to the action and reduces the safety margin.

Still I figure a decent .308 barrel beats a SKS barrel with plugged gasport.

If good Enfield .303 barrels were easily available those would be about as well suited to the 7.62 X39 as any other. Problem is theres a lot of Enfield owners who would jump on a decent barrel.
Then theres the problem of oversized bores which the Enfields are notorious for.

Some SMLE rifles were converted to 7.62X39 by simply setting the barrel back, the front portion of the .303 chamber being a close match to the 7.62X39 chamber.

[gnoahhh]

Big difference in pressure between midway down the barrel and out at the muzzle. I still think someone would be nuts for trying to cap a gas port with that much pressure behind it. Sooner or later she'll blow. Probably sooner.

[sqlbullet]

Rotate it 90 degrees and have it edm'd out and add some on the other side and call them muzzle brakes