Hello fellow members. I started working on a Carcano project recently. A friend had given me a M41 Carcano rifle that had the stock cut down buggered up.
I originally had thoughts of buying a semi-inlet stock and practicing my "gunsmithing" skills on trying to make it into a proper stalking rifle. I have an original George Gibbs 1893 Steyr in a similar configuration to use as a guide.
I've never handled a Carcano before and I will be the first to say that they are certainly not as refined as a Steyr.
Unfortunately, nobody in the States makes a semi-inlet stock for the Carcano. I believe that Bishops and Reinhart Fajen did back in the day. SInce I wasn't able to source a stock, I stuck the Carcano back in the closet and figured my project was done.
Out of the blue, Bobster on this forum sent me a PM to tell me that he stumbled upon a Carcano barrel, action and a sporter stock that was listed for sale. I purchased the parts and the project started.
Here are pictures of my George Gibbs that I'm using as a pattern. This rifle is so light and nimble. It is thin, easy to carry and points instinctively.

I didn't take any pictures of the Carcano before I started to work on it, but I'm sure you all know how they look. Here are pictures of the stock before I started to work on it. As you can see, it is a classic 70's stock with the Monte Carlo cheek rest. This stock was very bulky everywhere, but it had good bones. The previous inletting was a little sloppy but I will be bedding it full length. If it shoots well, I'll leave it alone. If need be, I can sand the barrel channel to free float it.

The rifle was disassembled and thoroughly cleaned. Lots of metal prep to do before rust bluing. I've filed all the rough surfaces of the receiver, barrel and magazine/ trigger guard. All parts have been sanded to 180 grit. The rear military sight was removed and screw holes filled. I profiled a Williams WGRS FN sight to fit the front receiver ring. Receiver has been drilled and tapped. I will be mounting a Williams ramp front sight later. I decided to cut the barrel in front of the front military sight and crown the muzzle.
Currently working on profiling the stock. I removed the cheek piece as well as a lot of wood everywhere. After comparing my work to the Gibbs rifle, I still have a lot of excess wood to remove. I'm trying to keep the balance point for carrying just in front of the magazine. So far so good.
More to come later.

Lookin' good! You got some nice tiger stripe bonus there.

I know. I'm anxious to see what the wood looks like when I get to putting some finish on it. I'll be putting on a nice oil finish and avoiding the plastic glossy look that was on it before.

I made a lot of progress on the Carcano this weekend. Modified and fitted an old steel buttplate and continued to trim lots of wood off of the stock. I think that I'm finally finished whittling wood off.
I had some ebony from an old organ keyboard that I was going to inlet in the pistol grip. I wasn't happy with the fit so I decided to try my hand at a poured pewter inlay. I have a Swedish rolling block project that I want to pour a pewter nosecap so I figured I would practice on the Carcano. I did a simple design but I'm happy how it came out for a first attempt.
Started to contour the trigger guard similar to my George Gibbs. Metal will soon be ready for rust bluing. I need to drill and tap the barrel for a Williams Streamline ramp.

Eager to see the finished product!

Glad to see someone working on the very underated Carcano's.

They can be made into nice light stalking rifles...I have one in 35 cal and another in 6.5x54 MS, theback40 has one in 35 Remington.

Roger

I hope to get some more work done on the rifle this weekend. My goal is to make her lean and trim. The stock was so bulky and cumbersome before. Hopefully, I will be able to come up with an accurate reload combo.

Finished sanding the barrel and receiver down to 320 grit sandpaper. I cut the barrel just behind the front sight and gave the muzzle a target crown. She's going to be really accurate now. Haha. I have a sling swivel to silver solder onto the barrel.
The trigger guard/ magazine has been contoured and sanded to 220 grit. I will finish off with 320 before applying Mark Lee's Express Blue. Working on the trigger guard is a real PITA! Lots of nooks and crannies to smooth out. There is no fast process in prepping metal correctly. You just have to become one with the scratches.

A question....Is your rifle a 6.5x52 and does it have the Gain Twist Rifling ?

Roger

Hi Roger.
It is a 6.5x52. It does not have gain twist rifling.

Barrel sling swivel has been silver soldered in place.

It looks like you did some contouring on the back of the trigger guard. I did on my 35 rem carcano, just to see what could be done.
Could you post a picture of that?

Here are some pics of my trigger guard compared to an unaltered guard. It might not look like much but there is a lot of metal work involved.
I've used Mark Lees Express Blue formula on other gun projects with great results. Unfortunately, this steel is not blackening despite numerous applications. Maybe my solution is old.

I'm still working on rust bluing the trigger guard. I plan to spend more time on it this weekend. My new Mark Lee Express Blue solution arrived earlier in the week. My prelimanary applications haven't seemed to do much better than the solution I used previously.

Interesting that the magazine/guard steel is resisting your bluing. Sure nice seeing a Carcano get some serious respect.

Have you reached out to Mark Lee for advice? Maybe a different rust bluing product would perform better on that steel.

I haven't. I'll do that whenever I have time. I did try a 1:1 muriatic acid/ water etch for 1 min.