recently came across an old rifle. In front of the reciever, the barrel is somewhat shaped like a hex nut. on the top side is the letters TERNI. on the right side is 1933XI. it is a carbine, and has PL in a circle on the bottom side of the barrel and on top of the bolt. please help my dumb ass.

It's a Mannlicher Carcano, manufactured at the terni arsenal in Italy.

6.5x52? Is that just a magazine for stripper clips?

Most likely it is a 6.5x52 caliber (aka "6.5 Carcano). For a short time they made some in a 7.35 caliber but those are usually marked so on top of the barrel (getting ammo for the 7.35 can be difficult). Some were converted to 8mm Mauser (8x57) during the WWII years. Not sure, but I think those have a notch in the front receiver ring to better facilitate loading the magazine with the longer cartridge.

You need Carcano clips to make it a repeater. Kind of like an M-1 Garand affair with holes. Once all the cartridges are fired it falls out the bottom through that hole just ahead of the triggerguard, (at least in theory).

Some Carcano's can exhibit good workmanship, many don't. Some features of the design are decent (the bedding block system is rather neat). But on a whole it's not a highly regarded firearm design.

There are those who collect them and you can learn a lot by visitng the websites (google "Carcano Collector")

ive got the oppurtunity to pick this gun up for $50. It is in decent condintion, no terrible rust, bore looks clean. Any thoughts on whether i should procure this find? i cant seem to find much ammo or parts for them though.

quote:

Originally posted by model7LSS:
ive got the oppurtunity to pick this gun up for $50. It is in decent condintion, no terrible rust, bore looks clean. Any thoughts on whether i should procure this find? i cant seem to find much ammo or parts for them though.

Graff's should have ammo but it's not gonna be cheap, the ammo clips can be found , try Sarco or Springfield sporters .
If your thinking of reloading for this rifle the bore is not the standard 6.5 size so unless it's a tight barrel you'll have to find the correct bullets to get the best out of it.

I am no fan of the Carcano. But that cartridge is effective out of all proportion to its' size. I believe what you have found is very much like the carbine used by Lee H. Oswald to shoot JFK.........

this is the carbine version, not really worried with accuracy just looking for something to play with. with regard to bullets, every one ive found for them has been a .264 cal. how do i know that these will work with the rifle?

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/...=158101284#158101284

The link is to a thread on carcano's on the Aussi forum, it would seem privi partizan makes Carcarno ammo but to get the best out of it .268 projectiles are what you need.
cheers
Pete

quote:

Originally posted by model7LSS:
this is the carbine version, not really worried with accuracy just looking for something to play with. with regard to bullets, every one ive found for them has been a .264 cal. how do i know that these will work with the rifle?

Push a tight-fitting lead slug through the bore (I use a 00 buckshot for this for all bores smaller than .32"). Then mike the slug to see how big the groove diameter is. If it is at least .268", you should get some of the Hornady 160-grain .268" bullets for it. If you don't reload, GRAF'S has ammo loaded with Hornady .268" bullets.

http://www.grafs.com/ammo/165

DO NOT use the .268" bullets or ammo unless you have verified that your carbine's groove diameter is indeed .268" OR MORE!!

anyone got any load data?

http://www.loaddata.com/members/search_detail.cfm?metallicid=780&MW=&PM=&PT=

There should be enough to get you started here.