7.35×51mm Carcano
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7.35×51mm Carcano | ||||||||
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From left, 8×57mm, 6.5mm Carcano and 7.35×51mm Carcano | ||||||||
Type | Rifle | |||||||
Place of origin | Kingdom of Italy | |||||||
Service history | ||||||||
Used by | Italy, Finland, Nazi Germany | |||||||
Wars | World War II, others | |||||||
Production history | ||||||||
Designed | 1938 | |||||||
Specifications | ||||||||
Parent case | 6.5 mm Carcano | |||||||
Case type | Rimless bottleneck | |||||||
Bullet diameter | 7.57 mm (0.298 in) | |||||||
Neck diameter | 8.32 mm (0.328 in) | |||||||
Shoulder diameter | 10.85 mm (0.427 in) | |||||||
Base diameter | 11.40 mm (0.449 in) | |||||||
Rim diameter | 11.40 mm (0.449 in) | |||||||
Case length | 51.50 mm (2.028 in) | |||||||
Overall length | 73.50 mm (2.894 in) | |||||||
Case capacity | 3.26 cm3 (50.3 gr H2O) | |||||||
Rifling twist | 240 mm (1:9.45 in) | |||||||
Maximum pressure | 350 MPa (51,000 psi) | |||||||
Ballistic performance | ||||||||
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The 7.35×51mm Carcano is a rifle cartridge used by the Italian military during World War II.
It was designed during the 1930s to replace the 6.5×52mm Carcano used by the Italian military. Unlike the 6.5 mm, the 7.35 mm cartridge featured a Spitzer-style bullet to minimize air resistance in flight.
Description
After reports of inadequate performance of the 6.5×52mm Carcano at both short and long ranges[1][2] during the campaigns in Italian North Africa (1924–1934) and the Second Italo-Abyssinian War (1935/36), the Italian army introduced a new short rifle in 1938, the Modello 1938, together with a new cartridge in 7.35×51mm caliber. In addition to the slightly larger caliber, Italian ordnance designers introduced a spitzer-type bullet for the new cartridge, with the tip filled with aluminum to produce an unstable (tumbling) projectile upon impact with soft tissue (a design most likely copied from the .303 British Mk VII bullet). Although the intention was to create a more powerful and precise rifle cartridge, the decision to adopt a lighter bullet than in the 6.5 mm Carcano,[3] and various design problems of the 91/38 rifle, did not permit the cartridge to achieve the intended success.
See also
Notes
- ^ Dunlap, Roy F., Ordnance Went Up Front, Samworth Press (1948), pp. 47–48: The 6.5mm Carcano had reportedly proved inadequate in stopping charges of native tribesmen for a number of years, prompting various stop-gap solutions such as brass-jacketed multiple projectile or frangible explosive bullets, apparently for use against tribesmen in colonial conflicts.
- ^ Weeks, John, World War II Small Arms, New York: Galahad Books, p. 47: the 6.5mm's blunt bullet and relatively low velocity also gave poor long range performance in machine guns, compared to the cartridges used by most other nations.
- ^ http://bobshellsblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/735-carcano-rifle.html Bob Shell's Blog