7.35×51mm Carcano

The 7.35×51mm Carcano is a rifle cartridge used by the Italian military during World War II.

7.35×51mm Carcano
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
Bullet mass/type Velocity Energy 128 gr (8 g) FMJ 2,480 ft/s (760 m/s) 1,762 ft⋅lbf (2,389 J)

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

• Table of handgun and rifle cartridges

Notes

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. http://bobshellsblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/735-carcano-rifle.html Bob Shell's Blog