1915 Brescia M91 Cavalry carbine and leather scabbard
Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 3:31 pm
I went to an auction today and missed out on the Arisaka I wanted to pick up, but found a few interesting World War I era carbines. They came out of a local estate which had alot of interesting pre-World War II era military surplus rifles. I also picked up a Steyr M95 carbine, which I posted in the appropriate forum.
This Carcano interested me because it looked to be near original issue and came with a leather scabbard for the rifle. The scabbard is in decent shape, though one strap has worn through and split. There are no visible markings on the scabbard that I can see.
The rifle itself is a 1915 dated Brescia. The bayonet housing seems to be the type that you pull out to extend the bayonet. Is the screw/wingnut combination correct or did someone later change that? It has the same patina and wear as the rest of the housing.
The stock is dated 1915 and matches the serial number of the rifle. The hand guard is missing unfortunately. I was surprised to find 2 cleaning rod pieces in the butt stock, but there are few proof marks on them and I don't know if they are correct for the rifle.
Unfortunatly they rifle has a major issue I didn't noticed until I got home and disassembled it. The bolt cocked in the rifle when I examined it, but when I got home I could not get it to correctly go back in. That's when I noticed the rear bridge of the receiver has a massive crack in it and has been bent to the right by some considerable force. So it would seem that this is relegated to display only.
I have $225 into the rifle, with the scabbard included. If it's fairly original, even with the damage, I'd feel happy with it.
Please share your thoughts. Thanks!
This Carcano interested me because it looked to be near original issue and came with a leather scabbard for the rifle. The scabbard is in decent shape, though one strap has worn through and split. There are no visible markings on the scabbard that I can see.
The rifle itself is a 1915 dated Brescia. The bayonet housing seems to be the type that you pull out to extend the bayonet. Is the screw/wingnut combination correct or did someone later change that? It has the same patina and wear as the rest of the housing.
The stock is dated 1915 and matches the serial number of the rifle. The hand guard is missing unfortunately. I was surprised to find 2 cleaning rod pieces in the butt stock, but there are few proof marks on them and I don't know if they are correct for the rifle.
Unfortunatly they rifle has a major issue I didn't noticed until I got home and disassembled it. The bolt cocked in the rifle when I examined it, but when I got home I could not get it to correctly go back in. That's when I noticed the rear bridge of the receiver has a massive crack in it and has been bent to the right by some considerable force. So it would seem that this is relegated to display only.
I have $225 into the rifle, with the scabbard included. If it's fairly original, even with the damage, I'd feel happy with it.
Please share your thoughts. Thanks!
