Anybody re-barreled a Carcano?
I was musing over cartridges with similar dimensions to the Carcano's to see what might work with the clip system without too much difficulty and came across the 35 Rem. 9 thou difference on the rim, 5 thou difference on the shoulder, .147" difference in cartridge length; should be doable to feed. Marlin is still making the 35 Rem lever action rifles so brass should be available. Power-wise the 35 Rem is less than the 358 Win but looks plenty potent for most game, and within reasonable limits of the Carcano action. Looks ideal for a short carbine, easy to carry and moderate recoil.
A poor man's Mannlicher-Schonauer comes to mind if one could put a 20 inch barrel, folding leaf sights, and a full length stock on a Carcano. The bottom metal would be a dead give away though, much like a Mosin.
Given that I've got a Carcano short rifle in good working order except for a shot out pitted barrel, looks like a possible "project" would be a 35 cal barrel, 35 Rem reamer, and machine work to cut threads to Carcano specs. Possible obstacles could be needing to make an action wrench to fit the action to get the old barrel off and the usual fun of pulling a barrel that's been torqued since 1939.
Assuming I get that far, my guess a Mannlicher type stock for this kind of frankenstein would be a custom affair and could get pretty pricey unless I do alot of my own whittling.
Anywho, I've put a lot of rounds through this particular Carcano and the metal is in excellent shape except for the bore. Hate to toss it into the wall hanger category. Looking for some feed back from anyone thats been there done that or if I'm overlooking any major gotchas.
Nels