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7.35×51mm Carcano

Italian rifle cartridge

Field	Value
name	7.35×51mm Carcano
image	8mm, 7.35mm, 6.5mm.JPG	image_size = 300px
caption	From left, [8×57mm](8x57mm), [6.5mm Carcano](6-5x52mm-carcano) and 7.35×51mm Carcano
origin	Kingdom of Italy
type	Rifle
used_by	Italy, Finland, Nazi Germany
wars	World War II, Continuation War
design_date	1938
is_SI_specs	yes
parent	[6.5 mm Carcano](6-5x52mm-mannlicher-carcano)
case_type	Rimless bottleneck
bullet	7.57
neck	8.32
shoulder	10.85
base	11.40
rim_dia	11.40
case_length	51.50
length	73.50
case_capacity	3.26
rifling	240 mm (1:9.45 in)
max_pressure	350
bw1	128
btype1	FMJ
vel1	2480
en1	1762
btype2	Rimless bottleneck

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, however due logistical concerns during World War II, it never managed to replace the 6.5 mm round, which remained standard until 1945.

Background

In 1891, the Royal Italian Army chose a 6.5 mm caliber cartridge using a round-nosed bullet of modest power, which was quite typical of the era. While most nations adopted spitzer bullets by 1908, Italy continued using round-nosed bullets, which quickly lost velocity and stopping power, decreasing effective range in comparison to spitzer bullets.

Following complaints during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War about the lack of stopping power and poor ballistics of the 6.5 mm round in rifles and machine guns, the Italians decided to adopt a larger bullet while keeping costs minimum as possible. Experiments were conducted at the Terni Arms Factory under the supervision of Colonel Giuseppe Mainardi with the cooperation of Bombrini-Parodi-Delfino and Società Metallurgica Italiana resulting in a satisfactory 7.35 mm bullet that could be loaded in a slightly modified 6.5×52mm Carcano cartridge case, with the first rifles chambered for the new cartridge being issued in 1938.

Description and operational history

The 7.35×51mm Carcano cartridge uses a rimless, bottle-necked brass case and a Berdan primer, with a full metal jacketed lead alloy core 128 gr bullet. The bullet also used a spitzer design with an aluminum tip, which was intended to make the bullet tumble after hitting the target, causing more damage.

With the outbreak of World War II, the Italian government decided to withdraw all 7.35 mm weapons from frontline service and re-issue old 6.5 mm weapons to reduce pressure on the already overburdened army logistics. The remaining 7.35 mm weapons were issued to militia units or sold to Finland. The latter were used during the Continuation War.

References

Bibliography

References

"Rifles Part 6: Three Mausers and One Terni".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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