Type Rifle Wars World War II, others Case type Rimless Bottleneck | Place of origin Kingdom of Italy Parent case 6.5 mm Carcano | |
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Used by Italy, Finland, Nazi Germany | ||
The 7.35×51mm Carcano is an Italian rifle cartridge and a now obsolete caliber designed to replace the 6.5×52mm Mannlicher–Carcano in the Carcano rifles of the Italian military. The 7.35 also had the advantage of using Spitzer-style bullets to achieve higher velocity.
Description
After reports of inadequate performance of the 6.5×52mm Mannlicher–Carcano at both short and long ranges 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 7.35x51mm 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 in 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, and various design problems of the 91/38 rifle, didn't permit the cartridge to have the intended success.