I have a Carcano, unknown model, that has a broken extractor. It is broken about 1/4" back from the bolt face. How do I go about getting the old
extractor out? What is holding it in?
This rifle has an interesting story. After my grandmother passed away, we had to empty her house. My father asked me if I wanted some of the guns that were in her attack. They had belonged to my uncle who had passed away a couple years earlier. My father told me that one was an old Carcano that my grandmother's brother had brought back from Italy at the end of WWII. Actually, he had brought back two, but no one knows where the second rifle has gotten off to. Anyway, my uncle got the better of the two from him.
This is how the story was told to me by my father:
My grandmother's brother was one of the G.I.'s that "liberated" the Jewish slave laborers in the arms factory. One of the grateful factory workers had asked my great-uncle(?) if there was anything that they could do for him for liberating them. To which he replied that, since they asked, he would really like a couple of the rifles they were making. The worker stated flatly that he would never handle any of these guns or parts again now that he was no longer a slave, but would be more than happy to show my great-uncle which parts he would need and walk him through building a couple rifles.
Anyway, these rifles were assembled and brought back unfired. This rifle has not been fired more than a few dozen times since then, from what I'm told and they look it. The bolt face metal is pretty sharp and crisp from what i can tell. The wood is in great shape for a WWII rifle. There is some surface rust on the magazine body and a bit of heavy rust around the front sight blade. The rifle has no markings on the metal except for the serial # on the left side of the receiver: Q08987 or 008987 (it looks like it starts with a Q though) and a stamp that appears to be a proof mark(?) on the base of the bolt handle. The rear sight is an adjustable item with a battle sight notch and a flip-over notch with a Y on the underside of it. It is marked from 400 yards to 1000 yards (4 thru 0). The stock has two 0's with a crown-type stamp between them (same as on the bolt handle) and below these at the butt is 8987. Also on the stock are two ovals with GE in one and VG in the other. I have not done more to this rifle than remove and disassemble the bolt. I slathered it with CLP and rubbed it down with stainless steel wool and washed it with soap and hot water then oiled it with CLP. The bolt body is still fairly shiny and the firing pin is still shiny silver. The bolt handle has darkened to almost black but should lighten up with some judicious polishing. Are the bolts supposed to be shiny or were they blued like the barrel? The rifling seems to be pretty strong as well.
I intend to completely strip this rifle this weekend, steel wool the rust off of the metal and oil the stock. I don't know if the rifle was ever head-spaced so I will have to have this done for safety's sake. Anyway the extractor is broken and needs replacing before it can be fired. Are head-space gauges for 6.5x52 hard to find? Would the average gunsmith even have these? The rifle has the cleaning rod under the barrel but no sling. Where should I look for good en block clips and a usable Carcano sling? Having looked for 6.5x52 on the net I've decided to order some dies, prvi brass and bullets from Graf&Sons to load up a couple hundred rounds for this rifle. I refuse to pay $40 for a box of 20 rounds.
I'll try to post pics this weekend for identification.
This rifle has an interesting story. After my grandmother passed away, we had to empty her house. My father asked me if I wanted some of the guns that were in her attack. They had belonged to my uncle who had passed away a couple years earlier. My father told me that one was an old Carcano that my grandmother's brother had brought back from Italy at the end of WWII. Actually, he had brought back two, but no one knows where the second rifle has gotten off to. Anyway, my uncle got the better of the two from him.
This is how the story was told to me by my father:
My grandmother's brother was one of the G.I.'s that "liberated" the Jewish slave laborers in the arms factory. One of the grateful factory workers had asked my great-uncle(?) if there was anything that they could do for him for liberating them. To which he replied that, since they asked, he would really like a couple of the rifles they were making. The worker stated flatly that he would never handle any of these guns or parts again now that he was no longer a slave, but would be more than happy to show my great-uncle which parts he would need and walk him through building a couple rifles.
Anyway, these rifles were assembled and brought back unfired. This rifle has not been fired more than a few dozen times since then, from what I'm told and they look it. The bolt face metal is pretty sharp and crisp from what i can tell. The wood is in great shape for a WWII rifle. There is some surface rust on the magazine body and a bit of heavy rust around the front sight blade. The rifle has no markings on the metal except for the serial # on the left side of the receiver: Q08987 or 008987 (it looks like it starts with a Q though) and a stamp that appears to be a proof mark(?) on the base of the bolt handle. The rear sight is an adjustable item with a battle sight notch and a flip-over notch with a Y on the underside of it. It is marked from 400 yards to 1000 yards (4 thru 0). The stock has two 0's with a crown-type stamp between them (same as on the bolt handle) and below these at the butt is 8987. Also on the stock are two ovals with GE in one and VG in the other. I have not done more to this rifle than remove and disassemble the bolt. I slathered it with CLP and rubbed it down with stainless steel wool and washed it with soap and hot water then oiled it with CLP. The bolt body is still fairly shiny and the firing pin is still shiny silver. The bolt handle has darkened to almost black but should lighten up with some judicious polishing. Are the bolts supposed to be shiny or were they blued like the barrel? The rifling seems to be pretty strong as well.
I intend to completely strip this rifle this weekend, steel wool the rust off of the metal and oil the stock. I don't know if the rifle was ever head-spaced so I will have to have this done for safety's sake. Anyway the extractor is broken and needs replacing before it can be fired. Are head-space gauges for 6.5x52 hard to find? Would the average gunsmith even have these? The rifle has the cleaning rod under the barrel but no sling. Where should I look for good en block clips and a usable Carcano sling? Having looked for 6.5x52 on the net I've decided to order some dies, prvi brass and bullets from Graf&Sons to load up a couple hundred rounds for this rifle. I refuse to pay $40 for a box of 20 rounds.
I'll try to post pics this weekend for identification.
