the Mannlicher rifle clearly followed the trend of reducing the functions of the bayonet in battle, but at the same time, its role as a tool for the infantryman increased. It was sometimes difficult to handle a bayonet that was too long, so the bayonet-knife had a reduced length and a lighter handle. This made it possible to make the Austro-Hungarian knife convenient to use, and changing the attachment of the bayonet to the rifle established a balance between them, which also contributed to improving the accuracy of shots.
Main characteristics of the knife
The main characteristics include:
- length of the entire bayonet – 375 mm;
- the length of the blade itself is 245 mm;
- blade width – 27 mm;
- The diameter of the ring in the cross inside is 16.5 mm.
The bayonet blade has a fuller on both sides and is single-edged. Two wooden cheeks form the handle of the blade and are fastened with a pair of rivets with a shank. The T-shaped groove and latch are located in the head of the handle. In this case, the latch is spring-loaded, and the spiral spring is located inside this latch. As for the cross, it is straight, has a ring for the barrel, which is formed by two legs. The steel sheath has a hook and a ball at the end.
The Mannlicher-Carcano carbine is a very average weapon, but it has its own
The Mannlicher-Carcano carbine is a very average weapon, but it is unique.
It has happened more than once that instead of buying good weapons abroad, the state, with tenacity worthy of much better use, continued to cling to its own, national one. That is, our own, national, even if bad, is better than foreign, even if good.
Carbine "Mannlicher-Carcano" M91/38 - as you can see, nothing special in appearance.
Here are many Italian weapons “from the same opera”, and in particular, the entire family of Mannlicher-Carcano rifles. It all started with the “fucile modello 1891” sample, that is, the 1891 model (M91), the same age as our “Mosin three-line”. Moreover, the basis for its creation was the German “Mauser” M1889, but two people worked on it, eventually changing it beyond recognition: the famous gunsmith designer Ferdinand Mannlicher and Salvatore Carcano, the chief inspector of the Turin arms factory. Thanks to the first, the rifle received an original magazine, the second created both an original bolt and an original fuse for it. An even more original solution was a pack of six rounds, which was inserted loaded into the rifle magazine along with the cartridges, and which fell out of it through a special window in the lower part of the magazine box after the last cartridge was sent into the chamber. This made it possible to provide a higher practical rate of fire in relation to rifles of other systems. In addition, this pack contained six cartridges, while the rifles of all other armies that fought had five, and the French Berthier rifle initially had only three. They planned to replace the obsolete Vetterli model 1871/72 and Vetterli-Vitali model 1871/87 rifles, which had a caliber of 10.4 mm, with a new rifle.
Since so much in a weapon depends on the cartridge, the Italians thought of this first, as a result of which Italy was among the first countries to receive 6.5 mm caliber cartridges for their small arms. It then spread to Japan, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Portugal and Romania, as well as Greece.
Meanwhile, the experience of the First World War clearly demonstrated that infantry rifles were too long. Therefore, between the two world wars, many countries around the world began to adopt modernized models of old weapons into their infantry, which were distinguished mainly by their reduced length. This is how, based on the experience of the First World War, the Mannlicher-Carcano carbine of the 1891/24 model was created, which differed from the M91T.S model by a constant sight at 300 m, which replaced the sector one at ranges up to 1500 m.
The low efficiency of the 6.5×52 cartridge was also revealed. Both in Ethiopia in 1935–1936, and in Spain since 1936, this cartridge did not perform well. And then, in 1937, the Italian army decided to rearm with a rifle chambered for the new 7.35×51 caliber. As happens very often with the army, the most important condition of the technical specifications was to ensure the minimum cost of rearmament. At the same time, work on both the cartridge and the rifle was carried out in parallel. The result was the Mannlicher-Carcano M38 rifle and two Mannlicher-Carcano carbines M38 and M38T.S. Apart from the new caliber, simplified sight and swivel position, they were no different from their predecessors.
In the design of the rifle and carbine, the Italians abandoned the complex progressive rifling in the barrel bore, leaving a constant rifling pitch of 254 mm. Nevertheless, in general, the rifle had relatively high characteristics: length was 1020 mm, barrel length was 538 mm, weight was 3400 g, with a magazine capacity of six rounds. Under the designation "Mannlicher-Carcano" M91/38, the new rifle began to be produced also under the old 6.5x52 cartridge. But then Italy entered the Second World War, which did not allow it to either completely rearm the army or provide sufficient quantities of cartridges of the new caliber.
Shutter and sight. Everything is very simple and, in general, reliable.
And if so, in order to avoid problems with the supply of two types of cartridges to the troops at the same time, it was decided to withdraw all 7.35 mm rifles from the army. At the same time, it was decided to launch the production of rifles of the old 6.5 mm caliber, which were designated as “Mannlicher-Carcano” M91/41. Some sources try to explain this decision by the unsatisfactory ballistics of 6.5 mm bullets when fired from the new Mannlicher-Carcano M91/38 rifle, the barrel length of which was originally designed for the 7.35x51 cartridge. It is also stated that the barrel in this case should have had a length of at least 780 mm. That is, just the barrel of the Mannlicher-Carcano M91/41 rifle. There is an opinion that the 300 m sight did not allow realizing all the capabilities of a more powerful cartridge at the range of use, so the Mannlicher-Carcano M91/41 was again equipped with a variable sight, which made it possible to shoot up to 1000 m.
The Mannlicher-Carcano M91/41 model was produced by arms factories in Terni and Cremona, where about 820 thousand rifles were produced during the war years. Their production peaked in 1942. On rifles from Terni in 1941-43. on the top of the chamber there was a stamp with the abbreviation FAT, a royal crown and two numbers indicating the year of manufacture. Later, they also began to put a military acceptance mark on it, which looked like a five-pointed star, that is, the symbol of the Republic of Italy. It is interesting that this rifle was produced in Terni until 1953 and then was stored in the warehouses of the Italian army for a long time.
Barrel pad and muzzle.
To increase the effectiveness of Italian infantry fire, in 1939 the Mannlicher-Carcano M91/24 TS carbine, which was paired with the M1928 mortar grenade launcher, was adopted. Gun grenades from this mortar could be fired at a distance of 400-500 m. Moreover, to throw grenades it was necessary to remove its bolt and... then rearrange it into this mortar.
The last change in the caliber of Italian rifles and carbines took place in 1944, when Northern Italy was occupied by the Germans. They began producing Italian weapons chambered for their German 7.92×57 cartridge, and produced them until the spring of 1945.
Surprisingly, Italy itself, which, in general, had powerful industrial potential, not only failed to adopt modern types of small arms, including semi-automatic ones, but was not even able to organize the production of rifles and new cartridges of 7.35 mm caliber .
Carbine with open bolt.
What did the Mannlicher-Carcano M91/38 carbine, which became practically the main type of weapon of the Italian infantry in World War II, look like? The bolt is of a traditional design, longitudinally sliding, turning to the right when locked, having two symmetrical lugs on the stem. The impact mechanism was of the striker type and is located in the bolt stem. The non-automatic flag fuse had a very simple device in the form of a coupling with a “flag” having a grooved notch, located on the back of the bolt. To put it in the “fire” position, it was necessary to move the flag forward and then turn it to the right and down. To put the carbine on safety, the flag had to be raised up. At the same time, he very clearly blocked the line of sight, so whether he was ready for battle could be determined very easily. The latch of the cartridge pack was located in the front part of the trigger guard: after pressing it, the pack, along with the remaining cartridges, was ejected by the feeder from the magazine upward through a window in the receiver.
The shutter is open, the cartridge feeder is clearly visible.
Carbines were produced that had a shortened stock and a curved bolt handle: the cavalry M91, which had a folding needle bayonet under the barrel, and the M91T.S. (for special units), which was used by engineering troops, artillerymen and signalmen. The length of both was 920 mm, both had an effective firing range of 1500 m. The carbine barrels received progressive barrel rifling, the pitch of which gradually decreased from 485 to 210 mm.
A pack of cartridges for Mannlicher-Carcano. By the way, one of the reasons why the same Russian imperial army abandoned the Mannlicher pack was its... weight, greater than the weight of the Nagan clip. Of course, the count was in grams. But these grams, multiplied by many millions of lost packs and clips, turned into thousands of tons of high-quality metal, which had to be smelted, processed, translated and handed over to the soldiers in the positions. The clips were much lighter...
Tactical and technical characteristics of the Mannlicher-Carcano carbine M91/38 Cartridge: 7.35×51 Italian M.38 Total length: 1021 mm Barrel length: 530 mm Weight: 3.40 kg Rifling: 4 right-handed Magazine capacity: 6 rounds
It looks “plump” in your hands, “plump”. This can be seen even in the photograph by the girth. Is it possible that the wood used was of poor quality?
Personal impressions of the carbine. Short, in general, comfortable, but as if somehow “unfinished”, as if it had come out of a village forge, and not from a modern weapons factory. It has neither the elegance of a Winchester, nor the simplicity of a Remington, nor the absolute simplicity of a Mauser. Compared to the Mosin carbine, the “wood” on it is somehow “plump”, and the magazine still seems too protruding for such a number of cartridges. That is, of course, you can fight with it, you can shoot with it and you can also kill people, but personally I (if I had the opportunity to choose) would choose something else. Somehow he is not very applied...
Using a Mannlicher knife
The knife was used even during the war, and at that time, soldiers converted most of them into trench knives in their front-line workshops, since very small quantities of them were produced.
Gradually, the Hungarian bayonet began to be used for peaceful purposes in some territories of the Soviet Union. For example, in Transcarpathia, for a long time they were used as pig cutters, as well as for chopping cabbage. The knife could also be used for cooking, but for such purposes it was not very convenient due to the inverted position of the latch and handle.
However, in most cases, the bayonet was attached to the weapon during hand-to-hand combat. When there was a threat of attack or shootout, it was not used to lighten the weight of the weapon. Such a bladed weapon as the Hungarian bayonet-knife was a universal weapon, since when hand-to-hand combat overflowed into battle, or vice versa, it saved time for replacing weapons.
DIY modifications of trench knives
The inability of the military command to equip its troops with effective hand-to-hand weapons led to the appearance of a huge number of homemade knives. The blades of the cutlasses were shortened, and the blades were given a shape more convenient for piercing blows. The handles were also redesigned; a massive guard appeared, often turning into a bow. Now the hand did not jump onto the blade when delivering a powerful stabbing blow.
In addition to conversions from cutlasses, trench knives from a rifle bayonet were extremely popular. Its shape was ideal for stabbing, so these knives became the basis for the creation of the first factory models.
