Hi, Sand Man,

   First, there is no such thing as a "7.63 Carcano" caliber, they were only chambered in 3 calibers,  6.5, 7.35, and 8MM Mauser.

   Most people "bad-mouth" these little rifles, but it's probably because they have no personal experience with them, and most likely have never fired one! The actions on them is said to be weak, (not true--), and the accuracy has also been falsely accused of being bad. The truth is, when these rifles were originally adapted by the Italians in 1891, in the original 6.5 MM Mannlicher-Carcano caliber, they paid a royalty to the Czechs to develop and very strong, steel alloy, for their receivers and bolts. The steel in them is so strong, that Dave Emary, of Hornady, was unable to blow one up, even after overloading the cases with Bullseye powder! He went thru several cans of Bullseye, and it didn't hurt the rifle at all-- he finally was able to blow one up, only by using Dynomite!

   The 6.5 Carcano was the first miltary rifle in the world to adapt the rimless, 6.5 caliber, which was a flat shooting, excellent cartridge, with a long, 162 Grain FMJ bullet traveling at 2300 f.p.s, at muzzle. The earlier Carcanos also had "Gain twist" rifling, another thing that was way ahead of it's time-- "What goes around, comes around"--- in today's military, thruout the world, the tendency has been the adaptation of low recoil, smaller caliber weapons--

   The Italians were in the process of upgrading their Carcano rifles to 7.35 Caliber, (1938), when they suddenly found themselves involved in WW II, and decided to not upgrade their existing 6.5 rifles to 7.35 caliber, because of the supply nightmare it would create, in the field. Interestingly, to convert all the rifles to 7.35, all that was required to change calibers, was to replace the barrels! The bolts and headspace on all Carcanos was so closely monitered, that any bolt could be used in any Carcano rifle, with no headspace problems! (The Carcano bolts are not even serial numbered, for that reason.) The case head and rim were exactly the same on the 6.5, as on the 7.35, and even the clips were interchangable, in both calibers. (A gunsmith could easily convert your 7.35 to the more available 6.5 caliber, by merely replacing the barrel with a good, used milsurp 6.5 Carcano barrel).

   Interestingly, it is no longer a problem getting ammo for the 7.35 Carcanos, since the case is exactly the same dimensions as the 6.5, with the exception of the of the case neck! All you need to do is get some readily available 6.5 Carcano cases, (Hornady or Grafs both have them), neck size the the cases up to 7.35, (get a set of inexpensive Lee dies, for the 7.35), and "roll your own"! (Hornady has 128 Grain bullets in the proper.300" caliber).

   I have found my 2 Carcanos to be fun, flat shooting, easy on the shoulder rifles, and would buy another, at the right price, in a New York minute!

   Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Fred (Honcho)