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6.5mm Italian

ShootingAgain
Is this stuff safe? 1954 vintage?
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6 comments

Date Votes
  • armilite
    As long as it was stored properly there should not be a problem. I've got a few hundered rounds of vintage World War II 30.06 that still functions very well although it is nothing pretty to look at.
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  • jonk
    ...if stored properly being the key. I got some that was grungy, hangfires, misfires, and finally one that split the case head and drenched me in gas and brass shards. I pulled down the rest for the components.

    The solenite and ballistite powders used in these were quite stable but it seems the brass got brittle on some lots.

    Milsurp or commercial? Either way from the 50s I'd bet it would be ok... my bad lot was from the 30s.
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  • ShootingAgain
    I was thinking the same, that the 50s ought to be alright.

    There are two different kinds in the lot I'm looking at - mostly steel cases with round-nose fmj bullets (with the recessed groove in the end stamped SMI 954), but also a few brass-cased soft-pointed rounds (no groove, and stamped W C C 65m/m).

    I'm thinking the round-nose stuff goes with the Italian printed boxes with the 27/2/1954 date, and I don't know where the other ones came from.
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  • armilite
    I've ran across mostly surplus stuff at the gun shows at least 20 years old. Hornady still has 6.5 Carcano loaded ammunition but I think they use a slightly different bore diameter than the surplus guns. You might want to slug your bore just to see what it measures as these bores can differ some what. You might also want to pick up some extra stripper clips unless you plan on shooting single shot. I've seen these sold for usually around $5 a piece, but there was a guy at a recent show that was selling 15 rounds of ammo and the steel strippers for like $40 the steel ones will last much longer if you can find them.
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  • heavyiron
    Hi ShootingAgain,

    You have two different sources of ammunition.

    The SMI 954 is typical Italian military made by Societ? Metallurgica Italiana in Campo Tizzoro, Italy in 1954.

    The other stuff you described as "brass-cased soft-pointed rounds (no groove, and stamped W C C 65m/m)" is commercial factory or reloaded brass by Western Cartridge Company (Olin), East Alton, IL.

    There is also new factory 6.5x52 Carcano ammo (or Italian - it goes by a variety of names) available from the below merchants:

    http://www.grafs.com/ammo/165

    $14.59 per box of 20 isn't a bad price, plus they are in stock!

    Regards,

    Heavyiron
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  • ShootingAgain
    Great information. Thanks much.
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