Carcano Mod.91

Adopted in March 1892 to replace the Vetterli rifle and the 10.4×47mmR bullet, which had been made obsolete by the adoption in 1886 of the Lebel rifle and of its smokeless 8x50mmR cartridge, the Fucile mod. 91 (Model 91 rifle) was the workhorse of the Regio Esercito Italiano (Royal Italian Army) during WW2.

The action was developed by Salvatore Carcano, chief technician at the Turin Arsenal, who drew inspiration from previous Mauser action designs, while the magazine was a licenced Mannlicher design inspired by the M1888 Kommissiongewehr.

The Carcano saw its baptism of fire during the Boxer War in China in 1900-1901 and during the Italo-Turkish war in Libya in 1911-1912, and was the main rifle of the Italian infantryman during WW1, when the constant need for rifles and spare parts made the production drastically increase, reaching the impressive number of 2000 rifles produced per day by the Terni Arsenal in 1918. The production of the mod. 91 began in 1892, immediately after its adoption. In 1919 it was discontinued and resumed briefly between 1932-1936 due to the need for rifles to employ in the East African colonies and in Ethiopia. After that date only spare barrels were made. During this timespan approximately 4,860,000 mod. 91s were produced. It's important to note, however, that, since those years many rifles were discarded, lost, converted to carbines or partially recycled to produce mod. 38 rifles.

In 1937, after years of research, the new 7.35mm bullet, which should have replaced the 6.5mm, was adopted and in 1937-1938 a rifle, the Fucile Corto mod. 38 (Short Rifle M38), was developed for the new ammo. However, due to the outbreak of WW2, in early 1940 the High Command decided to revert back to the 6.5mm ammo. By then, in fact only 280,000 mod.38 rifles had been produced out of a theoretical need, in the case of just a partial mobilisation, for more than 1,000,000 rifles. The production of new rifles and ammo was thus halted and the arsenals began producing a new rifle, the Fucile Corto mod. 91/38, visually identical to the mod. 38 rifle but chambered in 6.5mm. Although this new rifle saw extensive use, it didn't manage to replace the mod. 91, which remained the most common rifle in the hands of Italian infantrymen for the duration of the war.

During WW2 the Fucile mod. 91 was issued to all the branches of infantry: line infantry, Alpini and Granatieri (grenadiers). It saw action on every front where the Regio Esercito Italiano fought, from the Western Alps to North Africa and from the Eastern front to the Dodecanese.