6,5 Carcano

This was the official Italian military cartridge from 1891 to the end of WWII. The 6.5 Carcano was designed for use in the bolt-action Mannlicher-Carcano rifle. It is designated as the 6.5x52 in Europe. A fair number of these rifles were "liberated" during the war and many more were sold in the US at very low prices after 1945. Hence, it has achieved fairly wide use.

Due to an unusually modest working pressure, this chambering cannot be loaded to match performance of similar 6.5mm cartridges. However, this remains a fine deer and black bear cartridge.

The Carcano is the only smokeless rifle ever commercially offered with gaintwist rifling. Due to this feature and the relatively fast final twist, most of these guns will only produce good accuracy with bullets weighing 140 grains or more.

For many years, Norma has remained the sole manufacturer of cases and ammunition for the 6.5 Carcano.