Thread: 6.5 Carcano

Question, ADI doesn’t list a minimum load of 2208 for a 140gr projectile.
Anyone loading for this calibre ?
As a aside, does anyone shoot cast projectiles ?
If so, what powder are you using ?
Cheers

As an aside…can’t bloody edit it, sorry

They do that a lot with calibres that are obscure the 9,3 x57 for example only lists one weight of the obsolete 2206.
From an early lyman book 140 gr bullet

Powder start max
3031 29 31
4064 31 34
4320 32 35
H380 34 37
MV starts are all around the 2050 Mark and max around 2200 fps
That should help 4064 and 2208 are comparable according to adi and in my experience.

I've got a fair amount of load data for it in the shed, will try and have a look tomorrow, haven't reloaded it myself yet but got the rifle and dies...

Greetings @Frogfeatures,
Assuming you have a military Cacarno rifle these can be a handfull to load for. They have an odd groove size and gain twist. Hornady did offer an oversize projectile at one time for the Cacarno and from memory heavy round nose projectiles were preferred. Will dig into my records and get back to you. The Cacarno rifles sold for $45.00 when they came to NZ decades ago.
GPM.

And most of them came with one empty clip so you could load it.

Greetings All,
Found an article by the late Al Millar in Handloader. Al was using a Cacarno M38 rifle with a 20.9 inch barrel. He reported the projectile dia at .266" and you would expect the groove dia to be larger than that. He gave a load of 36 grains of IMR 4064 behind the 140 grain Sierra for 2,405 fps. This is roughly the same as the Lyman no 45 handbook data. The Lyman start load was 32 grains of IMR4064 for 2,109 fps. In my experience AR2208 is a little faster than IMR 4064. Norma 139 grain factory loads gave 2,505 fps in Al's rifle in 1981.
If you are looking for a light load AR2206H would be a better powder.
Hodgdon /ADI list H4895/ AR2206H with a max load oof only 30 grains as max for the 140 grain for 2,089 fps (less than the Lyman start load) and 28 grains start load for 1,904 fps. I sincerely doubt if any of this is pressure tested.
For cast lead, assuming the barrel is up to it, you will need to have the barrel slugged and the projectiles need to be a little larger than groove dia. Others will have more to say about this.
Hope that this helps and regards Grandpamac.

https://noebulletmolds.com/site/wp-c..._E1_Sketch.jpg

This would be the best Bullet mold for the Cacarno the groove diameter is around .268"; .270" is no problem .004" over will shoot
ok as long as the round will chamber freely, Check out their bullet sizing tools they make a very nice one with interchangeable bushings.