Lone Nutters on Wikipedia

[Robert Prudhomme]

I see the Lone Nutters have been busy spreading their propaganda on Wikipedia. I discovered these gems while studying the Wiki article on 6.5mm Carcano ammunition.

"With properly bulleted^{[clarification needed]} ammunition, the 6.5×52mm Carcano is an effective deer cartridge up to about 200m (220 yards).^{[citation needed]} However, the standard Italian service round used an unstable round-nosed bullet with a propensity to tumble, whether hitting soft tissue/ballistic gel or harder material such as bone. See PBS Nova, "Cold Case: JFK",^[1] aired 11/12/2013 for range tests."

"The cartridge and its unstable, tumble-prone projectile^[1] were identified by the Warren Commission as the round used in a World War II-surplus Italian 1891 Carcano (Fucile di Fanteria Mod. 91/38) rifle purchased by Lee Harvey Oswald in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy."

Unstable? Tumble prone in flesh? This bullet was so stable in a wound, they attempted to abandon it in 1938 in favour of a 7.35x51mm bullet purposely designed to tumble and inflict greater damage.

[Chris Newton]

Hey Bob,

Didn't the gunsmith from Kleins Sporting goods say that the 6.5 cartoon ammo they had tended to hang fire all the time?

I'll try to hunt down the citation for that.

Forget Wikipedia -sad that its become such a heap of gibberish.

[Robert Prudhomme]

Hi Chris

Yes he did. The ammo for the 6.5 Carcano being sold by Klein's was Italian milsurp manufactured by SMI in Italy. It was notorious for hangfires, misfires and primers being punctured by firing pins.

The problem lay in the primers, which employed a very corrosive compound as the detonating agent. The bullets were also held in the neck of the cartridge by a three point crimp that many historians believe did not provide an adequate seal nor did it hold the bullet firmly enough in place.

So many things contributed to the reputation of Carcanos as being poor rifles.