Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Working on the theory post war guns were just assembled with parts laying around after the war, I bought 3 M91TS Carcanos from 1919 and those few examples certainly validated my theory. I'll post pics of them later when I root around in the safe and find them again.

In the meantime, I found this 1919 Bodeo on Gunborker which also seems to have been assembled by apprentices. See how the serial number is poorly struck? Also observe the letter c in Brescia is reversed - I've never seen that before on any weapon from that arsenal. (click on the image to enlarge it)


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Again, this is only a theory, but I see such poor work on the 1919 M91TS with poorly struck serial numbers and parts from different arsenals on the same gun. I further theorize since the war was over, leftover parts were gathered to make a few guns. The work was carried out by apprentices since the regular armorers were gone home on leave or had finished their military service.

This doesn't imply the guns themselves are substandard - I only mention a lack of attention to the fine detail seen before. SW


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Lo & behold, I found the Brescia M91TS barrel I wanted.


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Serial number range for 1918 M91TS goes to BH5064
For 1919, the range goes to BI9567

I've examined the year with a loupe, and the last 9 isn't struck very well. Then there's the double I of the letter prefix. An Italian friend thought it was the letter H missing the "connecting bar". I just don't see that. (click on image to enlarge it)

Again, I feel the work was done by an apprentice or inexperienced armorer. It could also be a 1918 barrel that was altered to 1919 after the war.

In any case, the 1919 arms are very interesting and worthy of further research. SW

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cool old revolvers

This is the oddest Carcano from 1919 I've found: a cav moschetto made with Fiat steel.

Fiat indeed had a foundry with most of their production going to tanks, truck motors and other heavier items. My theory - to which two other collectors agreed was that after the war, arsenals were cleaned up and any useful items were put into finished weapons. Like there was a billet of Fiat steel which was machined into a barrel and other small parts. This is the only Carcano with Fiat steel known to exist. SW


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very nice , i was not aware of any of this but its great trivia info .