Wifey wanted a better camera for grand daughter pics & I made sure it had good macro capability. I even figured out how to download the pics & size them!
1) Stock cartouche for a 7.35 This should appear on cav carbines and TS - sometimes but not always on M38 short rifles. A sanded cartouche really hurts the value.
The idea was that troops could tell by feeling the stock in the dark which caliber they needed... I don't know how they could tell the ammo apart. They soon dropped the 7.35 caliber.
2) The 'E' on this M91-28 shows it came from Greece. It stands for "Ellas" or similar - since the Greeks had captured many Italian rifles, these were opened up for the 6.5 Greek Mannlicher cartridge and used against communist partisans post WW2. I'm not sure what Ellas means - (it's Greek to me!)
3) This one is a double - a 1900 Torre Annunziata M91 long rifle = scarce in itself - was captured by Austrians somewhere in the mountains above the Isonzo valley. These were inspected in an artillery works and most were opened up to 6.5 Greek Mannlicher cartridge. Many will have Jt u Gr on the stock for "Italien und Greiche" meaning both the 6.5 Carcano and 6.5 Greek Mannlicher cartridges could be used interchangably. In theory.
4) The navy marking appears inder the 'D' of the serial number. It was usually stamped on the stock somewhere, but you will see it on the metal sometimes. I couldn't get a decent shot of a Navy stock cartouche - maybe Mybusa will post one.
5) The best for last! A Lorenzotti Brescia M91-28. Very rare! The gunbroker ad showed "Mauser Carcano 30 carbine Lorenzotti". I sent the seller an e-mail asking how they could tell it was a 30 carbine & just got a smart remark. Mybusa said he didn't get a good answer, either.
While discussing another rifle with one of the big time Italian collectors, he told me not to mess around and call the place. So I did & the guy asked me to make an offer/haggle. Got it for 120 + freight.
At modest prices, any of these are very good trading stock/opportunities for profit! Calif. is getting pretty restrictive, so just to be on the safe side, you should offer them to me so Mybusa won't get in trouble!
SW