7.35×51mm Carcano

In 1891, the Royal Italian Army chose a 6.5 mm caliber cartridge using a round-nosed bullet of modest power, which was quite typical of the era. While most nations adopted spitzer bullets by 1908, Italy continued using round-nosed bullets, which quickly lost velocity and stopping power, decreasing effective range in comparison to spitzer bullets. Following complaints during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War about the lack of stopping power and poor ballistics of the 6.5 mm round in rifles and machine guns, the Italians decided to adopt a larger bullet while keeping costs minimum as possible. Experiments were conducted at the Terni Arms Factory under the supervision of Colonel Giuseppe Mainardi with the cooperation of Bombrini-Parodi-Delfino and Società Metallurgica Italiana resulting in a satisfactory 7.35 mm bullet that could be loaded in a slightly modified 6.5×52mm Carcano cartridge case, with the first rifles chambered for the new cartridge being issued in 1938.

The 7.35×51mm Carcano cartridge uses a rimless, bottle-necked brass case and a Berdan primer, with a full metal jacketed lead alloy core 128 gr (8.3 g) bullet. The bullet also used a spitzer design with an aluminum tip, which was intended to make the bullet tumble after hitting the target, causing more damage. With the outbreak of World War II, the Italian government decided to withdraw all 7.35 mm weapons from frontline service and re-issue old 6.5 mm weapons to reduce pressure on the already overburdened army logistics. The remaining 7.35 mm weapons were issued to militia units or sold to Finland. The latter were used during the Continuation War.