CARCANO MARKINGS

NdA: On this page I will list just a quick overview of the most frequent markings, as well as the most easily identifiable. Most of the missing marks will be found in professional books, although they will probably not be able to give better explanations than simple observation.

BARREL

SERIAL NUMBER

SERIAL NUMBER CHARTS

INSPECTOR INITIALS

BARREL MANUFACTURER

TERNI - R. E. TERNI - F A T
TORINO
TORRE ANNUNZIATA
ROMA
BRESCIA
GARDONE V.T.
MIDA
BERETTA
LORENZOTTI
MBT
Fabb. Naz. d'Armi - F.N.A.
ARMAGUERRA

INSPECTOR CODE CHARTS

ROYAL NAVY MARKINGS

Italian Royal Navy used the "crusader" shield, Anchor and Savoy knot to mark its guns.

The Circled star on the left facet of the barrel is supposedly a Royal Navy inspection mark.

AZF

Austro-Hungarian
Captured guns

Austria captured hundreds of thousands of mod.91 rifles during the Great War, converting several tens of thousands to the 6.5x54MS already in production by the Empire's ammo factories.
These conversions were carried out by the State Arsenal, Artillerie Zeug Fabrik, which placed its brand, AZF, on the re-arsenalized rifles.

PRODUCTION YEAR
1936 -XIV

Production year can appear
in several iterations:
1909
17 (1917)
1932-XI
( XI in roman numbers indicate the 11th year of the fascist era)

STEEL MILLS

AG Acciaierie/Ansaldo Genova
AT Acciaierie Terni
BHVO
C Acciaierie Cogne, Aosta
FA
FG Fonderie Genovesi
FIAT FIAT Steel Mills, Turin
FK Acciaierie e Ferriere Lombarde Falck
FP Fonderie/Ferriere Piemontesi
FR
K Krupp steel mills, Germany
PF
PG
PO Huť Poldi Kladno, Bohemia
PR
PS
T
V

4UT
4° Ufficio Tecnico
Controllo Armi e Munizioni

Contrary to old fuddlores, 4° UT is not a german marking per se, but it originally was the marking of the 4° Ufficio Tecnico Controllo Armi e Munizioni (4th Technical Office for Guns and Ammunitions Control), basically a bureau in charge of inspecting and approving guns, ammo and accessories for the Italian Army.

The bureaus were created around 1938 to check all privately produced military items related to guns and ammo. 1st UT was in Turin, the 2nd in Florence, the 3rd in Milan, 4th UT was in Brescia (specifically, Gardone Val Trompia, where still operates to this very day) others are not yet completely known, probably the 6th was in Rome.

This specific Marking took over the old "Two letters in an oval" inspector marking to approve privately produced guns, ammo and accessories into Army service.
I.e.: most of the 1937-38 bayonets and Beretta pistols carry the crowned CdeC, indicating they were inspected and approved by Corrado de Candia, inspector of the Servizio Tecnico Armi e Munizioni in Brescia (specifically, Gardone V.T.), then replaced by IVU in an oval.

The 4UT marking can be found regularly on 1938-1943 Beretta pistols (in its IV U iteration), on bayonets and rifles. Markings from the other offices can be found regularly on ammo crates or artillery shells.

After the German occupation of September 8th 1943, Beretta and other private factories still needed their productions to be properly inspected and tested, so the German leadership, with their italian collaborators, inspected and marked these productions with the old Gardone Val Trompia Proofhouse stamp (rampant lion in a circle, with a crown) first, and with the 4UT stamp at a second time (WaA 162 is also present on guns produced in the Brescia region).

RECEIVER

ARSENAL MARKINGS
FB Fabbrica Brescia
FT Fabbrica Torino
TNI Terni
PB Pietro Beretta
MIDA Manifattura Italiana D'Armi
L. FRANCHI Luigi Franchi Brescia

E
Greek marking indicating that the gun was government property, in order to easily identify the gun if stolen from communist guerrilla groups (1944-1949, Greek civil war).
Most of these guns got allegedly transformed to shoot 6,5x54MS.

BOLT/MAGAZINE/METAL PARTS

ARSENAL MARKINGS
FB Fabbrica Brescia
FT Fabbrica Torino
TNI Terni
PB Pietro Beretta
MIDA Manifattura Italiana D'Armi
L. FRANCHI Luigi Franchi Brescia

Subcontractor Markings

Inspector markings

Inspector codes are usually two letters inside an oval or box.
In the second half of the 1930s and during the Second World War, Gardone V.T. he appears to have used diamond shapes with numbers to indicate inspectors.
The crowned "CdeC" marking should indicate Corrado de Candia, employee of the Technical Service for Weapons and Ammunition, stationed at SFARE Gardone Val Trompia.