FUCILE MODELLO 91/38
NOTE: On June 1st 1942 the total number of Mod. 91/38 short rifles in 6,5 in inventory was about 810k,
​so production numbers based on serials are probably not 100% accurate.
DEVELOPMENT
When the Italian Army saw the inevitability of entering WW2 before they could complete the mod.38 production for the whole army, they reverted thw whole ongoing mod.38 production (Fucile corto, Moschetto and Moschetto T.S.) to 6.5x52.
It was a pretty easy production conversion, since factories weren't converting old mod.91 guns anymore but producing brand new mod.38 ones. So they just started drilling the barrels for .256 and rifling them at .268, keeping the constant twist rifling they were using in 1936-38 and in the 7.35 production. They kept the fixed sights, but 6.5 guns were zeroed for 300m, as the old combat sights in the previous adjustable rear sights.
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Only way to tell apart a 6.5 mod.38 from a 7.35 one is the marking on the fixed sight, saying Cal. 6.5 or Cal. 7.35, along with the pretty noticeable "CAL. 7.35" cartouche applied in 1940 to mod.38 guns.
PRODUCTION AND USE
Having completely ditched the Semiautomatic rifle project (despite some experiments carried on by Armaguerra with some 200 rifles produced in 6.5), the new Fucile corto mod. 91/38 in 6.5x52 would have been the new standard issue rifle of the Infantry, at least on paper.
So Terni, Gardone V.T., Beretta and FNA started production, reaching a peak of 620k guns in the 1940-41 span.
As soon as they got out of the production lines, these rifles were shipped all over the Italian war theaters, in the Balkans, North Africa, Russia.
For an army where the most issued gun for the infantry squad was (and remained for most of the war) the long and cumbersome Fucile mod.91, the Fucile corto mod. 91/38 became a really useful and sought after war horse.
​Simple, sturdy, handy and reliable, it definitely had his role in WW2, despite not being produced anywhere near the required numbers to reequip the whole army (nor all infantry squads).
In fact a "problem" with the mod. 91/38 was its 535mm barrel: this was not as performing using the 6.5x52 cartridge as it was using the 7.35x51, especially over long distances.
And given that the Royal Army very often found itself having to fight over long distances (Epirus mountains, Libyan deserts, Russian plains) the Italian high command thought this could be, potentially, a problem, which will only be "resolved" with the adoption of the Mod Rifle .41.
Some 1941 made mod.91/38 short rifles show a double sling system (both the standard on the side and a new bottom one), similar to the one that will be found on mod.41 rifles.
After the Italian Armstice of September 8th 1943, many of these rifles ended up in German Warehouses, along with thousands of other Carcanos. In the last months of the war, these ended up arming several Volkssturm and other german rear line units.