LEE HARVEY OSWALD'S CARCANO
Note: In this page I'm only going to cover the details on Oswald's Carcano and how it arrived in his hand, along with some extra infos. I'm not really going to discuss the event of Dallas on November 22nd 1963 nor the conclusion of the Warren commission. It's undoubtedly true that Oswald bought the C2766 mod.91/38 Carcano and fired three shots with it from the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building during the event, any other consideration is not part of this discussion.
Most of the Klein's sporting good section is based on Jerry Organ's article.
KLEIN'S SPORTING GOODS
In the late 1950s the Italian government through the Defense Ministry decided to start selling a cut of their old Carcanos (570,745 guns) to the surplus market.
The winner of the bidding was Adam Consolidated, an American Company that paid $1.12/unit for older models(WW1 and prior), and $3.60/unit for newer models(M38s and M41s), for a total of $1,776,659.54.
Adam allegedly sent these guns to be refurbished to the Luciano Riva gunsmith company in Storo, small town not far from Brescia and the Val Trompia valley, in order not to ship just crates of junk metal across the ocean. By the end of October, 1960, Riva had completed 12 bulk shipments, for a total of 44,490 reconditioned guns sent to America via Genova and Rotterdam.
In September 1960, Riva shipped a final batch of refurbished rifles to Adam CON. The shipment consisted of 520 crates, each containing 10 rifles sealed in Cosmoline. The rifles left Riva's factory on September 28th and arrived at Harborside Terminal, a bonded warehouse in New Jersey, on October 24th.
The Fucile mod.91/38, serial C2766, was among the rifles of this shipment.
Adam Consolidated outsourced domestic distribution of the rifles to a separate subsidiary company called Crescent Firearms. Crescent took care of reconditioning the carcanos and selling them in bulk. One of Crescent's restorers, Fred Rupp, collected the rifles from the Harborside Terminal on Adam Consolidated's behalf. At his shop in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, Rupp cleaned the cosmoline off the rifles, inspected them, and test-fired them to make sure they were functional. Then, he'd ship the restored rifles to whomever Crescent told him to.
​On February 12, 1963, Rupp sent a shipment of 100 rifles (including C2766) to Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago.
Klein's Sporting Goods, a Chicago-based retailer founded in 1885, offered a mail-order deal for guns, especially milsurp and sporterised milsurp guns.
They advertised TS carbines, described as 36-inch guns, in the American Rifleman magazine between March and June of 1962. The price for the base model (C20-T1196) was $12.88. Klein's also offered a version (C20-T750) with a 4-power scope for $19.95.
Interestingly, they didn't use a picture of the actual 36-inch carbine in their ads. Instead, they reused an image from a previous mail-order campaign featuring a different Carcano model, the "Suprema" rifle.
The "Suprema" carbine was a cut down Fucile mod.91, shortened to 40" of overall length, with the frontend removed and the stock cut diagonally to be "armonious" with the new barrel length.
These rifles, having their gaining twist barrel cut short, have most probably terrible accuracy, and may be the backbone behind many of the Fuddlores surrounding the Carcanos and the 91/24 conversions in particular.
he "Suprema" was sold as a "Custom Sporterized Model" by Klein’s from late 1960 to January 1962, when they received a batch of 400 TS carbines and 100 mod.91/38 short rifles.
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Potential buyers didn't really know what kind of Carcano they were going to get, except the fact that it was a 36" carbine (after April 1963 changed to 40" carbine).
Klein's actually received a total of 400 TS carbines (both mod.91 with adjustable sights and mod.91/38 with fixed sights), and after this batch was exhausted, they went on selling mod. 91/38 rifles and probably some "Suprema" leftovers.
Another Peculiarity of Klein's Carcanos was that they often painted the stocks in black with some wood stain to cover eventual scratches, damages or such.
Many of these black painted guns pop up in the milsurp market every once in a while.
The February 1962 Klein's ad on American Riflemen magazine
Couple examples of "Suprema" cut down mod.91 rifles,
​stripped from their "original" black finish.
credits: u/_Dylan53
An example of a Klein's Mod.91 TS "36'' Carbine",
​ painted black to cover stock imperfections.
credits: u/RustyRandy39
FUCILE CORTO MOD.91/38, SERIAL C 2766
The infamous Oswald gun was a Fucile corto mod.91/38 made by the Terni Arsenal (crowned R.E. TERNI) in 1940 - XVIII (18th year of the fascist era), serial number C2766.
Markings indicate that the receiver was made at Terni too (crowned TNI in a circle) in 1940 (40).
The bolt had several markings, specifically the PG indicating Patrone Giovanni, Terni inspector, and ROCCA, indicating the subcontractor that made the cocking piece.
There were also a couple of markings impressed on the gun during the improtation, such as “CAL. 6.5,” and “MADE ITALY,”
As with other Carcanos sold by Klein's, it was painted black (maybe a laquer of some kind) and had a cheap 4x scope assembled on the left side of the receiver, via 2 screws. The scope was offest to the left, in order not to interfere with the loading of the Carcano clip.
​
The 7/8”, 4x18, coated scope had been manufactured in Japan and imported by Ordnance Optics inc., a company located in Hollywood, California.
This scope was really light and cheap, hence was usually mounted on .22lr carbines; but the mild recoil of 6,5x52 wouldn't have been a huge issue in using it.
The mount was branded as "NO. 2 JAPAN" and had 3 holes, of which only two were used to hold the mount tot the receiver, via 2 screws. These mounts were originally made for Chilean Mausers and were modified for the Carcanos by milling the rear of the mount for clearance. This operation removed the original fourth hole used for Chilean mausers.
LEE HARVEY OSWALD
Lee Harvey Oswald ordered his guns via mail.
For the rifle, he placed an order to Klein's sporting goods by sending them a coupon clipped from the February 1963 issue of the American Rifleman magazine. The Envelope containing the Coupon was marked by the Dallas post office on March 12th 1963, and arraived at Klein's offices in Chicago the day after, March 13th.
The order coupon was signed, in handprinting, “A. Hidell, P.O. Box 2915, Dallas, Texas.”. It was sent in an envelope bearing the same name and return address in handwriting.
A U.S. postal money order (number 2,202,130,462) for $21.45 ($19.95 for the scoped 36" carbine plus $1.5 for shipment), purchased in Dallas, Tex. on March 12, 1963 was also attached to the coupon.
The payee was Kleins Sporting Goods and the payer was A. Hidell, P.O. Box 2915 Dallas, Texas.
The handwriting on the money order matched Lee Harvey Oswald's.
Oswald formally ordered the C20-T750 item, "Carbine with Brand New Good Quality 4x Scope -- 3/4", as illustrated".
As we discussed in the Klein's section, the gun illustrated wasn't a proper milsurp Carcano, but an already sporterised "Suprema" cut down Fucile mod.91, while the main ad claimed that all guns were "6.5 Italian Carbines - only 36" overall", which would indicate a TS carbine.
​
Since the April 1963 ad changed this description to "6.5 Italian Carbine - Only 40" overall" and since Oswald received a Fucile mod.91/38 (indeed long only 40" overall) most probably Klein's exhausted in February/early march their stock of 400 TS carbines they had ordered in January 1962, so they started selling the mod. 91/38 short rifles they got in the same order.
In fact, in the April 1963 ad, the same 6.5 Italian Carbine, now described as 40" but still illustrated with a "Suprema", mantained the same code used for the 36" carbine, minus a T: C20-750. But all items had the T removed, probably for the different format of the ad.
In the following issues of American Riflemen, the code for the 6.5 Italian Carbine was reinstituted as C20-T750, mantaining the old "Suprema" picture of course.
The Fucile mod, 91/38 was shipped by Klein's on March the 20th, arriving at P.O. Box 2915 some days later.
Lee Harvey Oswald rigged a makeshift sling for the rifle. It was cobbled together from two black leather straps, one with a wide patch that seemed to be cut and customized to fit the gun. This wasn't a standard rifle sling – it more closely resembled a strap you'd find on a musical instrument case or on a camera bag.
​While too short for proper army sling use, it might have provided some extra steadiness when Oswald shouldered the weapon.
EXHIBIT 139
The rifle was recovered from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building, hidden between two rows of boxes in the northwest corner near the staircase. 3 spent case were found not far from it, next to the southeast corner window; a bullet in the chamber and 2 round in the magazine, along with the clip holding them.
The gun was left untouched until it was lifted from the sling by Lt. J.C. Day and laid on the floor to be photographed. After a primary check for fingerprints, Cpt. Fritz opened the action, ejecting the live round sill in the chamber. Lieutenant Day retained possession of the weapon and took it back to the police department for examination.
The rifle's wood and metal surfaces weren't ideal for fingerprint collection. Dallas police used fingerprint powder to reveal faint ridges on the metal magazine housing near the trigger. However, these weren't clear enough for identification.
They also managed to develop a latent palmprint from the underside of the barrel. This palm print was successfully identified as belonging to Lee Harvey Oswald's right hand.
The rifle was marked as Exhibit 139 and thorough examined and photographed.
AMMUNITION - WCC, SMI 952
The cartridges used by Oswald in the November 22nd event were made by Western Cartridge Co. of East Alton, Ill in 1954.
Allegedly the cartridges bought by Oswald and used in the event were part of the lot n. 6000.
WCC only made 4 lots of 6,5x52, for a total of about 4 million bullets.
Since he didn't order the bullets from Klein's, Oswald most likely bought them at a local gun store, along with the clip.
The clip holding the rounds was made by SMI, Società Metallurgica Italiana, in 1952. It is a Brass clip, typical post WW2 production.
It is reported that Oswald trained frequently with his rifle, even using live rounds while cycling the gun in his backyard porch.
