MANUAL OF ARMS
SWITCHING FROM THE ORDINARY POSITION
TO THE FIRING POSITION AND VICE VERSA:
Starting from the Ordinary position (hammer cocked and safety engaged), the Safety (tubetto) is pushed forward and then turned to the right until its protrusion (dente) is positioned in line with the forward slot of the curved groove of the bolt cylinder. In this way the helical spring will be compressed (resting no longer only on the firing pin but also on the bolt) and the weapon will be ready to fire.
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To switch from the firing position to the ordinary one, you must push the safety with the thumb of your right hand, first forward to disengage the protrusion of the safety itself from the forward slot of the curved groove on the bolt body, then you turn it (the safety) slightly to the left and let it yield to the push of the firing pin spring until the safety itself rests against the hammer.
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In the safe position the safety is in line but not in contact with the rear slot of the curved groove of the bolt body;
LOADING
With the weapon in the firing position, raise completely the bolt handle with the palm of the right hand, the bolt is then pulled back and the magazine is loaded by inserting the clip and pressing it down, with the thumb resting near the base of the upper cartridge, until the click of the clip catch is heard. When the ring in the middle of the clip slides on the tooth of the catch, which has a convex surface, it pushes it back, forcing it to compress the spring of the catch itself.
As soon as the ring has passed the tooth, by reaction of the aforementioned spring the catch itself returns forward, giving rise to the click mentioned above. When the pressure of the finger on the cartridges then ceases, the clip rises again by the length of the beak of the catch which is now hooked onto the ring, stopping the upward movement of the clip imparted to it indirectly by the elevator through the cartridges.
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Always acting with the palm of the hand and pushing it down with energy, the bolt is closed.
​The cylinder head hits the part of the cartridge base that protrudes from the lips of the clip and pushes the cartridge forward until its base is gripped on one side by the extractor tooth and on the other by the semi-annular projection spout; this constitutes the so-called initial grip of the cartridge.
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Continuing the push of the bolt, the cartridge enters the chamber and when the stroke forward reach its end, the handle is turned to the right: the right bolt lug, climbing the lower helical plane of the breech, makes the bolt advance further in a helical direction. In this new advance, the firing pin spring undergoes another compression (from back to front). The protrusion of the safety comes to fit into the appropriate bolt slot and causes a slight advancement of thesafety itself, sufficient to disengage its protrusion from the contrast with the bolt. Once the rotation is complete, the axis of the cylinder helical joint and that of the hammer helical projection are on the same alignment.
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When inserting a magazine with less than 6 cartridges into the magazine, care must be taken to keep the cartridges pressed against the upper lips of the magazine, holding them in place with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand.
TRIGGER PULL
If you press the trigger, the sear lowers and frees the hammer group, so that the hammer, firing pin and button that form a rigid system, under the push of the firing pin spring, jump forward and the tip of the firing pin determines the detonation of the capsule. The trigger engage the sear in two stages: in fact, after an initial pressure on the trigger, a stop is felt, caused by the second stage of the trigger sear coming into contact with the receiver: after which, a further light pressure determines the release of the hammer. When the third trigger hump comes into operation, the bolt reteiner is completely lowered, making it possible to extract the bolt from the receiver.
CASE EXTRACTION AND EJECTION
With the palm of the hand, the handle is lifted and the bolt is moved back using moderate energy. The hammer, which would be forced to turn with the bolt body, having the projection of its guide housed in the corresponding groove of the bolt itself, cannot actually rotate since its guide is retained in the longitudinal groove of the receiver, and, due to the contrast between the helical surfaces (that of the projection of the hammer guide and that of the bolt groove), its movement is rectilinear and retrograde, until the tip of the projection of the hammer leaves the corresponding groove to penetrate the rear slot of the bolt, where it finds temporary support. With the hammer, the button moves back, and, consequently, the striker which compresses, from front to back, the helical spring between its head and the tube, which turns with the cylinder, but does not move back.
Furthermore, the hammer, when moving backwards, slides with the pawl on the sear and lowers it, compressing the ejector and sear spring, which forces the sear to rise immediately after it has been passed by the hammer dent. With the lifting of the bolt handle, the bolt lugs reach the helical planes of the receiver; the left lug slides, with the front beveled part, on the helical side of the projection thus determining the initial retrival of the case.
This retrival is an indispensable condition for a repeating weapon: in our rifle it is facilitated by the truncated conical shape of the body of the case and of the cartridge chamber. With the progressive retraction of the bolt and consequently also of the case, the ejector emerges in the longitudinal groove of the bolt until the impact of the case against the ejector occurs.
Then the cartridge case, on which two equal forces act, directed in opposite directions, is ejected to the top right with a rotary motion.
UNLOAD THE WEAPON
Lift the bolt handle and slowly pull it back; place the thumb of your left hand in correspondence with the loading opening and pull the bolt further back until it ejectes the round (the thumb of your left hand will prevent the cartridge that was in the chamber from falling out).
REMOVE THE CLIP
​The bolt is opened, the index and middle fingers of the right hand are pressed on the clip, lowering it until its middle ring is disengaged from the beak of the catch hook; at the same time, the right thumb is pressed on the button of the catch itself to retract the beak; the clip, pushed by the elevator, rises into the receiver.
The catch hook of our rifle is beak-shaped. This system prevents the clip from coming out if, together with the pressure on the catch hook button, which can be accidental, there is not a simultaneous downward push of the clip itself; it still has the advantage of retaining the clip when it would tend to advance, due to friction, dragged by a cartridge pushed forward by the bolt to be introduced into the chamber.
DISASSEMBLY AND REASSEMBLY
DISASSEMBLY
For instruction, or to clean, the weapon is disassembled in the following order, taking care never to put the parts on the ground, and to remove and put together the parts without ever forcing them.
1° Remove the ramrod from its housing.
2° Remove the bolt.
It is opened, pulled back and, by simultaneously pressing the trigger, it is removed from the receiver; then the firing pin is disarmed by moving the hammer forward until it stops, turning it to the left.
3° Disassemble the bolt.
Grip the bolt with one hand, and press with the thumb on the hammer springed pin; with the other hand the button is unscrewed and removed; then the hammer is removed, then the safety tube, making its protrusiom correspond to the exit groove of the bolt; then the firing pin with its spiral spring, separating thrm afterward. The extractor must never be removed.
You can also disassemble the bolt into two parts only, when you only want to inspect or clean the inside of the bolt and the tip of the firing pin. To do this, hold the bolt with your left hand, handle to the right; with the thumb of the other hand, push forward and turn the safety to the left, then, placing the protrusion of the safety tube in correspondence with the exit groove of the bolt, extract together the button, hammer, safety, firing pin and spiral spring.
If, after having disassembled the bolt into only two parts, you recognize the need to disassemble it completely, first put the extracted parts back into the bolt, taking care that the cylindrical part of the hammer is against the rearward part of the safety, so that its protrusion rests in the forward slot of the bolt groove; after which the total disassembly is carried out.
4° Remove the rifle sling.
5° Separate the barrel from the stock.
Unscrew the two screws of the receiver and remove the magazine. Then: if it is a rifle or T.S carbine, remove the screw of the mouthpiece and the mouthpiece itself without hitting the front sight, and, by pressing on the spring, slide the barrel band along the stock and remove it; then remove the handguard;
if instead it is an M. 91 cavalry carbine, fix the bayonet, remove the screw of the mouthpiece and detach it from the stock.
Finally, separate the barrel from the stock, moving one from the other without tearing.
Remove the trigger and ejection device.
Remove the pin of the trigger group by levering with the blade of the screwdriver under its head; then separate the trigger group from the receiver. Separate the bolt retainer, the ejector and the ejector spring.
7° Dismantle the magazine.
Only the base plate may be removed from the magazine.
To do this, first remove the screw, then press on the base plate, using the screwdriver blade inserted into the appropriate hole in the magazine.
Parts of the weapon that must never be removed.
The following must never be removed from the weapon: the front sight, the rear sight and its parts, the receiver, the elevator and its spring from the mag base plate, the sear from the trigger group, the trigger from the trigger group, the clip catch and its spring, the extractor, the tip of the firing pin, the hammer springed pin, the recoil lug, the screw sleeves, the barrel band spring, the sling swivel, the butt plate.
It is also forbidden to remove any part of the bayonet.
REASSEMBLY
The various parts are rejoined and put back in place, proceeding in the reverse order to that indicated for disassembly.
To reassemble the trigger and ejection mechanism, having positioned the barrel with the sights down, place the ejector with the beveled edge on the opposite side of the loading gate and put its spring over it; then the rest of the mechanism is put in place, after having arranged the bolt retainer on the trigger group with the flat face out; finally, fix everything with the pin, noting that, to facilitate its insertion, the trigger group must be pressed against the receiver.
​When putting the magazine in place, care must be taken to ensure that the receiver screws are well tightened.
To reassemble the bolt, take the bolt body with one hand, insert the firing pin with the other, then the spiral spring, then the safety, making its protrusion enter the bolt body groove and turning it to the right to fix it in the first slot; then push the safety again, until the protrusion is lodged in the second slot, forward.
Then turn the firing pin rod, until its flat side of this corresponds with that of the safety inner tube: place the hammer in place on the firing pin, so that the threads of the firing pin remains exposed; finally screw the button, making sure to press with the thumbnail the springed pin of the hammer. When screwing the last turns,be sure not to stop until the button is completely screwed (the springed pin of the hammer will be lowered in its housing, ready to stop the button if it begins to unscrew).
To put the bolt back into the receiver, cock the hammer group by moving the hammer back and turning it to the right until it stops; then insert the bolt into the weapon by pressing the trigger to lower the bolt reteiner; finally, put the bolt in the normal position.
Once the weapon is reassembled, check that it works well by opening and closing the bolt again and testing the trigger once; then put the bolt back in the normal position.