"Out of boredom I looked it up, and out of a 26 inch rifle barrel it goes 2700 fps, while at 100 yards its going 2480 fps." Yimmy

 

I tend to work from memory more than anything else, and haven't piddled with the Carcano in 5 or 6 years nor had any reason to dig back into it. So, I decided to look it up as well.  Here's just a few from the first page of a quick search I did. It seems to support what I said initially up to a point. Even I seem to have been overestimating it by a hundred feet per second though. Although, in all fairness ... I did take a shot at estimating the lower velocity due to the shorter carbine barrel and freakin nailed it!

 

"That's out of the rifle, I would expect a little less out of the carbine model that was actually used. That's why I called it 2200 (in all likelihood it's probably closer to 2100 or 2150)." Me

 

So, it actually looks like about 2150FPS is the mark to beat launching a 158 grainer out of the Carbine. The fastest loads I can find for the Carcano are in the 100 gr class ... and it still isn't even close to 2700 FPS.

 
"A strain gage was fitted to a TERNI 91/41 rifle with an excellent condition bore and several lots of military surplus ammunition were tested. Measured pressures varied from 40,000 to 42,000 psi. Nominal muzzle velocities of the military ammunition vary from 2,130 fps / 649 m/s in the 17 3/4” barreled carbines to 2,295 fps / 700 m/s in the 30 11/16” barreled M91 rifle. The same ammunition was tested in a Committee Internationale Permannette (CIP) minimum specification test barrel with a piezo electric transducer and the ammunition tested 50,000 to 52,000 psi."

 

 

 

"To most closely approximate the Governor's chest injuries, the Edgewood scientists shot an animal with the assassination weapon

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using the Western bullets at a distance of 210 feet.287 The onsite tests later determined that the Governor was wounded at a distance of 176.9 feet to 190.8 feet from the sixth-floor window at the southeast corner of the Depository Building.288 The average striking velocity of 11 shots at 210 feet was 1,929 feet per second and the average exit velocity was 1,664 feet per second.289"

 
http://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/appendix-10.html#penetration

 

 

"Handloading data can be found in most reloading manuals. The following information is from the Sierra Bullets Reloading Manual, Second Edition. The folks at Sierra used Norma brass, Remington primers, and an M-91 Carbine with a 21" barrel for load development. The 100 grain HP bullet (SD .205) can be driven to a MV of 2500 fps with 37.0 grains of IMR 4320 powder." 

 

 

 

 

What source are you using and what bullet weight?

I'm looking at a modern British ammunition factory.

 

"I'm looking at a modern British ammunition factory.
 > grain bullet." Yimmy

 

You're also looking at a completely different cartridge. The 6.5 Mannlicher Schoenauer is not the 6.5 Carcano.

I had a feeling that was the case.

 

I saw carcano in the name, and that it was 6.5mm round nosed and so made the assumption.  :)

 

Mannlicher sorry, not carcano.

 

 Reading the article you see the guy shot the man in the abdomen.If he had fired a in the "sniper triangle" (the area between the nipples and base of throat)>We'd all be talking about how effective the 5.56mm ammunition is.

  Shot placement is important and also humans react differently in some circumstances. It says he shot out one of the guys testicles, now most men would be out of action from being kicked in the testicles.    

30% is a fairly good percentage of the been there done that guys.

I wonder how many of those actually had reason to fire their weapons.  And of those that did, I wonder how many of them actually landed a hit on an insurgent.

Just rambling, but it does seem to be somewhat the wrong way round, what with our using the 5.56x45mm round, and "their" using the 7.62x39mm round.  The 7.62mm Soviet is far superior in penetrating cover, while it retains better wounding characteristics at medium ranges (if inferior to 5.56mm at short ranges) due to its greater projectile weight.  The main bonus (that I see) with the 5.56mm round is its high velocity, and therefore flat trajectory, and its low recoil.  This undoubtably makes it easier to score hits with than the Soviet range.  But then to be, this makes it superior for poorly trained insurgents and conscripts, while the Soviet range (with its much greater ability to penetrate cover), with its rainbow trajectory would be superior for professional soldiers who are trained to compensate for this.

 

There are some videos on youtube which really do show how much more "powerful" the Soviet round is.

 

range = round