Page 86 - GUNS Issue n.01

Military rifles MoScheTTo 1891 cAvAlry cArbIne

Italy’s most

beloved carbine

Italian distributor Tfc has re-imported a lot of 150 Moschetto 1891 “cavalry”
carbines that come from the State police warehouse. A time capsule full of
jewels, which allows us to review the salient steps of the (very long) service life
of this iconic firearm

Written by Ruggero Pettinelli, photos by Matteo Galuzzi

e had been waiting for them
for months. And when they
W arrived, the next morning
at 9 o’clock we were there to welcome
them. We are talking about a lot of 150
Moschetto 1891 carbines (so-called
“cavalry”) that returned to Italy from
Austria, after the famous sale of mil-
surp materials stored in the state
police warehouse of Senigallia. Why
are these guns so important? Well,
first of all, because today finding 150
cavalry carbines all together is no
longer as common as it could have
been twenty or twenty-five years
ago. Secondly, because we are talking
about guns that have not traveled all
over the world and have not been
reassembled, modified and exchanged
thousands of times by dealers and
gunsmiths before ending up in the
hands of enthusiasts and collectors.
These guns have remained “sealed”,
so to speak, in a time capsule, safe in
the racks of the Senigallia warehouse,
maintaining the characteristics that
they had at the end of their service
life. Of course, some of these carbines
have been refurbished one or more

The magazine and the foldable spike bayonet
leave no doubts as to what firearm reached
Italian distributor TFC: it is the Moschetto 1891
“cavalry” carbine, one of the most iconic firearms
of the Italian army.

84 Military rifles_Moschetto 1891 cavalry carbine