Page 88 - GUNS Issue n.01

An 1891 carbine in its original conditions, produced in 1894. It has no barrel cover
and the bayonet has a dual slider release. A simply spectacular patina.

In fact, the model 1891 carbine was adopted with act no. 116 of 15 July 1893 (“A new 6.5 mm carbine, which will
take the name of Moschetto (musket) mod. 1891, has been adopted and it will be issued to the cavalry. With the new
musket, the relative accessories have also been adopted and issued. In due course, orders will be issued to regulate
the distribution of the new firearm and related accessories to the units”), but unlike the 1891 rifle and its cousin, the
model 41, the carbine’s service life didn’t end with World War II, but it continued even in the years after, thanks to
its superior compactness and handling.
Thus, although placed side by side with the Beretta automatic carbine, it remained issued to the Guardia di Finanza
until 1974 and to the Carabinieri until 1975. One of the longest users of the carbine was the State police force, which
used it until the first half of the 80s for the training of cadets. The Truppe Speciali (special forces) carbine, used as a
tear gas launcher, has had an even longer service life, but that’s another story.
After the end of its service life, the carbine fell into oblivion in the Senigallia warehouse, alongside several tens of
thousands of Mab 38s in various configurations, Beretta 51s and, in general, other firearms that were taken out of
active service due to their age.
Last year, finally, the sale of all these firearms, in bulk, was approved by the Defense Industries Agency. The guns
were initially sent to an Austrian wholesaler (the only one to have the logistical resources to manage the hundreds
of thousands of firearms in the lot). Some of these guns (in particular the Beretta 51s and the carbines) ended up in
the United States, while others, rightly so, returned to Italy.
This lot of 150 firearms includes only Moschetto 1891 carbines, therefore they all have an adjustable quadrant
leaf rear sight that goes from 600 and 1,500 meters (by flipping the sight forward, there is also a fixed notch for
300 meters). Moschettos 91/38, equipped with a fixed notch, are therefore not included. Inside this lot, there is
a complete overview of the production history of this firearm: from some samples dating back to 1894, to the
most “recent” models made by the Brescia-based Fna between 1940 and 1943. In fact, it should be remembered
that, while from 1940 Beretta and SFARE (Regia Fabbrica d’Armi di Gardone Val Trompia) had undertaken the
production of the Moschetto 91/38 with a fixed notch rear sight, Fna of Brescia, for reasons still unknown today,
continued to produce the 1891 carbine with an adjustable rear sight. Almost 400,000 firearms were made like this,
which should confirm the fact that this decision was not taken to “use up the stocks of left-over parts”. In the lot,
there is also a significant number of carbines (about 40) produced by Fabbrica d’Armi di Brescia (Brescia Firearms
Factory) between 1894 and 1919, both in original conditions (in particular two pre-1915 carbines without the barrel’s
top cover) and refurbished/updated; the lot also includes carbines made by Beretta, Fna and the government

1 2

1_The addition of the barrel cover made it necessary to create two “notches” on the
sides of the rear sight, to conveniently fit the wooden piece. The original carbine does
not have one.
0866: An 1891 carbine in its original conditions, produced in 1894. It has no barrel cover
and the bayonet has a dual slider release. A simply spectacular patina.

2_When a carbine was refurbished, it was modified according to the latest standards.
This sample belonging to TFC’s lot was produced in 1894 but, at a later time, it was
equipped with a barrel cover.
86 Military rifles_Moschetto 1891 cavalry carbine