Uh, not really. The 7,35mm Italian service cartridge, used by the Finns during their 4-month *Winter War* with a million-point-five invading Russians during November 1939-February 1940 was thought to offer good penetration, as that loading utilized a bullet with a sharply pointed meplat, unlike the earlier round-nose 6,5 cartridge it replaced. The power level of the 6,5 Carcano can be better compared to that of the 7,62x39mm M43 ammunition of the AK47, or the lesser well-known Czech 7,62x45 service cartridge of the VZ52 and VZ58 Czech rifles. Indeed, many Carcani in this country have been rechambered to the lighter-recoiling AK 47 load, which is far more widely available than ammo for either of the Italian service cartridges. That's a pretty weak reed compared to most of the *full-power* service rifles of WWII, though the US .30 carbine is in the same velocity range [with a 110-grain bullet] and the loading of the German MP44 Sturmgewehr, the world's first true *assault rifle,* are in that general ballpark. BTW, some of the rifles themselves actually do pretty well in *anything goes* military rifle competition, though not in the formal US military style service rifle matches, which allow only US configuration service rifles. The Italian Alpini who competed in the Olympic biathlon event, the shooting portion of which was done with military service rifles until 1978 when the event was castrated into a .22 shooting gallery match also stuck with their national bolt-action right up to the end. But there's a trick there....
Interesting, though, that you disagree with Posner:
Posner: "It had a low kickback compared to other military rifles, which helped in rapid bolt-action firing." A more powerful bullet imparts greater recoil, a less powerful bullet, less recoil, for weapons which can chamber both. Less force, in general, produces less velocity, less penetration power, and often less accuracy. (More detailed discussions may be found in Fadala, Rifle Guide, pp. 38-41, for example, and Withers, Precision Handloading, pp. 135-145). The "low kickback" of the Mannlicher-Carcano thus indicates that it is a weapon of low penetrating power and probably of low accuracy. There is a great deal of direct and indirect evidence for these conclusions. Rice's Gun Data Book (1975), p. 89, for example, characterizes a cartridge that is manufactured for the Mannlicher-Carcano as follows:
6.5 Italian (Carcano). This cartridge, made by Norma in a 156 grain bullet, has the slowest muzzle velocity and weakest striking power of any of the 6.5 mm imports, so it is not as popular as its Japanese, German, or Swedish counterparts.
The ammunition that Oswald was alleged to have used had not been manufactured by the Western Cartridge Company since 1944, so it is not surprising that a gun data book published in 1975 does not include it. However, since the bullet picked up from a stretcher at Parkland Hospital is alleged to be of the same kind and weighed 158.6 grains, the properties of the Norma and Western cartridges are probably very similar. This inference is supported by the muzzle velocities that are recorded for the Norma bullet:
Cartridge = Carcano Wt. [Grains] = 156 Type= SP Velocity: Muzzle = 2000 100 yds = 1810 200 yds = 1640 SP means "soft point" as opposed to HP "hollow point", BP "bronze point", etc. (Rice, Gun Data Book, p. 118). The bullets that hit JFK are supposed to have been "copper jacketed". Since John Withers observes that "high velocity is a relative term without exact meaning" (Precision Handloading, p. 135), I looked for evidence indicating that "high velocity" and "medium velocity" had an essentially similar meaning around the time of the assassination. Leyson's New Guns Annual (1961), p. 19, describes a 170 grain, .30/30 bullet which still has a velocity of 1890 fps at 100 yards as a "heavier bullet of slower velocity" than the high velocity bullets he has discussed, such as the Silver Tip 180 grain bullet with a velocity of 2850 fps at 100 yards. Notice, especially, that this .30/30 bullet is traveling faster than the Carcano bullet at 100 yards, yet is still described as slower than high velocity. This strongly supports the description of the Mannlicher-Carcano as a medium to low velocity weapon in technical terms that have been constant since at least 1961....
A wonderful story appears in Bloomgarden's book about the rifle Oswald is alleged to have used by "a veteran of the Fifth Army campaign in Italy who fought alongside the partisans. When they fired their Mannlicher-Carcanos, the sound was 'much like a firecracker. I couldn't believe they were serious . . . I thought the bullets would poop out and drop harmlessly, no trajectory . . . it sounded like the Fourth of July" (quoted from The Gun by Model and Grodon, JFK: The Case for Conspiracy, p. 86). At least, it is a wonderful story until you recall that many of the witnesses in Dealey Plaza reported that the first shot sounded more like a firecracker than it did a rifle round and that the bullet that hit him in the back had shallow penetration.
So if you're Lee Harvey Oswald, the Lone Gunman who's just received your rifle from Milt Klein's Chicago gun shop financed with Kennedy Boston mob bank money, where in Dallas do you go to get ammunition for it, if you're going to go shoot former 24th Infantry Division Commander General Edwin Walker?
That rifle may have been old, but it was an Italian military rifle. They didn't use it because it couldn't shoot straight. It was known for its penetrating ability.Uh, not really.....(followed by a whole lot of stuff that doesn't dispute the point)
Really. It will go through several feet of pine without deforming the bullet. It will easily go through two bodies when it doesn't hit any bone in the first one.
It would be better if you could try to make your points and not simply rely on posting long passages where we are expected to figure out what you mean.
You better cut and paste that. When I read that you claimed that a 30-30 180 grain bullet can go as fast as a .223, I knew you didn't know what you're talking about.