Upper right invoice: item described as "T-38".
What does this mean? Context?
On January 15, 1962, Klein's contracted with Crescent for 400 M91/38 TS Carcanos ("Model 91TS" in the picture above). Klein's advertised in catalogues and several gun and sport magazines; I only have information on their ads that ran in "American Rifleman".
Between March and June, "American Rifleman" ads offered the TS Carcanos (Order No. C20-T749) for $11.88. The model wasn't specified, only "6.5 Italian Carbine". If a customer knew the TS was 36 1/2" long, he might assume he was getting a M91/38 TS Carcano, as the ad presented the length as 36". The illustration showed a different rifle, and the weight was wrong.
"American Rifleman" was a monthly magazine and had a much more slower turnover than a news weekly like "Life". The March issue would have been on the stands around early February, if not late January. Monthlies usually had a deadline for ads to be finalized about a week or two before the magazine was actually printed. Then maybe a week for the magazines to make it from the printers to remote newsstands (the weeklies having priority). So the "American Rifleman" ads that ran between March and June seem to reflect the order from Crescent.
On April 13, 1962 the Cresecent order was amended to receive from Crescent Carcanos presumably of a different model than the TS rifle (the new rifles are not referred to as "Model 91TS") and at a cost increase of one-dollar. We know Crescent paid one-dollar more for the M91/38 Fucile Corto (Short Rifle) 40" Carcanos, being a slightly-more substantial rifle than the 36" TS. Beginning August 1962, "American Rifleman" ads show a new Order No. C20-T1196 for $12.88. This would seem to reflect the one-dollar-more wholesale price from Crescent.
Assuming Klein's was ethical, they would satisfy those $12.88 orders with the 40" Carcanos, and use the same rifles to fulfill the "package deal" with the scope. They continued to advertise the wrong weight and illustration, so it may be that they thought the new Carcanos were 36". They didn't weigh the rifles so why should we assume they measured them; at some point they did or word got back to them because the weight and length were amended during 1963, though not for the February 1963 "American Rifleman" ad.
The use of "T" doesn't mean the Carcanos were TS models. It may mean Type-38 because the 1938 model-revisions were supposedly an improvement over the pre-1938 models. "Italian-Select" the order form to Crescent says. The M91/38s were sold by the Italian government as surplus after the pre-1938 stock had been auctioned off. I assume Klein's would have wanted 1938-and-newer stock, so the references to "38".