Recently, I was searching for some technical data on the performance of the Carcano 6.5x52mm ammunition. A Wikipedia article stated that: “Ballistically, its performance is very similar to that of the 6.5×54mm Mannlicher–Schönauer.” So, I clicked on the link and found some very interesting information regarding the 6.5x54mm Mannlicher-Schonauer ammo.
It turns out that: ”Walter Dalrymple Maitland "Karamojo" Bell, who shot 1,011 elephants,[3] had a high regard for the 6.5mm Mannlicher–Schoenauer, mainly because the light Mannlicher Schonauer carbines it could be chambered in.
He used it for approximately 300 of these kills.”I have begun reading a book by Bell called “The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter.” It is fascinating to read because he very effectively “transports” the reader to a different time and place. Someone who has the skills and resources should consider making a movie about his adventures. Bell’s preferred method for hunting elephants with this ammo was a shot into the (you guessed it) brain. He preferred that because the elephants that he shot in the brain tended to just fall down dead instantly instead of trying to run off. This helped to avoid spooking the other nearby elephants, so that Bell could sometimes have a chance to take multiple elephants at a time.
What we must consider is the difficulty of a shot to an elephant’s brain. As we can see in the image at the beginning of this article the elephant’s brain is relatively small compared to the size of its head. The brain is located deep inside the elephant’s head. Therefore, a bullet with superior penetrating ability is needed. That is one of the characteristics that both the 6.5x54mm Mannlicher-Schonauer ammo and the 6.5x52mm Carcano ammo have in common. Therefore I suggest that the Carcano 6.5x52mm ammo could have been used by Karamojo Bell, and that he could have gotten similar results to the results that he got using the 6.5x54mm Mannlicher-Schonauer ammo. After all, there is only 2mm difference in length, the weights are almost the same, and the velocities are only slightly different.
More data on the Carcano 6.5x52mm ammoIf the above revelations have piqued your interest, I ran across this article by Dale Myers regarding Lucien Haag’s report on the Carcano 6.5x52mm ammo.
http://jfkfiles.blogspot.com/2019/Dale provides an interesting summary of Haag’s report (which some of you are probably familiar with).
And I found a webpage for Haag’s report for those who might be interested.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/63c2d1976699b1595ac1ac93/t/67dcf7bdb0b2eb463dd4d94c/1742534593753/Part+6-The+Unique+and+Misunderstood+Wound+Ballistics+in+the+John+F.Kennedy+Assassination.pdfI had previously seen some YouTube video demonstrations by Haag. The above report includes some important information not included in the video demonstrations. Among other things, I think that he does a good job of explaining why the Carcano ammo behaved differently when hitting soft tissue versus hitting a hard skull.
