This is a Carcano M38 used by Italy in WWII and then used by Tito Partisans. The Italians controlled parts of Yugoslavia, including Montenegro, and upon capitulation in 1943 left large amounts of weapons which were acquired by the Partisans.
This rifle has a large Tito star on the right side of the buttstock. There is also some scratches with what might be a Cyrillic Ф, or oddly enough, the character from Carcano m91, Italy and Unknown user.
Milovan Djilas describes a character from early in WWII Montenegro, which gives a picture of the war:
"With us was Vučić Djurašinović, a peasant from my village, with his son Milosav. Vučić had been in the ambush with my brother and riddled all those Italians in the truck with his machine gun. A stout fellow with a brown mustache, he had a reputation as a hero in former wars. Now, however, he was confused. At times he would bemoan the burning of his house and the scattering of his family, and at other times cry out that we had to sacrifice everything and not surrender. He understood that this was a different war—a war in which there would be no mercy and no rules. In the winter of 1943 Vučić was betrayed, and the Chetniks surrounded him and his two sons in a cave. On the strength of the Chetniks' word of honor that they would not be killed, they surrendered, and the Chetniks executed them just below their native village, where their graves are still to be found by the side of the road. Whenever I went that way after the war, I always recalled my childhood admiration for Vučić's heroism, his misgivings during the uprising, and the heroic but tragic youth of his sons."
This rifle has a decent bore. The stock has a large tang crack, and a battle-worn feeling to it. The numbers do not match. It was imported by Century Arms International when they were located in Georgia, VT in the 1990's-2000's.
*. I quote Wartime by Milovan Djilas, translated by Michael B. Petrovich, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977.
This rifle has a large Tito star on the right side of the buttstock. There is also some scratches with what might be a Cyrillic Ф, or oddly enough, the character from Carcano m91, Italy and Unknown user.
Milovan Djilas describes a character from early in WWII Montenegro, which gives a picture of the war:
"With us was Vučić Djurašinović, a peasant from my village, with his son Milosav. Vučić had been in the ambush with my brother and riddled all those Italians in the truck with his machine gun. A stout fellow with a brown mustache, he had a reputation as a hero in former wars. Now, however, he was confused. At times he would bemoan the burning of his house and the scattering of his family, and at other times cry out that we had to sacrifice everything and not surrender. He understood that this was a different war—a war in which there would be no mercy and no rules. In the winter of 1943 Vučić was betrayed, and the Chetniks surrounded him and his two sons in a cave. On the strength of the Chetniks' word of honor that they would not be killed, they surrendered, and the Chetniks executed them just below their native village, where their graves are still to be found by the side of the road. Whenever I went that way after the war, I always recalled my childhood admiration for Vučić's heroism, his misgivings during the uprising, and the heroic but tragic youth of his sons."
This rifle has a decent bore. The stock has a large tang crack, and a battle-worn feeling to it. The numbers do not match. It was imported by Century Arms International when they were located in Georgia, VT in the 1990's-2000's.
*. I quote Wartime by Milovan Djilas, translated by Michael B. Petrovich, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977.