Well, maybe not junk.
The Oswald weapon was a standard issue infantry rifle for the Italian Army in the early 1940s.
It actually has an Italian Army serial number engraved on it.
The Japanese bought them, the Finns too. The Germans thought enough of them to re-bore captured rifles after Italy’s surrender to their larger caliber, 7.92?
Oswald was making about a buck an hour at the depository, he bought the Carcano from a mail order catalog for about $30, almost a weeks salary.
It was a good rifle and he was a marksman. The Finns flooded the US market starting in the ‘50s with thousands of them, something like Yugo SKSs in the ‘90s.
Compared to What Oswald Trained with in The Marines and Qualified With...
The Carcano Was Absolutely Junk !
No Matter How You Paint It .
It got a bad reputation because the Italian government modified them into carbines or somesuch, changing the optimum ammunition or twist rate. The unmolested versions have been used for target competition.
It’s like anything else. A little practice, sight it in, and it will put ‘em right in there. Anybody says it’s “junk”, OK - ask them to Volunteer to stand downrange 90 feet away and let a Marine take a few shots at them.
Let me know how that works out. LOL
I have read the Carcano got a reputation for being junk(which it was not) because the Italian military changed the caliber of the rifle during the war. Anyone with a smaller caliber rifle might get ammo for the larger rifle, force the oversized caliber into the rifle and pull the trigger causing the rifle to explode.