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Fixed typo. ('This would result in the creation of the M81/38 Carcano')
The M1891 would first see combat use during the First Italo-Ethiopian War of 1895, although not in very large numbers as Italy didn't have the manufacturing capacity to outfit its entire army at that time. This shortage of rifles would be rectified in following decades, and when Italy entered the First World War in 1914, they had produced over 700,000 Carcano rifles. The M1891 served as the primary infantry arm of the Italian troops during the war, and was considered to be reliable and accurate. When the war ended in 1918, close to 3.5 million M1891 Carcano rifles had been produced.<ref name = "Wikipedia on rifle">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcano Wikipedia article on the M1891 Carcano]</ref>
The M1891 would continue to see use up through the Second Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935. By that point, the Italian Army was considering the adoption of a more powerful cartridge, in response to criticisms that the 6.5mm round was too weak. The 6.5mm round also did not feature a Spitzer pattern pointed bullet, which hampered both accuracy and power. As a result, production of the M1891 Carcano was stopped in 1937, and the Italian military would develop a new version of the Carcano to chamber a more powerful 7.35×51mm cartridge. This would result in the creation of the M81M91/38 Carcano.<ref name = "Wikipedia on 7.35mm">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.35%C3%9751mm_Carcano Wikipedia article on the 7.35x51mm Carcano cartridge]</ref>
The M91/38 was planned to completely phase out the standard M1891 as the standard Italian infantry rifle, however the adoption of the new cartridge did not go as planned and the old 6.5mm round remained in widespread use. The Italian military was unable to completely switch over to the new rifle before the outset of World War 2, so their troops ended up being outfitted with a mixture of M1891 and M81/38 rifles. This caused logistical problems, as the Italians now had to manage two different calibers of ammunition.