Roger Craig

[Bill Chapman]

Sunny-side up & and watch the bandwidth if you please
(550kb v 1.5mb)

[Walt Cakebread]

Thank you for posting the photo of a mauser that is stamped 7.65 MAUSER on the RECEIVER.... And of course the receiver is NOT the barrel....

[Jack Nessan]

It was never mentioned that the crest on the receiver was ground off so crudely. That would have been more distinguishable and noticeable to a sporting goods store salesman like Weitzman. It would truly have been a unique characteristic. And like Walt said it is not the barrel.

[Rick Plant]

Three. Boone did as well.

Yes John, that's correct.

[John Iacoletti]

Thank you for posting the photo of a mauser that is stamped 7.65 MAUSER on the RECEIVER.... And of course the receiver is NOT the barrel....

So three deputies can confuse a Carcano for a Mauser, but one can't confuse a "receiver" for a "barrel"?

[Rick Plant]

What Mauser has a Mauser stamp on the barrel? Maybe the 22LR. What was stated was it "appeared" to be a Mauser which the 1891 carcano looks like the 1891 argentine, which was a 7.65 x 53 caliber rifle designed by Mauser. No where on the rifle does it state 7.65 Mauser especially the barrel which would be covered by the hand guard.

Two law enforcement officers stated they witnessed a Mauser and one stated he witnessed a stamp. That's a positive identification of a weapon. Two men said they saw the same weapon.   

[Jack Nessan]

Two law enforcement officers stated they witnessed a Mauser and one stated he witnessed a stamp. That's a positive identification of a weapon. Two men said they saw the same weapon.   

Weitzman stated it "appeared to be a Mauser". Not exactly an overwhelming identification. Maybe had never seen a carcano and had no idea what a carcano looked like.

Boone, who found the rifle, stated he watched Fritz come and pick up the rifle and eject the cartridge which is known to be a carcano cartridge--- CE 141. Boone then watched Day come immediately, take the rifle from Fritz and photographed the rifle, which is known to be part of the evidence collected. What Fritz handled and Day photographed in front of Boone was a 6.5 carcano.

Craig's only statement was supposedly about having seen the "mauser stamp" on the barrel. There is no such thing and also seems very similar to all his other fairy tale encounters that day.

If you have real witnesses who positively identify the rifle as a Mauser and the actual model of the Mauser that would be helpful. There are lots of Mauser models and calibers built for many different countries. Claiming it was either a Mauser or 7.65 Mauser is an extremely large and very broad and diverse description.