Your logic assumes that Weitzman/Boone were bolt-action cognoscenti enough to know that the crest would be ground off (and that different rifles would not have their national crests ground off). It also assumes that they saw the ground off crest and/or the receiver markings. There is no evidence whatsoever that either assumption is true.
Mitch, isn't this response carrying it a bit further than necessary? Don't you agree that Weitzman simply made a WAG at the manufacturer of the rifle as he caught glimpse of it as Day and Fritz examined the rifle? Weitzman didn't have the opportunity to closely examine the rifle, so he wouldn't have known if the crest was ground off. Fritz simply asked if anybody recognized the make of rifle....and Weitzman ventured a WAG that it "looked like a 7.65 Mauser".....
