Both photos that you originally posted are Mannlicher Carcanos ..... However On closer inspection I believe that the scope being mounted on the righ hand side is an optical illusion which creates an optical confusion. ....
Could Weitzmann have described the Mannlicher-Carcano but misnamed it as a Mauser?
No, absolutely not! Weitzman definitely had a 7.65 Mauser in his hands when he described the rifle....
I don't think it is likely that a Mauser was introduced into evidence as you state. Note that Weitzman does not mention specific characteristics like the serial number, the clip, the home-made sling etc. In his signed Affidavit of November 23rd he states that the rifle was a
- 7.65 (wrong)
- Mauser (wrong)
- bolt-action (correct)
- equipped with a 4/18 scope (correct)
- with a thick leather brownish black sling (correct.)
Nowhere in the record is there any reference to TWO rifles being discovered, it was always just the one. It does not make sense for any conspirators to create a paper trail leading from the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano via the Hidell alias to Oswald's PO box and back to Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago, and then to leave the wrong rifle at the crime scene!
On the one hand the conspirators devised a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel, but also so sloppy to leave the wrong evidence behind? I don't buy that.