Mauser......Mannlicher

[Peter Lemkin]

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Identification of the Rifle

A 6.5mm Italian Mannlicher-Carcano rifle was found by Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman and Deputy Sheriff Eugene Boone, hidden by boxes on the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository. During the following 24 hours, District Attorney Henry Wade and various media reports referred to the rifle as a 7.65 Mauser. Given the public statements and media reports, a Weitzman affidavit on November 23 stating it as a "7.65 Mauser," Deputy Sheriff Roger Craigs' account that Weitzman read "7.65 Mauser" right off the rifle, and other reports of a rifle being found on the 5th floor, questions have been raised as to whether a German-made Mauser was found in addition to the Carcano.
The Carcano is a "mauser bolt-action" weapon and does look very similar to more common German-made mausers; the Warren Commission attributed the misidentification to simple confusion. Given that the Carcano rifle is stamped "Made Italy" and "caliber 6.5," it is surprising that this confusion would hold for so long. Contemporaneous documents do not identify the weapon as a 6.5mm Mannlicher-Carcano until after it and other evidence had been shipped to the FBI on the evening of November 22.
Further, testimony and reports refer to early written descriptions of the rifle which are apparently missing. These include a dictated memo by Lt. Day and a description by Detective C.N. Dhority. One description noted by George Michael Evica as missing from Warren Commission exhibits is a November 24 FBI interview of Seymour Weitzman. This does appear in FBI files - Weitzman told the FBI that "the rifle looked like a 7.65 German-made Mauser rifler (sic)."
But films and photographs taken around the time of the finding of the rifle, in particular a film by WFAA-TV's Tom Alyea, provide the strongest evidence that the rifle was indeed a Mannlicher Carcano. It remains possible that the confusion was maintained by the finding of a second rifle. A Mauser had in fact been brought into the Book Depository and shown to employees just two days earlier.

RESOURCES:

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[TD]Essays
The Gun That Didn't Smoke, by Walter F. Graf and Richard R. Bartholomew.The Guns of Dealey Plaza, by John S. Craig.
Primary Sources: Mannlicher Rifle, by Spartacus Educational.
Meeting Warren Caster, by Rick Caster.
The Case of the Disappearing Mauser, by Chris Mills.
The Rifle: Was it a Mauser or Mannlicher-Carcano, by Michael Wiseberg.

Video
Tom Alyea film. Excerpt of Tom Alyea film, with other footage and commentary, showing the recovery of the rifle on the 6th floor of the TSBD.
The depository revisited. Alyea film with voiceover by Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig, who said that the rifle had 7.65 Mauser stamped on it.
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[TD]Documents
Warren Report:

• Discovery of Cartridge Cases and Rifle(p.79).
  
• Speculation and Commission Finding re: Mauser (p.645-646).
  

Warren Commission Testimony:

• Lt. Day. Day read from a dictated report on the rifle which is not in evidence.
  
• Mark Lane. Lane brought the Weitzman affidavit to the attention of the Commission.
  
• Capt. Will Fritz. Fritz said of the rifle: "They called it most everything."
  
• Jesse Curry. Police Chief Curry said "I don't know" to most questions about the rifle.
  
• Henry Wade. Wade tried to explain why he called the rifle a Mauser.
  
• Seymour Weitzman. Weitzman stated that "I thought it was one [Mauser]."
  
• Eugene Boone. Boone said Capt. Fritz identified the rifle as a Mauser.
  
• Warren Caster. Caster described bringing a Mauser and another rifle into the TSBD on Nov 20.
  

Warren Commission Exhibits:

• CE 3048: KMX news report of 22 Nov 1963 (referring to rifle as a "7.65 Mauser").
  
• CE 2169, p.4: Transcript of press conference with Henry Wade of 23 Nov 1963, 12:30 AM. Wade said "It's a Mauser, I believe" about the rifle.
  
• CE 2003, p.63: Seymour Weitzmann affidavit of 23 Nov 1963. Weitzman wrote that the rifle was a "7.65 Mauser bolt action equipped with a 4/18 scope..."
  
• Decker Ex 5323. Deputy Sheriff Eugene Boone, one of two officers who found the rifle, told Decker on 22 Nov that "The rifle appeared to be a 7.65 Mauser..."
  
• CE 2003, p.195: Dhority report. Dhority wrote that he "wrote a description from the rifle" - this document has not been found.
  

FBI Documents:

• Weitzman statement of 24 Nov 1963. Weitzman told the FBI that "the rifle looked like a 7.65 German-made Mauser rifler (sic).
  

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