Got sidetracked helping a friend of my wife look over recently inherited rifles,
shotguns and handguns.
Saw something I had never seen before. A Mauser C96 carbine. Turns out it was
not one of the ultra rare originals, but one from a batch made in China for Navy
Arms from Mauser C96 pistols. Very nicely done. Saw some interesting guns,
picked up a really junker Gehendra, dirty, rusty and rotted wood in the buttstock.
Managed to get the breechblock to move after soaking with ATF/min spirits for
a few hours and persuading with a block of wood and brass hammer. Now it
moves...sort of. Will continue soaking until I can get the screws out. Filthy beyond
belief, and light rust everywhere. "Stored" (dumped?) for a century in piles on the floor
of a partially abandoned palace in Nepal. The price was right.....free.
Still rifling in the barrel, amazingly. We'll see if it has any possibilities of
ever spitting lead again, or just an interesting wall hanger.
Looks like a Martini-Henry, but research shows it is way different inside. Actually
a local Nepalese file and hacksaw copy of a Wesley-Peabody design, with a Henry
patter rifling. One source says it should be a Wesley-Peabody-Henry by Brit naming
conventions. .577-450 caliber.
Bill