I love it when information can be presented and discussed and debated in an attempt to determine the FACTS. I had hoped that Mr Organ would be less dogmatic and more honest..... but for whatever reason refuses to engage in candid discussion. He and I have been spitting at each other about the exact location at which the carcano was found. Not much progress has been made, and he still believes that the official DPD in situ photo is the authentic photo of the rifle as it was found by Eugene Boone and Seymour Weitzman. This in spite of the fact that their descriptions given in their affidavits, of the rifle's position and location, does not fit with the official DPD in situ photo.
I love it when information can be presented and discussed and debated in an attempt to determine the FACTS.Yes, now that we know enough information about the relevant details we can confidently say that the groove for the bayonet wasn't in a location to affect a lift off the bottom of the barrel. I have thought about the possible reasons for the two parallel lines and currently believe the following theory. The channel in the wooden stock for the barrel is rounded on the bottom in every rifle I have ever seen. So I assume that the Carcano is the same (please correct me if this is not accurate). This groove is very slightly larger than the barrel, for clearance, and typically it's depth is about half the diameter of the barrel (again, please correct me if this is inaccurate).
For illustration purposes I drilled a 5/8" diameter hole in a piece of 1" square dowel. Then I split the square dowel in half with a band saw to form a similar channel in the square dowel (representing the rifle stock) for use with the 5/8" round wooden dowel (that represents the rifle barrel). I needed to sand the inside of the channel just enough for clearance for the round dowel to sit all the way to the bottom of the channel. Here are some photos of what I just described above:
As can be seen, there is a very slight gap on both sides of the round dowel between the round dowel and the channel in the square dowel. Dust and dirt, etc can and will enter this gap and fall towards the bottom of the channel. However, the round dowel (barrel) is resting on the bottom of the channel causing the gap to get narrower towards the bottom of the channel. Therefore the size of the dust and dirt will limit how far down the gap it can travel before it gets trapped. And two lines of this debris, similar to what can be seen on the lift from the rifle, will be the result. A less than 100% thorough cleaning of the underside of the barrel might leave a small portion of these lines (the portion very close to the bayonet lug) on the barrel. I believe that this theory is a likely one that could explain why the debris formed the two lines.
