Hello, new member here so forgive me if this has been covered ad nauseam. I was at a gun show the last week and saw a c96 Mauser. The serial number is 134812 which (maybe) dates the piece around 1913. The thing about it is; the plates on the left and right sides have been cut out to display the inner mechanisms working. Further, the barrel has a notch cut out right underneath the flat on the barrel which says waffenfabrik Mauser Oberndorf a/f. That really stinks because the cut-out is right where the serial number should be on the barrel. As if this wasn't weird enough, the front of the magazine has strange Chinese markings. The barrel is 5 1/2 inches long. Looks to be 7.63x25. The fellow at the show told me that it would not fire. Mostly due to the notch cut out of the barrel. He also said it was NOT a salesman copy. Apparently, some were skeletonized to display the inner workings. Have you any idea what this might be? Has some hobbyist gone crazy? I thought it might be kind of cool but the $800 dollar price tag put me off. Enclosed are some photos. Can anyone here read Chinese? Thank you.
