It was a Mauser model 98. Not a breakdown rifle.

ETA: It was not a .22 LR as stated by some of the geniuses on F16.

ETA again: There is a photo of the assassin's weapon floating around online.

BartInLA said:

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Maybe he made a modification? Puzzling.

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Not practical for that rifle.

Posted the type of rifle in another thread. Doesn't look like it's modified. Would take a flat blade screwdriver and taking out two screws to remove the trigger group so the barrel/action could be separated from the stock.

Reports also say that there was still a spent casing in the chamber and three live rounds in the magazine. This type of rifle the floor plate of the magazine comes off with the trigger guard so the rounds wouldn't have stayed in place. Unlikely that the rifle was broken down.

Century Arms imported Mauser M98's and sporterized them with synthetic stocks and converted into 30-06 and .270. They called it the "Centurion 98 Sporter". Based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gewehr_98

There was video of him walking straight legged with a limp on one side of his body. Then when he left - video shows what appears to be him trying to cover it up with a jacket or something.

A genuine "weapon of war", yet no shrill cries about that aspect. Not scary enough looking, I guess.

Don't give them any ideas. I mean David killed Goliath with a sling shot. They will eventually want to ban rocks and leather!

The best AOC and Pelosi could say about the assassination was "we need more gun control."

How quickly they forgot about the murderer who used a knife to kill the young lady on the NC train just days earlier.

Howdy, as a long time shooter and reloader of long guns, I have several questions.

1. Rifle usage prior to the shot: I suppose you could get lucky once and make the shot without having practiced, but the odds are way out there (for me). How much time and where did he practice and sight the rifle in?

2. Scope alignment: How did he keep the scope from being knocked out of alignment with the gun stuffed down his pants leg?

3. Engraving cartridge brass: Never consider doing this. Does it weaken the brass? What did he do it with? No one noticed him engraving the cartridge?

There are plenty of pics out there of this kid posing with his hunting kill. He appears to be a comfortable hunter. I suspect that was his hunting rifle and he was comfortable with it. A sporterized Mauser 98 in .30-06 is a typical western hunter.

I hunt mostly ETX whitetail and have never been hunting in Utah but I'm guessing like most western states that's open longer distances. I'll bet he's made shots well longer than 140 yards.

I use a Browning A bolt in .270 with a good old Readfield Tracker 3x9. I knock and bang that thing around all the time. Not on purpose but it happens and I don't zero it every year on a range. At the distances I shoot (100-150) I can hit the spot I put the hairs on with plenty of reliability.

I don't know what scope that is or how much eye relief it has. But it looks like whoever mounted it either was born without a neck or doesn't know what they are doing.

There's a video of him running across a rooftop with it wrapped in a jacket/hoodie/etc. You can see it again as he drops down off the roof.

No, it isn't broken down.
No, it isn't a 10/22.