John F. Kennedy assassination rifle

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Main articles: Carcano and John F. Kennedy assassination

In March of 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald used his Fair Play for Cuba Committee alias "A. Hidell" to purchase a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle by mail order.^[1] He also purchased a pistol by the same method.^[2] It is officially accepted that this was the rifle that was used in the Dallas book depository to assassinate President Kennedy.^[3] After fingerprint examination of the rifle and further detective work, the real name of the owner of the rifle eventually led to Oswald.^[4]

Contents 1 Purchase of the Mannlicher-Carcano 2 Discovery 3 Rifle 4 Revolver 5 Shirt 6 Firing range 7 References

[edit] Purchase of the Mannlicher-Carcano

On October 9, 1962, Oswald rented post office box number 2915 in Dallas, Texas.^[5] The three names authorized to receive mail at the PO box were Oswald, his wife Marina, and "Alex J. Hidell", an alias invented by Oswald, which he would later use for his one-man branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans.^[6] On January 28, 1963, he ordered a Smith & Wesson .38 special using the same post office box.^[7]

[edit] Discovery

The rifle was found by Deputy Sheriff Weitzman and Officer Boone, soon after the assassination of President Kennedy.^{[citation needed]} They intitially came to what the Warren Commission concluded was the mistaken belief that the rifle was a Mauser, rather than the Mannlicher-Carcano that Oswald owned.^{[citation needed]} Captain Fritz, of the Dallas Police Department — who arrived shortly after — later admitted that he did not know that much about the differences between a Mannlicher-Carcano and a Mauser at that time. [1] In fact the appearance of the two types of weapons is similar, since the Carcano action (see this article) was historically based on the Mauser design, and the rifle stocks were similar.^[8]

The two officers who found the rifle — and later Captain Fritz — picked it up by the strap, but did not handle it until Lt. Day arrived.^{[citation needed]} Lt. Day then held the rifle by the stock, in one hand, "because it was too rough to hold a fingerprint" and inspected the rifle with a magnifying glass in his other hand.^{[citation needed]} He checked that the bolt had no prints on it before Fritz ejected a live round. [2]

Day then took the rifle back to the crime lab to photograph it and for further inspection.^{[citation needed]} He found a palm print on the part of the rifle that could only have been put there when the rifle was not fully assembled. A palm print could not be placed on this portion of the rifle when assembled because the wooden foregrip covers the barrel.^{[citation needed]} He did not complete his investigation, however, because he was told to stop, and to hand the rifle over to FBI Agent Vince Drain, because the FBI would "finish the investigation".^{[citation needed]} He later did his own research, however, and concluded that the prints were Oswald's, because by then he had Oswald's prints on file.^{[citation needed]}

Police Chief Jesse Curry testified that he was ordered to send the rifle and all other evidence to the FBI in Washington. During the night after Kennedy's murder the rifle was taken by FBI agent Vincent Drain from Dallas to Washington D.C. who then gave it to FBI agent Robert Frazier. He testified that he kept it in the FBI office until November 27, 1963, whereupon it was sent back to Dallas and given back to someone at the Dallas Police Department for reasons unclear. It was later sent back to the FBI headquarters in Washington.

Sebastian Latona, supervisor of the Latent Fingerprint section of the FBI’s identification Division (Warren Commission Report pg.123 [3]) testified that the palm print found on the barrel of the rifle belonged to Lee Harvey Oswald. Experts agree that palm prints are as unique as fingerprints for purposes of establishing identification.

During his testimony before the Warren Commission, Lt. Day identified Exhibit 139 as the weapon he believed officers Weitzman and Boone found in the afternoon of the murder. [4] [5] [6] [7]

[edit] Rifle

This rifle had the markings, “Made in Italy”, “CAL.6.5”, “1940”, and the serial number C2766 (Warren Commission report pg. 81). Joseph D. Nicol, superintendent of the Illinois Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, and Robert A. Frazier, FBI special agent, testified to the Warren Commission (Warren Commission Report pg.84). A distinctive gouge mark and identical dimensions also identify it as the rifle in the Oswald “backyard photographs”.

A 6.5 mm 160 gr. round-nosed fully copper-jacketed military-type bullet, of a type normally used in 6.5 mm military rifles (such as the Mannlicher-Carcano) was found on a stretcher in Parkland hospital. This bullet (CE 399, see single bullet theory) was ballistically matched to the rifle found in the book depository building. A partial palm print of Oswald was also found on the barrel of the gun.[8]

• Rifle

6.5 x 52 mm Italian Mannlicher-Carcano M91/38 bolt-action rifle with a six-round magazine

Serial number C2766

Western Cartridge Co. ammunition with a 160 grain (10.37 g) round nose bullet

Side-mounted Ordnance Optics 4 x 18 telescopic sight

Oswald kept a rifle wrapped in a blanket and hidden in the garage of the Paines' home, where Marina was living at the time: Warren Commission testimony of Michael R. Paine and his wife, Ruth Paine. [9].

The Warren Commission concluded that Oswald smuggled a rifle into the Texas School Book Depository on the morning of the assassination in a brown paper package — about two feet long — which he told a co-worker contained "curtain rods", although Oswald later denied this, and said that only his lunch was in the package. (He later said that he did not own a rifle.) [10]

The FBI determined that the rifle was distributed from Crescent Firearms Inc, which shipped the rifle with the serial number C2766 to Klein’s Sporting Goods Co. Klein's Sporting Goods shipped the rifle to a post office box in Dallas Texas rented under the name of Oswald's alias A. Hidell. The order had a coupon attached with "A. Hidell" printed on it, confirming the person that had purchased the gun.

The handwriting perfectly matched that of Oswald's when compared to his passport application and letters he had written. The Italian Armed Forces Intelligence Agency reported that the rifle with the serial number of C2766 was unique in its records. Lee Harvey Oswald rented the post office box to which the rifle was shipped (Warren Commission Report pg.119).

In 1979, photographic analysis by the HSCA found that the rifle in the National Archives was photographically identical to the one found in the book depository and photographed at the time by numerous journalists and the police (this analysis included a number of distinctive identifying marks). The rifle was also identical in its dimensions to the one seen in the Oswald backyard photos, and the identification of the rifle with that owned by Oswald extends to one larger identifying mark of damage on the stock (which can also be seen in the Oswald “backyard photographs”.) [11]

[edit] Revolver

The .38 caliber revolver Oswald had on him, when he was arrested in the movie theater, was also purchased by mail order coupon, and also by an “A.J. Hidell”, with handwriting that matched Oswald’s.

[edit] Shirt

On the day Kennedy was killed, Oswald was wearing a shirt of dark blue, grey-black and orange-yellow cotton fibers over a white t-shirt.

The same fibers that were recovered from the rifle, after close examination by experts.

In the crevice between the butt-plate of the rifle (and the wooden stock of the rifle) a tuft of several cotton fibers of dark blue, grey-black and orange-yellow shades were found.

After tests of colours, and the shades and weave patterns of the fibers found on the gun, Paul Stombaugh, a special agent of the FBI Laboratory's Hair and Fiber Unit, matched the fibers found on the gun to the fibers from Oswald’s shirt. (Warren Commission Report Pg.124)

[edit] Firing range

During his Marine Corps service in December 1956, Oswald scored a rating of sharpshooter (twice achieving 48 and 49 out of 50 shots during rapid fire at a stationary target 200 yards [183 m] away using a standard issue M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle). Although, in May 1959, he qualified as a marksman (a lower classification than that of sharpshooter). Military experts, after examining his records, characterized his firearms proficiency as "above average" and was, when compared to American civilian males of his age, "an excellent shot". [12]

However, Nelson Delgado, a soldier in the same unit as Oswald, used to laugh at Oswald's shooting prowess and testified that Oswald often got "Maggie's drawers"; meaning a red flag that is waved from the rifle pits to indicate a complete miss of the target during qualification firing. He also said that Oswald didn't seem to care if he missed or not. [13]

Skeptics have argued that expert marksmen could not duplicate Oswald's alleged feat in their first try during re-enactments by the Warren Commission (1964) and CBS (1967). In those tests the marksmen attempted to hit the target three times within 4.5 seconds. This time span has been heavily disputed. The Warren Commission itself estimated that the time span between the two shots that hit President Kennedy was 4.8 to 5.6 seconds. If the second shot missed (assuming the first and third shots hit the president), then 4.8 to 5.6 seconds was the total time span of the shots. If the first or third shot missed, that would give a minimum time of 7.1 to 7.9 seconds for the three shots.^[9] Modern analysis of a digitally enhanced Zapruder film suggests that the first, second, and final shot may have taken 8.4 seconds.

Many of CBS's 11 volunteer marksmen, who (unlike Oswald) had no prior experience with a properly "sighted" Mannlicher-Carcano, were able to hit the test target three times in under the time allowed. This is disputed by Michael Griffith who says: "In the CBS rifle test, not one of the eleven expert shooters scored two hits on the first attempt, and seven of them failed to do so on any attempt. This is especially revealing because the CBS test was the most realistic to date." [14] [15]

The FBI tests of the Mannlicher-Carcano's accuracy showed that the rifle was:

1) Inaccurate from 15 yards.^[10]

2) Carrying a scope that was mounted for a left-handed person (Oswald was right-handed).^[11]

3) The rifle was unable to be "sighted-in", using the scope, without the installation of 2 metal shims (small metal plates) which were not present when the rifle arrived for testing, and were never found.^[12]

During efforts supervised by the FBI to duplicate the shooting accuracy allegedly achieved, no FBI, military or civilian (National Rifle Association) expert was ever able to match Oswald's performance. No tests have ever been made using Oswald's rifle in the condition in which it was found.[16]

[edit] References