Book: HEAD SHOT (deals with JFK thing)

[2DREZQ]

by G. Paul Chambers


I was with the guy all the way through the first 8 chapters. He systematically disassembles the single bullet theory and applies physics to the movement of Jack's head. Yeah, I found niggling little things that weren't quite right about balistics and rifles, but I kept reading because he said that in Chapter nine he would name the murder weapon...

He did. The rifle was... A "Winchester .220 Swift" in .223 caliber (just like the AR-15) He even shows an illustration of the rifle on page 208. It looks like some sort of laminate stocked stainless heavy barrel falling block with no iron sights, just scope bases. I believe the illustration was done by his wife, or some other relative.
It is apparent that he thinks that the "Winchester .220 Swift" is a model of rifle made by Winchester, as demonstrated by this description of the rifle from page 208: "The rifle was originally produced in 1935 as a super speed.22 centerfire by Winchester. It is extremely accurate and is used today for hunting small game and deer. Thirty-one states currently allow the use of the .220 Swift for deer hunting. The gun can fire a 50-grain (about a tenth of an ounce) .224-diameter bullet at a velocity approaching and even exceeding 4,000 ft/sec. Depending on the cartridge, muzzle velocities as high as 4,110 ft/sec are achievable with this weapon. It is known to be effective against deer at ranges of 200 yards. The barrel is long at 26 inches, but the gun has surprisingly little recoil, given its high power. A qualified marksman firing the .220 Swift can consistently shoot five shot groupings within a half-inch-diameter circle on a target positioned at a range of 100 yards."


"The weapon that fired the final shot was a Winchester .220 Swift, not a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle."

"...and convincing evidence for at least one shot originating from the front side, fired from a different weapon entirely, the .220 Swift, a high-tech assassin's rifle"

He says it was: "...a favorite assasination weapon of the 1960's..." His footnote on which is: "Anonymous source"

The smoke that many witnesses saw from the grassy knoll is explained. He states that, while modern powders "are not entirely smokeless", the cartridge could have been hand loaded with black powder. This would have been done because: "An advantage of black powder is that, unlike modern, mostly smokeless, ball powders, it isn't nessessary to weigh it precisely before loading it into the custom-made bullet cartridge."

I paid full bookstore retail for this hardcover volume.

I bought Dead Zero by Stephen Hunter the same day. (Go Bob the Nailer!)

It was more plausible

 

[1911Tuner]

Lordy...The things that we read...and the people who swallow it never cease to amaze me.

Gun people can pick it apart, but convincing non-gun people that it's just so much sheep dip is another story.

I think that it was a conspiracy. I do believe that there was more to it than Lee Oswald's decision to kill a president. Whether or not the other conspirators were Mafia...CIA...Castro...or just a handful of like-minded crackpots is up for debate.

I think that Oswald was the only shooter. A country boy with an iron-sighted Model 94 could have made those shots.

That the Carcano's scope wasn't zeroed when tested is entirely possible. We don't know how the rifle was handled after its discovery.
Oswald was a former Marine. He understood perfectly the importance of his weapon being zeroed before attempting to make a shot.

The ear-witness testimonies of 5 or 6 gunshots is easily understood by those who have been fired on with rifles. Depending on where you happen to be standing, the sonic crack of the bullet is often nearly indistinguishable from the actual report of the rifle and the echo effect could have made it seem that the "shot" came from the fence.

Also depending on where the eyewitnesses happened to be standing, the vapor trail of the bullet could have been "seen" as a puff of smoke from the fence behind the grassy knoll by someone whose binocular vision was compromised.

Finally...I don't think we'll ever know the whole truth.

 

[gunsandreligion]

I want me one of those blackpowder winchester .220s, but im not sure if id use .223 or .22 hornet. but i would have expected the sniper to have his winnie .220 in 50caliber. Ive heard those can do 1/2 inch groups at 150yds! Or at least thats what the stats in the game say. The tradeoff is slower reload and they cost 150,000 coins. Maybe the shooter didnt have enough xp to get one. In all seriousness, misinformation about any hobby of mine ticks me off when told as if its verified truth, but it seems that guns are by far the most common victims of blatant falsehood.

 

[Dr.Rob]

I don't doubt there was some degree of cover up as to 'who' Oswald was.

But as to the magic bullet? Done. The history channel reproduced the shot almost exactly. One man could have and probably did do all of the shooting.

 

[piece of meat]

Its funny how most people who only know shooting from movies, assume it would be no big deal for an amature with an old beater gun to get a headshot on a man in a moving vehicle from hundreds of yards away with only 2-3 shots, naturally it would be easy if the rifle model he was using was evil enough

 

[2DREZQ]

I never had access to the exact rifle, so I tried it with a 30-40 Krag and an P17. I shoot left-handed and worked the bolt with my right hand. It was doable with three shots in the time allowed, and I DON'T claim to be a marksman.
IMO, it was done with a Carcano, from the 6th floor. Now as to WHO fired those shots...well...

 

[Midwest]

Check out " JFK:Inside The Target Car". I you haven't seen it, do watch it. It was on the Military Channel the other day. It is a few years old. They did a bunch of recreations with actors in the same type of limo that JFK was in.

They took the Zapruder film when the fatal shot hit JFK and lined up the actors in the limo at the same spot and spotted them with a scope. And they spotted the actors in that same spot with the scope from all conceivable angles including the grassy knoll.

Then they did a recreation in the desert, with a dummy and a skull with brain matter mounted on it..then they lined all the measurements up using lasers and specialized equipment.

And it seems that the shot from the Texas School Book Depository is the only one that lined up perfectly and the brain matter in the car (from the recreation) seemed to coincide with the brain matter that two witnesses saw.

They also made the discovery that if there was a shot from the grassy knoll, it would have also hit Jackie.....

One of the biggest errors one could make after JFK was shot, some agent got a bucket of soap and water and started to clean the inside of the car. Luckily the two witnesses got to see what the inside looked like before that.

Couple that with all the motives for shooting JFK; Mob, Cubans, Communists,CIA...it only added fuel to the fire that there was a conspiracy. I think there was more to it all.

 

[Dain Bramage]

Midwest: I saw that show too, and thought it was fairly well done, within the limits of technology replicating a human skull.

Did anyone notice what happened when they tried to replicate the theoretical "grassy knoll" shot? First, they did it with a .308 Winchester with a soft-point round, assuming that's what a "professional" would use in that time frame (with Oswald the "patsy" holding a Carcano). The shot blew the fake skull apart!

The second time, they used the Carcano with FMJ's from the Grassy Knoll angle, and although the results were less spectacular, they still didn't match Kennedy's historical wounds. As Midwest said, the shot would have had to go through Jackie too.

The Texas School Book Repository shot with the Carcano and FMJ's duplicated the historic shot nearly to a tee.

The History Channel also did another show that duplicated the "Magic Bullet" shot, showing it too was entirely possible. The "Magic Bullet" conspiracy theory says a single shot couldn't have done all of the damage, but it is wrong or doesn't take several things into account.

1. Early body position calculations didn't take into account that Gov. Connally's jump seat was lower and inboard of the President's position. When everyone is correctly positioned, the shot lines up beautifully.

2. The bullet was far from pristine, but appeared so in the most popular photographic image released. Other views show the truth

3. High sectional density FMJ's have more soft-tissue penetration than would be commonly supposed.

 

[Dain Bramage]

P.o.m., the shot wasn't "hundreds of yards away". Dealy Plaza is surprisingly small. I'd have to look up the exact distance, but it was well under a hundred yards.

Also, the History Channel show says the car was moving at 8 mph, almost directly away from Oswald.

 

[1911Tuner]

Dealy Plaza is surprisingly small. I'd have to look up the exact distance, but it was well under a hundred yards.

If memory serves me, it was determined to be 78 yards from the impact of the first shot.

Also, the History Channel show says the car was moving at 8 mph, almost directly away from Oswald.

This.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

P.o.m., the shot wasn't "hundreds of yards away". Dealy Plaza is surprisingly small. I'd have to look up the exact distance, but it was well under a hundred yards.

Also, the History Channel show says the car was moving at 8 mph, almost directly away from Oswald.

Correct -- it was an easy going-away shot.

 

[1911Tuner]

I've often considered that with the first shot hitting him high in the back, Oswald was aiming for his body...and it's entirely possible that the head shot was a fluke.

 

[Kleanbore]

Posted by 1911 Tuner: Lordy...The things that we read...and the people who swallow it never cease to amaze me.

Gun people can pick it apart, but convincing non-gun people that it's just so much sheep dip is another story.

I think that it was a conspiracy. I do believe that there was more to it than Lee Oswald's decision to kill a president. Whether or not the other conspirators were Mafia...CIA...Castro...or just a handful of like-minded crackpots is up for debate.

I think that Oswald was the only shooter. A country boy with an iron-sighted Model 94 could have made those shots.

That the Carcano's scope wasn't zeroed when tested is entirely possible. We don't know how the rifle was handled after its discovery.
Oswald was a former Marine. He understood perfectly the importance of his weapon being zeroed before attempting to make a shot.

The ear-witness testimonies of 5 or 6 gunshots is easily understood by those who have been fired on with rifles. Depending on where you happen to be standing, the sonic crack of the bullet is often nearly indistinguishable from the actual report of the rifle and the echo effect could have made it seem that the "shot" came from the fence.

Also depending on where the eyewitnesses happened to be standing, the vapor trail of the bullet could have been "seen" as a puff of smoke from the fence behind the grassy knoll by someone whose binocular vision was compromised.

Finally...I don't think we'll ever know the whole truth.

Agree.

How many people here remember widespread reports on radio and on television before JFK arrived in Chicago early in November 1963 about an alleged plot to kill him there? His trip was cancelled. Pierre Salinger said that Kennedy had "a cold."

Not mentioned in the Warren Report, by the way.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I've often considered that with the first shot hitting him high in the back, Oswald was aiming for his body...and it's entirely possible that the head shot was a fluke.

The evidence is there were three shots -- the first coming before the Zapruder film picks him up. The first missed, the second hit him high in the back, the third in the head -- which looks like a pattern of a rattled or emotionally-charged shooter not doing very well at all with what was essentially a very easy shot.

 

[1911Tuner]

Ok. For some reason, I was thinking that the second shot missed.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Apparently not -- although it was fashionable at one time to claim the miss occurred between two hits, making the time frame much shorter and supposedly "impossible" for someone who was only a Sharpshooter in the Marines.

 

[k-frame]

There is another theory that Oswald got off four shots. The first was while the cars were approaching the Book Depository on Houston Street, essentially face on to his line of fire. But I can't for the life of me recall where I read that. It may have been in the Gerald Posner Book Case Closed. After I read that book I was as firmly convinced as anyone could be that Oswald was just a wack job who got lucky. If you haven't read the book, I'd urge you to do so. And if you do and you remain unconvinced that Oswald acted alone, then nothing will sway you short of finding a lost audio tape or film of Oswald confessing. IMO Posner does a very good job of defeating each major theory - and some of the minor ones.

 

[Robert]

I have looked out the window that Oswald shot from. Even in 9th grade I thought it was a pretty easy shot. At that range just about anyone with any knowledge of a bolt action rifle could pull off the shots. Now who or what drove him to it is a different matter altogether...

 

[Shawn Dodson]

Extract from “Differences in the Wounding Behavior of the Two Bullets that Struck President Kennedy; An Experimental Study.” (John K. Lattimer, M.D., Sc.D., Jon K. Lattimer, M.D., et. al., Wound Ballistics Review, 2(2): 1995; 13-37):

…Bullet (No. WC 567-569) which struck the President on the back of the head, broke up because of the hardness of the skull, with the immediate transition into the soft tissues of the brain (Fig 31 & 32).

The greatly increased surface area of the broken bullet and its fragments caused a large temporary cavity to occur in the semi-fluid brain, which, being confined in the cranial vault exploded upward and forward, out the huge wound of exit on the front-right of the skull caused by diverging bullet fragments. Our replications demonstrated this “upward and forward” movement of the skull fragments and brain tissue (Fig. 25).

The lead core and gilding metal jacket separated on contact with the skull, (Fig. 26) leaving a 6.5mm fragment sheared off by the sharp edge of the bone at the point of impact. The entry wound on the inside of the skull showed typical “beveling” of the inner end of the skull wound, where the hole was much larger than that of the outer end of the wound, as is characteristic of wound-of-entrance in bone. The broken bullet scattered dozens of tiny fragments of lead along the track of the bullet from back to front through the brain (Fig 27). Fragments several millimeters in diameter were embedded in the inner surface of the front side of the skull, adjacent to the wound track (Fig 28 AP & LAT). All the fragments of lead removed from the President’s head and found on the floor of the Presidential automobile, matched this bullet and not bullet 399. There were lead fragments from 2 bullets and 2 bullets only, by neutron activation analysis.

A “beveling” of the wound of exit on the front of the skull was also observed and 3 segments of skull could be seen in the Zapruder movie, spiraling upward and forward away from the head, with a cloud of exploding brain substance, immediately after impact, just as in our experimental replications (Fig 25). These flew 40 feet in the air and were recovered from the pavement and infield, later.

Almost the entire right hemisphere of the brain was removed by the bullet (Fig 28 A&B, 29 A&B, 30). This is exactly what our test bullets did when we replicated the skull and brain wounds on our experimental model. Fragmentation of our skull was extensive in every case (Fig 31, 32) with upward and forward ejection of brain material and skull fragments, just as shown in the Zapruder movie in frame 313 and subsequent frames (Fig 25). This difference in reaction after impact on bone, in contrast to the impact on soft tissues was consistent. It happened dependably in our replication (Fig 25).

Backward retro-recoil of the skulls, towards the gun, then occurred in our simulations, just as in JFK’s case….

More JFK nonsense dispelled (See - "Where's The Brain?") - http://www.firearmstactical.com/tacticalbriefs/2006/04/03/0604-03a.htm

 

[2DREZQ]

Interesting posts, all. I have found that most rifle-savvy people are fairly content with one crappy rifle firing 3 shots from the 6th floor of the SBD building.

But my original point was that really ignorant bullpucky is being foisted off on a non-gun savvy public by CTists.

Anybody else picked up on dumb gun stuff in the JFK published material?

I remember a big point was made in one book, the one by a really experienced gun guy who thought that the AR-15 in the car behind Kennedy made the head shot (accidentally), that the entry wound was measured as nominally 6mm, and since the Carcano was 6.5mm, it could not have been made by that weapon. I thought to myself: "Gee. a hasty measurement made by a doc who is handling the corpse of the assassinated POTUS, probably using steel analog calipers (the non-dial type-30 years of hospital work I've not seen a dial-indicator type) a one-half millimeter error is not only possible, I'd expect it."

 

[scaatylobo]

Buy one and then tell me !

I bought a Carcano and shot it !.

And I state that shot is not possible with that pos rifle.

At very least Oswald could have gotten a M1 Garand or so many Mausers it would be funny - but he chose a pos rifle that cant shoot minute of house.

Sorry but I remember that time VERY well and Oswald was the first to say he did nothing,pretty funny for a person that was supposedly an assasin that was caught doing "what he believed in ".

I dont buy it and never will.

 

[Dain Bramage]

And I state that shot is not possible with that pos rifle.

Quality of individual Carcanos notwithstanding, you do know the Italian army fielded that rifle? In war? Shooting people, some probably further away than 78 yards?

Oswald was a smug peckerwood, toying with the police when he deflected blame. Maybe the infamy of what he had done finally hit him. He was also a crackpot, and broke. Carcanos were on the cheap end of the surplus rifle pool, the Mosin-Nagants of their day.

Oswald wasn't a sniper, but he was an ex-marine (they say there are only retired marines, but we'll call Oswald an ex-marine in every sense of the word). The head shot was probably a fluke, but hitting the president two out of three times was not that hard.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

2DREZQ, based on your summary, I think you will get less fiction from the Bob the Nailer stories than from Head Shot, LOL.

The head shot was probably a fluke, but hitting the president two out of three times was not that hard.

Funny how we default to the head shot being from a skilled person or great rifle, or being intentional. You are right, it may not have been the intended shot. Given the view Oswald would have had, however, the head would make up a large percentage of the available/visible target, the rest of Kennedy's anatomy being below the top of the seats and out of sight.

Flukes can and do happen and sometimes they are beneficial to the person making the shot. A SEAL sniper named Wasdin was in Somalia back in the 90s and was providing cover for an operation. He spotted a combatant with an RPG lining up on a vehicle apparently loaded with Delta men and Delta's Little Bird with snipers was out of position at the time, but apparently racing to the location. Wasdin fired as the Little Bird zoomed in, making a head shot at over 800 yards, dropping the combatant before he fired his RPG, saving the guys on the ground and the shot was witnessed by the Little Bird pilot and snipers. The shot impressed the hell out of them and went a long way toward establishing harmony between the different forces, cementing for Delta that they could count on the SEAL snipers when it really mattered. As Wasdin noted, however, he blew the shot. His dope correction for the distance was wrong and he had no intent to make a head shot as it was a crazy thing to do at that range. He was trying to shoot the combatant in the chest, and he apparently never let anyone know what really happened until after he left Somalia, LOL. [from Seal Team 6 by Wasdin]

Quality of individual Carcanos notwithstanding, you do know the Italian army fielded that rifle? In war? Shooting people, some probably further away than 78 yards?

The shots were within the capabilities of the rifle. That is true. But just because the rifle was fielded by a military does not mean it is necessarily a good rifle. It gave the Italians a lot of trouble while they had it in service.

There is a long history of various military services from many countries fielding stupid gear, unreliable gear, and poorly constructed gear. The French fielded the Chauchat and it was even provided to US troops where it was a failure for both countries. US subs in the Pacific spent much of the war being required to use defective torpedoes that often hit their targets, but would not detonate. The US loaded up their fighters with air-to-air missiles in Vietnam that were reported to have a failure rate of over 50% of not firing, not tracking, or not detonating properly. The Japanese fielded a pistol (Nambu Type 94) in WWII that could be fired simply due to lateral pressure on the gun where it had an exposes sear and as a result ended up with Japanese soldiers wounded by their own guns while in the holster or during handling. So that just because the Italians fielded the rifle is not necessarily a blessing in terms of accuracy or reliability.

The Italians were aware of the rifle's accuracy and reliability problems even before WWII and the soldiers did not like the gun. A bunch were sent to Finland and the Fins hated them as well, trading them for better rifles they could get on the battlefield for their enemies. After WWII, both counties dumped the rifles for different types.

But my original point was that really ignorant bullpucky is being foisted off on a non-gun savvy public by CTists.

It isn't just gun stuff that is in error. As noted previously about the correct placement of the seats in the limo, the whole magic bullet myth could have been avoided if the researchers had given thought to the seating parameters of the vehicle.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

It isn't just gun stuff that is in error. As noted previously about the correct placement of the seats in the limo, the whole magic bullet myth could have been avoided if the researchers had given thought to the seating parameters of the vehicle.

But if they had done that, they wouldn't have been able to sell so many conspiracy theory books and movies.

 

[Tommygunn]

Anybody else picked up on dumb gun stuff in the JFK published material?

I remember a big point was made in one book, the one by a really experienced gun guy who thought that the AR-15 in the car behind Kennedy made the head shot (accidentally), that the entry wound was measured as nominally 6mm, and since the Carcano was 6.5mm, it could not have been made by that weapon. I thought to myself: "Gee. a hasty measurement made by a doc who is handling the corpse of the assassinated POTUS, probably using steel analog calipers (the non-dial type-30 years of hospital work I've not seen a dial-indicator type) a one-half millimeter error is not only possible, I'd expect it."

MORTAL ERROR The Shot That Killed JFK by Bonar Menninger.

Aside from a crude measurement of the bullet wound, IMHO Menninger's ... "theory" depended a great deal upon super-precise measurement of angles between Oswald, Kennedy, and the unfortunate secret service agent Menninger picked to have fired the supposed "head shot."
It is possible IMO to place these people in reasonably accurate positions and get a very good idea of angle, distance, position, etc. but Menninger carried it to a fine absurdity.
Tiny increments of angles .... from the Zapruder film, and even others?
Sorry. I just don't think so.
Having examined the Zapruder film (a video of a computerized, "cleaned up" version of this was released about a decade or so ago) I see no evidence of a secret service agent with an AR-15 in a position to fire on Kennedy, nor have I seen this in any other film.
Menninger may genuinely believe his theory ~~ I don't.

Years ago, in the 80s and early 90s, I had immersed myself to some degree in the Kennedy "Conspiracy Theory(ies)" books. To me, all seemed to ask some intriging questions about the event and seemed to me to indicate that there had been some conspiracy.
But a cool reflection on the theories and what the people who concocted them claimed only brought up other questions.
The "magic bullet" theory? Well, the bullet hardly looked as though it had gone through two human beings.
Wrong.
It wasn't a hunting round. It was a military type round -- "ball ammo", or what we call FMJ. And it wasn't pristine, it had been flattened to a degree and the lead had begun to exude from the base.
The "magic bullet" had to have described a letter "S" as it went through Kennedy, exited, and went on through Governor Connelly's body and out, through his wrist and into his leg.
Wrong. This is a meme many people believe. But if you properly place Kennedy & Connelly and align them as they said they were at the time of the shooting, the trajectory DOES line up correctly.
Remember that Connelly was on a small foldable "jump seat" in the X-100 (what the Secret Serce called the modified car that Kennedy was in) and this seat place him lower than Kennedy and slightly closer to the centerline of the car.
If you get the positions of the two victims right, the position of the car and Oswald right, there simply is no discrepancy in the event if you postulate Oswald as the shooter.
The "magic, twisting bullet trajectory" the conspiracists dish out is bunk.
What made me start to question the conspiracists? Their claim that the magic bullet couldn't be so pristine. Eventually I found myself looking at a collection of about a half dozen expended .38SP wadcutters I had collected decades earlier at a police range. They'd all been fired from similar weapons at a similar distance into similar material.
Some were mushroomed very badly, some were near pristine.
So if pistol bullets fired under conditions like that really do wind up in very different conditions, maybe it was possible that not all rifle bullets DO react exactly the same under near identical conditions .....so much for all the "tests" made by those conspiracists. THAT was just the beginning ....