Bright Insight - JFK Assassination

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I just thought this was a good write up on shooting tests and the rifle itself:
John F. Kennedy assassination rifle - Wikipedia

Oswald used a WW2 surplus Italian rifle. Infantry rifles of that era ran about 3.5 feet long and 9 pounds that use .30 caliber/7mm cartridges and hold 5-10 at one time in an internal, non-removeable magazine. You pull the bolt back and shove the rounds in through the open top. They give you a pretty good whack when fired but recoil is manageable. That's important because it allows you to get the thing back on target for the next shot.

In pistol shooting competitions where hand loaded ammo is common there is something called 'power factor'. Another decent write up: Power Factor in USPSA & IDPA - What It Is & How to Calculate
When you're shooting as fast as you can and there's somebody right behind you with a timer an advantage is to make the lightest load you possibly can to reduce recoil and make it easier to shoot. You can fiddle with gunpowder types, charges, bullet weight and then the recoil springs in the pistol to make it the lightest 'pop' you can so that you can shoot faster. Heavy recoil affects accuracy as well, too much blast and even the most experienced shooter anticipates it which, at a minimum, slows down the shots. Power factor is a way to take any number of diverse combinations and set a common minimum as to what's just enough 'pop' to level the playing field.

In WW2 infantry service rifles attempts were made at shorter 'handier' versions for airborne, jungle and just tough-assed troopers. A British .303 SMLE 'Jungle Carbine' being one example. I have an M44 version of a Mosin-Nagant 91/30 behind me on the wall right now. It's several inches shorter and lighter than it's full sized cousin but uses the same hellified 7.62 by 54R Russian cartridge. I've heard the jungle carbines are bad and don't hold their zero, but shooting this m44 is a life changing experience. It takes the cake as the most punishing thing I have ever fired, you can clap with your shoulder blades afterwards. I'll never find out if it holds it's zero or not because I won't ever touch it again. My soul left my body briefly last time I shot it I think. Point is, reduce the mass of the firearm and there's less mass to soak up reoil so the shooter has to.

So here we have young Lee up in an excellent perch holding a surplus Italian rifle. As rifles go, not exciting. Effective enough obviously but just not in the same league as an m1903 Springfield, Mausers, Lee-Enfield etc. that were more common. Nope, this was what sounds like a cheap piece of ****. It used a smaller, lighter cartridge that had had less 'power factor' and doesn't have the heavy recoil - the kick - that many of it's contemporaries do. I say that makes it easier, more likely that he got those shots off in a matter of seconds.

A trained US Marine rifleman could do that, right? Sure he was trained in the Marines - but he used M1 Garands in his service. They're semi-automatic, you don't have to manually operate the bolt for each shot because they do it themselves by bleeding off exhaust gas from firing. Same ammo as it's bolt action m1903 Springfield cousin. It has slightly less recoil because it's heavier and the gas operation uses some of the recoil energy instead of my shoulder. They may have started Oswald's training by learning with basic bolt action .22 rimfire rifles and that would be sufficient to acquaint him. But it isn't like he was a Marine of 20 years earlier that would have had all his training with an m1903. In addition to any military experience he had already taken a pot shot at someone else with the same rifle and damned near succeeded prior to the assassination. I think that the Carcano carbine is simple enough, light enough and lethal enough even with a relatively underpowered cartridge to have done the job.
 
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Creepy Green Light

Don't mistake lack of talent for genius
Feds hid JFK film that could prove ‘grassy knoll’ conspiracy: lawsuit

Feds hid JFK film that could prove ‘grassy knoll’ conspiracy: lawsuit​

By Mary Kay Linge
May 27, 2023 8:44am

A 60-year-old home movie could finally reveal whether multiple shooters, and not a lone gunman, assassinated President John F. Kennedy – but the federal government has been hiding it for decades, according to an explosive new lawsuit.
The heirs of Orville Nix, a Dallas maintenance man who recorded the moment of Kennedy’s death with his home-movie camera, have tried for years to get his original film back from the government’s clutches.
“It would be very significant if the original Nix film surfaced today,” said Jefferson Morley, author of “The Ghost” and other books about the CIA.
With recent advances in digital image processing, the original film “would essentially be a new piece of evidence,” Morley explained. “There’s a significant loss in quality between the first and second generation” of an analog film like Nix’s.
Nix’s clip, unlike the better known film shot by Abraham Zapruder, was taken from the center of Dealey Plaza as the presidential limousine drove into an ambush on Elm Street in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
suspicious area on the grassy knoll The Nix film also captured the picket fence at the top of the grassy knoll, where many witnesses thought the shots originated — but the HSCA’s photo experts never analyzed it.Orville Nix, Sr.
Kennedy assassination
Orville Nix’s film captured Jackie Kennedy’s frantic chase after a piece of her husband’s shattered skull after a bullet struck his head.Orville Nix, Sr.

It provides the only known unobstructed view of the infamous “grassy knoll” at the time of the fatal shot – the area where, some researchers claim, additional snipers were concealed.
Nix’s original film was last examined in 1978 by photo experts hired by the House Select Committee on Assassinations.
Based in part on that analysis, the panel concluded that Kennedy “was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy” and that “two gunmen” likely fired at him.
But the technology of the time left the experts in doubt about whether Nix’s movie captured those alleged marksmen — and the complete, original film disappeared without a trace. Only imperfect copies remain, including one that flashed on theater screens in Oliver Stone’s “JFK.”
JFK

An analysis of footage taken during President John F. Kennedy’s assassination found he may have been ambushed by multipleshooters.AP
Lee Harvey Oswald


Lee Harvey Oswald, who was declared Kennedy’s lone assassin by the government’s initial investigation, insisted he was “just a patsy” — a claim the original Nix film could potentially corroborate.AP
Forty-five years later, computer-enhanced analysis of the original frames could at last solve the mystery, spurring the Nixes back to court after their 2015 lawsuit was dismissed by a different tribunal that lacked jurisdiction in the matter.
The new suit, a 52-page filing in the US Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., is loaded with dozens of documents that meticulously trace the winding path taken by the original film since Nix created it
In 1963, the UPI press agency paid Nix $5,000 – about $50,000 today – for a 25-year license. Nix handed over his reel, which UPI promised to return in 1988.
Orville Nix
Nix, a Dallas native who captured the Kennedy assassination with his home movie camera, died in 1972.Courtesy Nix family
When Nix died in 1972, the rights passed to his wife and son. They were never notified when the House Special Committee on Assassinations subpoenaed the original film from UPI in 1978.
The lawsuit details the government’s startlingly sloppy handling of the priceless piece of American history from that point on, chronicling patchy documentation and lax security.
It also alleges that officials at the National Archives and Records Administration have repeatedly lied to the family, claiming never to have had the “out-of-camera original” film in their possession.
But the filing presents newly uncovered evidence that the HSCA’s photo analysts delivered Nix’s original film directly to NARA in 1978, once their work on it was complete.
The Nixes are seeking $29.7 million in compensatory damages, along with the release of the film.
JFK motorcade in Dallas, Nov. 22, 1963
Kennedy, in the lead car of the presidential motorcade, passed the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas moments before his death.AP
But time could be running out, a prominent photo expert said.
“The Nix film is at or near the end of its lifespan,” said Kenneth Castleman, a former NASA senior scientist who analyzed photos for the official investigations of the Challenger and Columbia disasters and studied the Nix film in the early 1970s.
“Modern image processing should be done,” Castleman told The Post.
“Working directly from the original, assuming it’s still in good shape, might reveal data that is not visible on the copies,” he added. “There are new techniques to bring up detail in an image that might possibly bring out new information that was not visible previously.”
In 1973, Castleman conducted an extensive analysis of one element seen in Nix’s film, the Dealey Plaza pergola, that some believe shows a marksman with a raised rifle.
suspicious object on the grassy knoll
Assassination researchers point to three objects on the grassy knoll, all captured in the Nix film, that could show evidence of Kennedy’s real killers. Photo expert Kenneth Castleman, who analyzed this pattern in the early 1970s, found it to be a set of passing shadows.Orville Nix, Sr.
suspicious object on the grassy knoll
The House Select Committee on Assassinations, which dubbed this portion of the Nix film a “feature of interest,” could not rule out that it showed a hidden person.Orville Nix, Sr.
That element, dubbed a “controversial aspect” by the HSCA, “was definitely not a person. It was actually just three bright spots that appear in some frames,” Castleman said. He has “no expectation that further analysis of the Nix film will change that result.”
But researchers have pointed to two other locations — one at the edge of a retaining wall, and another behind the picket fence at the top of the grassy knoll — that remain suspicious.
“Digitizing the original film with modern equipment and analyzing the data with modern image processing techniques could possibly bring out interesting new detail,” Castleman said.
The original film could shed important light on other aspects of the assassination as well, Morley said.
What do you think? Be the first to comment.
“It might tell us more about the impact of the shots on Kennedy’s body, both the first shots and the fatal shot,” he said. “And I think it would.”
The Kennedy assassination remains “an open wound for our country,” said a source familiar with the new lawsuit. “This film could finally prove – or disprove – the official government conclusion.”
I've seen so many JFK documentaries over the years that I forget the one that I saw a few years ago and made most sense to me. At one point in the doc the evidence showed (with graphics and whatnot) a triangulated hit on JFK and suggests that behind the grass knoll (where there are train tracks/siding/yard as well as a watch tower for the railroad companies to throw switches from & monitor operations) suggests that there was a car (forget the make/model) that was parked up against the fence but it was backed in (which according to all the other info & the railroad employees) which they said was odd as nobody in this particular parking area does that and they also didn't know whos car it was. But after the assassination the car was missing and the theory is that one of the gunmen ran behind the grass knoll, hopped the fence and put his rifle in the trunk & left. I believe the train yard people notified police and they came and found foot prints and tire marks in the mud where the car had been parked just moments earlier.

I wish I remembered the name of the doc but I would recognize the face of the guy that did all his own investigating & appeared in the doc if I saw him. One of my daughters is learning about this topic in school and I would have liked to show her the doc I'm talking about just because IMO the entire theory & evidence is the doc makes the most sense out of every JFK doc I have ever seen.
 

Creepy Green Light

Don't mistake lack of talent for genius
I just thought this was a good write up on shooting tests and the rifle itself:
John F. Kennedy assassination rifle - Wikipedia

Oswald used a WW2 surplus Italian rifle. Infantry rifles of that era ran about 3.5 feet long and 9 pounds that use .30 caliber/7mm cartridges and hold 5-10 at one time in an internal, non-removeable magazine. You pull the bolt back and shove the rounds in through the open top. They give you a pretty good whack when fired but recoil is manageable. That's important because it allows you to get the thing back on target for the next shot.

In pistol shooting competitions where hand loaded ammo is common there is something called 'power factor'. Another decent write up: Power Factor in USPSA & IDPA - What It Is & How to Calculate
When you're shooting as fast as you can and there's somebody right behind you with a timer an advantage is to make the lightest load you possibly can to reduce recoil and make it easier to shoot. You can fiddle with gunpowder types, charges, bullet weight and then the recoil springs in the pistol to make it the lightest 'pop' you can so that you can shoot faster. Heavy recoil affects accuracy as well, too much blast and even the most experienced shooter anticipates it which, at a minimum, slows down the shots. Power factor is a way to take any number of diverse combinations and set a common minimum as to what's just enough 'pop' to level the playing field.

In WW2 infantry service rifles attempts were made at shorter 'handier' versions for airborne, jungle and just tough-assed troopers. A British .303 SMLE 'Jungle Carbine' being one example. I have an M44 version of a Mosin-Nagant 91/30 behind me on the wall right now. It's several inches shorter and lighter than it's full sized cousin but uses the same hellified 7.62 by 54R Russian cartridge. I've heard the jungle carbines are bad and don't hold their zero, but shooting this m44 is a life changing experience. It takes the cake as the most punishing thing I have ever fired, you can clap with your shoulder blades afterwards. I'll never find out if it holds it's zero or not because I won't ever touch it again. My soul left my body briefly last time I shot it I think. Point is, reduce the mass of the firearm and there's less mass to soak up reoil so the shooter has to.

So here we have young Lee up in an excellent perch holding a surplus Italian rifle. As rifles go, not exciting. Effective enough obviously but just not in the same league as an m1903 Springfield, Mausers, Lee-Enfield etc. that were more common. Nope, this was what sounds like a cheap piece of ****. It used a smaller, lighter cartridge that had had less 'power factor' and doesn't have the heavy recoil - the kick - that many of it's contemporaries do. I say that makes it easier, more likely that he got those shots off in a matter of seconds.

A trained US Marine rifleman could do that, right? Sure he was trained in the Marines - but he used M1 Garands in his service. They're semi-automatic, you don't have to manually operate the bolt for each shot because they do it themselves by bleeding off exhaust gas from firing. Same ammo as it's bolt action m1903 Springfield cousin. It has slightly less recoil because it's heavier and the gas operation uses some of the recoil energy instead of my shoulder. They may have started Oswald's training by learning with basic bolt action .22 rimfire rifles and that would be sufficient to acquaint him. But it isn't like he was a Marine of 20 years earlier that would have had all his training with an m1903. In addition to any military experience he had already taken a pot shot at someone else with the same rifle and damned near succeeded prior to the assassination. I think that the Carcano carbine is simple enough, light enough and lethal enough even with a relatively underpowered cartridge to have done the job.
BTW, you are probably aware of this company & the technology but I just happened to stumble upon it the other day. It's pretty impressive to me as I've never had a rifle (I had/have handguns for concealed carry & a shot gun for clay pigeons) as I've never went hunting but have you ever seen this video or heard of the company? The part where the guy is on a zipline and moving fast while hitting targets was crazy. I'm not 100% sure I get the technology but it seems pretty cool.


View: https://youtu.be/Pmteh_NChOQ
 

Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow
BTW, you are probably aware of this company & the technology but I just happened to stumble upon it the other day. It's pretty impressive to me as I've never had a rifle (I had/have handguns for concealed carry & a shot gun for clay pigeons) as I've never went hunting but have you ever seen this video or heard of the company? The part where the guy is on a zipline and moving fast while hitting targets was crazy. I'm not 100% sure I get the technology but it seems pretty cool.


View: https://youtu.be/Pmteh_NChOQ


That company went bankrupt.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I had to look at that sideways a while to get my head around it. I think once you designate the target the optic is in control of the trigger until the X or whatever it is in the reticle touches the marked spot and then boom. At a minimum eliminating human error from trigger pull is huge, but you've got a gadget with a battery between your weapon and it's target. Solving problems I wasn't having.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I've seen several documentaries about the assassination, One I can't quite remember is a retired FBI agent in a wheelchair who forensically traced the shots and later found a nick in a metal post somewhere to corroborate it a fourth shot. The amount of time between shots was taken from an open mike on a police motorcycle - although I don't think it recorded four, or if it did not distinctly. My impression of what's seen in and around the Grassy Knoll is pareidolia.

It's been probably 20 years since I was in Dallas, and in truth I really don't shoot the milsurps anymore. My buddy died and my brother has health issues and can't shoot anymore and going alone sucks, so I sold several of them. I keep an m1903 Springfield and M1 Garand handy in case civilization collapses, or Trump gets in again (same thing). Doesn't mean I forgot the Depository or how to shoot. I just don't see it as some impossible shot just because someone says so. That wiki article I posted above surprised me at the number of attempts to duplicate it.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Gadgets and sights. 'Holographic reflect sights' was the last term I applied. Yes, in competition they offer advantages and are sort of cool. Never owned one or will. I managed to avoid the red dot laser sight era too. Iron sights for me thanks. I did, in a moment of weakness, install tritium sights on an HK USP .45 I have.

If John Moses Browning didn't invent it you probably don't need it. 1911s and 1911A!s have been reliable problem solvers a long time. I have put a lot of rounds of all sorts of calibers through them. Ancient weapons and hokey religions are no match for a good blaster at your side, and a 1911 is a very good blaster.
 
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Creepy Green Light

Don't mistake lack of talent for genius
I had to look at that sideways a while to get my head around it. I think once you designate the target the optic is in control of the trigger until the X or whatever it is in the reticle touches the marked spot and then boom. At a minimum eliminating human error from trigger pull is huge, but you've got a gadget with a battery between your weapon and it's target. Solving problems I wasn't having.
I can see your point about being an accurate shot. I was just having a hard time trying to wrap my head around it. Personally I'd like to get an AR-15 (no clue what brand/model) but since I live in one of the worst states there is (NJ) I don't think I can legally buy one or perhaps I could but NJ laws probably would have it where the magazine can carry no more then 3 rounds.
 

Creepy Green Light

Don't mistake lack of talent for genius
Gadgets and sights. 'Holographic reflect sights' was the last term I applied. Yes, in competition they offer advantages and are sort of cool. Never owned one or will. I managed to avoid the red dot laser sight era too. Iron sights for me thanks. I did, in a moment of weakness, install tritium sights on an HK USP .45 I have.

If John Moses Browning didn't invent it you probably don't need it. 1911s and 1911A!s have been reliable problem stoppers a long time. I have put a lot of rounds of al sorts of calibers through them. Ancient weapons and hokey religions are no match for a good blaster at your side, and a 1911 is a very good blaster.
I agree as none of my guns ever had an optics package. I figure if anything went sideways with an intruder/assailant it's going to happen at close proximity.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I can see your point about being an accurate shot. I was just having a hard time trying to wrap my head around it. Personally I'd like to get an AR-15 (no clue what brand/model) but since I live in one of the worst states there is (NJ) I don't think I can legally buy one or perhaps I could but NJ laws probably would have it where the magazine can carry no more then 3 rounds.

I've fired a few ARs. Got to stand on the edge of a mining pit once with one and shoot up a car. No shit, an old Chevy Nova. What's left of it is in the bottom of the pond the pit now is. ARs are gas operated and have a rotary bolt, similar to an M1 but in a lighter caliber @ 5.56. Meaning, the gas operation takes off some of the recoil. To me they go 'pwaaaang' when you fire them and have all the appeal of an electric drill. Never were my cup of tea even when you could buy them and 30 round mags all day no problem. Had a Ruger Mini-14 Rancher - dumped that too.
 

Creepy Green Light

Don't mistake lack of talent for genius
I've fired a few ARs. Got to stand on the edge of a mining pit once with one and shoot up a car. No shit, an old Chevy Nova. What's left of it is in the bottom of the pond the pit now is. ARs are gas operated and have a rotary bolt, similar to an M1 but in a lighter caliber @ 5.56. Meaning, the gas operation takes off some of the recoil. To me they go 'pwaaaang' when you fire them and have all the appeal of an electric drill. Never were my cup of tea even when you could buy them and 30 round mags all day no problem. Had a Ruger Mini-14 Rancher - dumped that too.
Just out of curiosity; then what go-to gun would you have at your side to protect your home/family/business if the $--t hit the fan (like in the LA riots type of way)?
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Just out of curiosity; then what go-to gun would you have at your side to protect your home/family/business if the $--t hit the fan (like in the LA riots type of way)?

Personally, I'd get my ass out of Dodge as fast as possible well ahead of the event out of an overabundance of practicality :)

Most residential construction is transparent to bullets whether fired from a rifle/carbine at very high speed, or a handgun at not quite so high speed. Either way it means you stand a good chance of shooting through a wall and hitting something unintended.

This is just armchair bull****ing but a decent short barreled shotgun stoked with #7 or so bird shot would be my choice. A 12 or 20 gauge version of same would be about equally good depending on who's using it. At one time Mossberg used to make one specific model that was perfectly suited to this with pistol grip that made it shorter and handier. I have a Pachmayer pistol grip for an old 870 with an 18" bead sight barrel but find the wood stock to be more comfortable - lacking any need for concealment.

The weapon's only as good as whoever is using it who also stands a fair chance of having it taken away from them and used against them. So, under duress with the adrenaline flowing these are really simple point and shoot weapons that can be quite nasty at close range even with fairly light bird shot. 00 buck is nine .35 caliber balls that will still go through walls. IMO home defense is short range last resort.

That said, if actual zombies or Borg or the like roamed the streets I'd have a Russian 1951 SKS at hand. For bears or Bigfoot it would be an 18" barreled 870 stuffed with sabot 12ga slugs. If I were to concealed carry it would generally be a Walther PPK/S in .380 with Winchester Silvertip hollow points. For trips up north into the hinterland where you could be very much alone I used to bring my SiG P220 in .45 ACP with Federal HydraShock hollow points. That carry ammo is old as hell but still effective. I just rarely if ever feel the need to be armed. Carrying is not at all like TV or movies, they're uncomfortable as hell.
 
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Creepy Green Light

Don't mistake lack of talent for genius
Personally, I'd get my ass out of Dodge as fast as possible well ahead of the event out of an overabundance of practicality :)

Most residential construction is transparent to bullets whether fired from a rifle/carbine at very high speed, or a handgun at not quite so high speed. Either way it means you stand a good chance of shooting through a wall and hitting something unintended.

This is just armchair bull****ing but a decent short barreled shotgun stoked with #7 or so bird shot would be my choice. A 12 or 20 gauge version of same would be about equally good depending on who's using it. At one time Mossberg used to make one specific model that was perfectly suited to this with pistol grip that made it shorter and handier. I have a Pachmayer pistol grip for an old 870 with an 18" bead sight barrel but find the wood stock to be more comfortable - lacking any need for concealment.

The weapon's only as good as whoever is using it who also stands a fair chance of having it taken away from them and used against them. So, under duress with the adrenaline flowing these are really simple point and shoot weapons that can be quite nasty at close range even with fairly light bird shot. 00 buck is nine .35 caliber balls that will still go through walls. IMO home defense is short range last resort.

That said, if actual zombies or Borg or the like roamed the streets I'd have a Russian 1951 SKS at hand. For bears or Bigfoot it would be an 18" barreled 870 stuffed with sabot 12ga slugs. If I were to concealed carry it would generally be a Walther PPK/S in .380 with Winchester Silvertip hollow points. For trips up north into the hinterland where you could be very much alone I used to bring my SiG P220 in .45 ACP with Federal HydraShock hollow points. That carry ammo is old as hell but still effective. I just rarely if ever feel the need to be armed. Carrying is not at all like TV or movies, they're uncomfortable as hell.
Pretty good answers with explanations, thanks. I used to have a Pachmayr grip on my Glock 17 as well as Hydroshocks. Any handgun using a double stack mag does suck for concealed. Once I figured out that they have ultra slim single stacks is when I made that switch and for me it is night & day difference and really comfortable (Beretta Nano). I'd like to try a Walther CCP and a Springfield Hellcat. Hellcat is double stack but is ultra slim. The only shotgun I ever bought was a Remington 870 Express for clay pigeons and my grandfather left me his Browning shotgun which he used for deer.

I had a FN .40 at one point but before I bought it I sent away for their catalog which quickly showed up in the mail (this would have been around 2004). The catalog starts off with pistols then starts getting more advanced with those futuristic form factors that they had. Towards the end of the catalog they started showing these big guns and listing that they have a helicopter mounting kit available and shows a door gunner at the helm with one. I thought it was funny & interesting that within the same catalog they had both civilian guns and military guns.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
within the same catalog they had both civilian guns and military guns.

Ohio Ordnance Works is like that, they make military hardware too. I had ordered one of these and immediately cancelled it when they passed the NY SAFE Act. In truth, I'm glad they did as I'd just be wanting to sell it now anyway. But BARs are freakin' cool !
1918A3-SLR

** Good GOD I just saw the price on that now !!!! Maybe I should've bought it !!
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
No disrespect to this man, he was there and I wasn't even born yet. Methinks he's just selling his book. I'd like to ask him if the agents really were out drinking heavily in the wee hours prior.

As I have said repeatedly, I have shot a LOT of ammo over the decades and hand loaded most of it. Bullets do weird things, period. You can empty a magazine of any firearm you choose into a hillside and when you dig the bullets out some with appear almost unfired while those an inch away may be completely destroyed. Impossible to predict unless you're deliberately shooting into ballistic gelatin. We used to go to an old quarry that people would dump garbage in and someone once gifted us with huge piles of papers and magazines bundled with twine. We'd use those to see how far various loads penetrated. Full Metal Jacket or 'ball' ammo is designed to give a through and through wound and not expand at all - big surprise is that's usually what it does unless it strikes something hard. A bone might or might not deform it, depending on where it was. We've shot up major appliances, endless steel plates - cars for chrissake. It ain't like TV.

MSN



Secret Service agent who was with JFK on day of his assassination breaks silence with claim that blows up the 'magic bullet' theory and suggests there WAS more than one shooter​

Story by Keith Griffith For Dailymail.com •7h

A former Secret Service agent who was present at President John F. Kennedy's assassination has come forward with a new claim that would debunk the 'magic bullet' theory and raises questions about whether there was a second shooter



Paul Landis, 88, broke his silence on Saturday, nearly 60 years after Kennedy was shot dead in a motorcade passing through Dallas, to share his bombshell recollection with the New York Times.
Landis, who in 1963 was a young Secret Service agent assigned to protect First Lady Jaqueline Kennedy, said that in the chaos following the shooting, he picked up a nearly pristine bullet sitting on the top of the back seat of the open limousine.
It was just behind where Kennedy was sitting when he was killed, he says. Landis says he took the projectile and placed it on the president's hospital stretcher to preserve it for the autopsy investigators.
That bullet, the first piece of evidence logged in the murder investigation, has for six decades been said to have been found on the stretcher of Texas Governor John Connally, and was hypothesized to have fallen free from a wound to his thigh.
Landis thinks the bullet may have rolled onto Connally's stretcher from Kennedy's while they were next to each other.
It has long been known as the 'magic bullet' -- the bullet that supposedly passed through Kennedy's neck from the rear, then entered Connally's right shoulder, struck his rib, exited under his right nipple, passed through his right wrist and hit his left thigh.
But Landis' assertion that it had actually exited Kennedy in his Cadillac could lay waste to the magic bullet theory - and bolster the claim that Lee Harvey Oswald did not operate alone on the day of the murder.


A former Secret Service agent who was present at President John F. Kennedy's assassination has come forward with a new claim that casts doubt on the 'magic bullet' theory

A former Secret Service agent who was present at President John F. Kennedy's assassination has come forward with a new claim that casts doubt on the 'magic bullet' theory© Provided by Daily Mail

Paul Landis, 88, broke his silence on Saturday, nearly 60 years after Kennedy was shot dead in a motorcade passing through Dallas on November 22, 1963

Paul Landis, 88, broke his silence on Saturday, nearly 60 years after Kennedy was shot dead in a motorcade passing through Dallas on November 22, 1963© Provided by Daily Mail
According to the official finding of the Warren Commission, Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, who fired three shots at the motorcade from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository building with a 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano rifle.
According to the report, one of the shots missed the motorcade, another was the 'magic bullet' that struck both Kennedy and Connally, and the final round fatally struck Kennedy in the head.
Now, Landis says that he believes the bullet he retrieved from the limo may have been undercharged, and dislodged from a shallow wound in the president's back, falling back onto the limousine seat when the fatal shot struck his head.
He theorizes that, after he placed the bullet on Kennedy's stretcher, it may have fallen onto Connally's stretcher when they were jostled together.
It's also possible that the hospital staffer who found the bullet and handed it over to the Secret Service misidentified which stretcher it was from, or that his account was mangled by investigators.
The bullet, which had been fired but was nearly fully intact, was positively matched to Oswald's Mannlicher-Carcano through ballistics analysis.
But if Landis' claim is true, that suggests the bullet tagged as evidence item 'Q1' was not responsible for the injuries to Connolly, and there was no so-called 'magic bullet'.


According to the Warren Commission, Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, who fired three shots from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository

According to the Warren Commission, Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, who fired three shots from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository© Provided by Daily Mail

Kennedy was sitting directly behind Texas Governor John Connally in the limousine when both were struck by gunshots. A 'magic bullet' has long been said to have struck both men

Kennedy was sitting directly behind Texas Governor John Connally in the limousine when both were struck by gunshots. A 'magic bullet' has long been said to have struck both men© Provided by Daily Mail

The so-called magic bullet was nearly pristine, and matched the rifling on the 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano rifle owned by Oswald, and found inside the Book Depository

The so-called magic bullet was nearly pristine, and matched the rifling on the 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano rifle owned by Oswald, and found inside the Book Depository© Provided by Daily Mail

Lee Harvey Oswald is shown after his arrest here on November 22, 1963. He was shot dead by Jack Ruby two days later as he was being transferred from Police Headquarters to jail

Lee Harvey Oswald is shown after his arrest here on November 22, 1963. He was shot dead by Jack Ruby two days later as he was being transferred from Police Headquarters to jail© Provided by Daily Mail
James Robenalt, an attorney and historian who worked with Landis on a book he plans to release in October, believes the new account suggests the possibility of multiple shooters.
'If what he says is true, which I tend to believe, it is likely to reopen the question of a second shooter, if not even more,' Robenalt told the Times.
'If the bullet we know as the magic or pristine bullet stopped in President Kennedy's back, it means that the central thesis of the Warren Report, the single-bullet theory, is wrong.'
Robenalt explained in separate essay for Vanity Fair on Saturday: 'First, if the 'pristine' bullet did not travel through both Kennedy and Connally, somehow ending up on Connally's stretcher, then it stands to reason that Connally might have actually been hit by a separate bullet, coming from above and to the rear.
'The FBI recreation suggests that Oswald would not have had enough time to get off two separate shots so quickly as to hit Connally after wounding the president in the back.'
The infamous Zapruder film shows that there was roughly a second between the physical reactions of Kennedy and Connally to being shot.
FBI experts assessed that it would take Oswald a minimum of 2.3 seconds to fire, work the rifle's bolt action, aim, and fire another shot.


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Related video: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: I worry about the weaponization of enforcement agencies (FOX News)


The shorter gap between Kennedy and Connally's reactions has long been explained as due to a single bullet striking both men, with Connally delayed slightly in realizing he'd been shot.


Landis, front in sunglasses, is seen with President Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy earlier on November 22, 1963, the day of the assassination

Landis, front in sunglasses, is seen with President Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy earlier on November 22, 1963, the day of the assassination© Provided by Daily Mail

Landis (circled) is seen looking over his right shoulder after hearing a gunshot. In the limousine, Kennedy can be seen hunched over, clutching his neck, second before another bullet ripped through his head and killed him

Landis (circled) is seen looking over his right shoulder after hearing a gunshot. In the limousine, Kennedy can be seen hunched over, clutching his neck, second before another bullet ripped through his head and killed him© Provided by Daily Mail

The limousine carrying mortally wounded JFK races toward the hospital seconds after he was shot in Dallas. Secret Service agent Clinton Hill is riding on the back of the car. Hill's right knee is near the crease in the top of the rear limo seat where Landis says he found the bullet

The limousine carrying mortally wounded JFK races toward the hospital seconds after he was shot in Dallas. Secret Service agent Clinton Hill is riding on the back of the car. Hill's right knee is near the crease in the top of the rear limo seat where Landis says he found the bullet© Provided by Daily Mail

Bystanders take cover on the grassy knoll and the motorcade escort speeds away moments after sniper bullets ended President Kennedy's life

Bystanders take cover on the grassy knoll and the motorcade escort speeds away moments after sniper bullets ended President Kennedy's life© Provided by Daily Mail
Landis' story also raises disturbing questions about how to account for Kennedy's wounds.
Kennedy's autopsy indicated the following bullet wounds: a small neat one in his back, around the area of his right scapula; a small neat one in the front center of his throat; a small neat one in the rear right of his skull; and a massive, jagged exit wound in the right front of his skull.
The bullet hole in his upper right back had long been explained as the entry point for a bullet that then exited the front middle of Kennedy's throat. (The throat wound was expanded by ER doctors for an emergency tracheotomy, and their description of the original wound as a small had to be relied on at autopsy.)
But if the bullet wound to his back, which autopsy report said could not be deeply probed to traced the bullet's path, was caused by an undercharged bullet that then fell back onto the limousine seat, then where did the throat wound come from?
Robenalt raises the haunting possibility that the throat wound was actually an entry point, as ER doctors initially suspected, saying the bullet might have fragmented on hitting Kennedy's spine.
He noted that autopsy X-ray technician Jerrol F. Custer testified in 1997 that he had seen evidence of metallic shards near Kennedy's upper spine, but that the X-ray slide was one of three missing from the National Archives.
If a bullet entered Kennedy's throat from the front, it could not have been fired by Oswald from the Book Depository, which was directly behind the motorcade at the time of the assassination.
The possibility of multiple shooters has been a popular theory since the immediate aftermath of the assassination, with many pointing to the so-called 'grassy knoll' area to the right of the motorcade route.
As well, the 'Triple Underpass' in front of the motorcade would have offered an elevated sniper position, and other tall buildings surrounded the book depository to the rear of the motorcade.
Robenalt acknowledged in Vanity Fair that 'neither this article nor Landis's book has the insight or forensic expertise to hazard any new conclusions' about a second shooter.
'Others will have to analyze the evidence in full to see where it now leads,' he added.

Who is Paul Landis, and why is he speaking out now?​

Landis, who was just 28 on the day of the assassination, was one of the youngest Secret Service agents of his day, a fact reflected in his code name, 'Debut'.
He grew up in Worthington, Ohio and, following a stint in the Ohio Air National Guard, he was working in a clothing store when a family friend described working for the Secret Service, sparking his imagination.
Despite his diminutive stature (he had to stretch to reach the five-foot-eight height requirement) Landis joined the elite agency in 1959 and worked out of the Cincinnati office for several years, investigating check fraud and counterfeiters.
He joined the presidential protective squad during the Eisenhower administration, when he was assigned to watch over the president's grandchildren.
When Kennedy took office, Landis was tasked with guarding his children, and later First Lady Jaqueline Kennedy, traveling with her on trips to Italy in 1962 and Greece in October 1963.
He was in Dallas on that fateful November day because Jacqueline had traveled to Texas with the president, for a trip that marked the informal start of his campaign for re-election.


Secret Service agent Paul Landis, tasked with protecting JFK's kids and later his wife Jacqueline, lifts John F. Kennedy Jr into the air on the South Lawn of the White House

Secret Service agent Paul Landis, tasked with protecting JFK's kids and later his wife Jacqueline, lifts John F. Kennedy Jr into the air on the South Lawn of the White House© Provided by Daily Mail

Landis (far right) is seen guarding Jacqueline Kennedy and her sister, Princess Lee Radziwill, as they view an exhibit in museum at Heraclion, Crete, Greece in October 1963

Landis (far right) is seen guarding Jacqueline Kennedy and her sister, Princess Lee Radziwill, as they view an exhibit in museum at Heraclion, Crete, Greece in October 1963© Provided by Daily Mail
Landis was standing on the running board of the car immediately behind the president's limousine when the fatal shots were fired, according to the Times.
He heard the first shot and looked over his right shoulder in the direction of the sound. Looking back to the president, he saw Kennedy raising his arms, evidently hit.
As his partner Cliff Hill sprinted toward the limo, he heard a louder second shot. Then a third, he told the Times, the fatal shot that struck Kennedy's head.
He was haunted by the day. 'The president's head exploding — I could not shake that vision,' he told the Times. 'Whatever I was doing, that's all I was thinking about.'
Traumatized by the assassination, Landis quit the Secret Service six months later and returned to Ohio.
He never testified to the Warren Commission, and his two written statements immediately after the shooting do not mention finding a bullet.
They differ in other aspects from his recollection now as well -- after the shooting, Landis said he only heard two shots.


Landis is seen standing center with his hands crossed behind the Kennedy family, as John John salutes his father's coffin

Landis is seen standing center with his hands crossed behind the Kennedy family, as John John salutes his father's coffin© Provided by Daily Mail

Robert and Edward Kennedy escort Jackie Kennedy from the White House to attend the funeral of President John F. Kennedy November 25, 1963, with Landis walking to the right rear

Robert and Edward Kennedy escort Jackie Kennedy from the White House to attend the funeral of President John F. Kennedy November 25, 1963, with Landis walking to the right rear© Provided by Daily Mail
Landis said that, for years, he tried to put the assassination out of his mind, and did not read about it. He never doubted that Oswald was the lone gunman.
He claims now that he did not realize his experience differed from the findings of the Warren Commission, the investigation established by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
That changed in 2014, when he finally read a book about the assassination that a friend gave him. Called Six Seconds In Dallas, the 1967 book argued that there were multiple shooters.
Learning that the official account of where the pristine bullet was found was flawed, Landis emailed his old partner Hill, who replied warning of 'many ramifications' for speaking out, according to the Times.
Landis grappled with his conscience, and finally decided to write a book, which is due for release on October 10, and titled The Final Witness.
'There's no goal at this point,' he told the Times of his reason for speaking out. 'I just think it had been long enough that I needed to tell my story.'
He declined to tell the newspaper that he now believes there was a second shooter, saying only that he now is uncertain.
'At this point, I'm beginning to doubt myself,' he said. 'Now I begin to wonder.'
 

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Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow
then where did the throat wound come from?

I would say that the whole of Kennedy's death investigation revolves around that single question, because it was so blatantly obvious that that was an entry wound. But, as usually, masterminds let that more or less hard factual question diffuse into hundreds of other trivial and speculative questions.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I told you it's an easy shot. OK, I admit it - it was me. I am the lone gunman. My Time Machine takes Forever to recharge though .... :)
 

Rick Hunter

Celestial
An undercharged round or one in which not all the powder ignited is a good possibility. I would guess that ammo was produced while the Italians were frantically trying to get it out the door and to the troops, hence QC probably wasn't the best. If the round had, say, half the usual velocity it still could have produced it could have made it to the car and ricocheted off a hard object and come to rest in the back of the car. The explanation offered by Landis still doesn't make a solid case for a second gunman, if anything I think it accounts for the shot that failed to strike anyone.
 
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