Explaining the Shooting of Governor John Connally

Shown on FreeRepublic for the first time. | October 25, 2006 | Bill Charleston

[Ichneumon]

I know the billet wasn't pristine, but the bullet was.

No it wasn't.

When I say pristine, it wasn't shattered, mushroomed, chopped off, etc, the way a bullet should be having been where it was said that bullet went.

Yes it was. Test shots reproducing the appropriate conditions have in fact produced bullets that were even *less* deformed than the JFK bullet was.

It was SLIGHTLY misshapen, like what would happen had the rifle been test fired into a pool.

...or like a bullet which had passed through multiple inches of human flesh before eventually striking bone at a much reduced velocity.

You can still find pictures of it.

Yes, and they are consistent with the misnamed "magic bullet" scenario.

Note the crease on the nose, and the warping of the side (the lower portion as oriented in the picture) and the flattened surface directly facing the camera.

Here's a close-up of the tail end of the bullet:

Note how much the lead is deformed and cracked by the bullet's deformation.

Calling this bullet "pristine" is a gross misrepresentation.

More to the point, Dr. Fackler and Failure Analaysis did tests to determine the actual amount of deformation on Carcano rounds under conditions similar to the JFK shooting.

Results of these and other actual firing tests: A Carcano bullet passing through Kennedy's neck at full velocity (it hit no bone passing through JFK) was not deformed at all after passing through an appropriate amount of goat skin and meat. Another shot at full velocity (which exceeded the case for Connally, the bullet would have lost velocity passing through JFK) at an anesthetized goat striking the rib of the goat had only a slight flattening, similar to CE 399, the not-so-pristine bullet.

After passing through JFK's neck and Connally's chest and grazing his rib, the bullet would have a lowered remaining velocity. Tests using a Carcano bullet at a reduced 1100 feet per second (consistent with the expedted velocity loss -- actually best estimates are 900fps) into the wrist of a cadaver resulted in a bullet that was *non-deformed* and was *not flattened in the least*, and had nowhere near the level of damage of CE 399.

The 6.5mm Carcano round is a big, heavy bullet, and it had traversed the thicknesses of *two* bodies before it struck any bone.

The amount of damage on the "magic bullet" is entirely consistent with the damage expected for the trajectory it took.

[BILL_C]

I will have to study this one. Thanks for posting this.

I tried to keep it simple. The ONLY real purpose of writing this on the web is to see IF there is enough information for a reasonable person to BELIEVE that John Connally was wounded by two separate shots, and that the last shot fired that day hit Connally 0.7 seconds AFTER Kennedy's fatal head shot.

Now, with the Government having conducted two major investigations, the Warren Commission in 1964 and the House Subcommittee on Assassinations in 1978, $millions have been spent trying to determine IF there were multiple shooters.

I've done technical investigations and WHEN you get so many diverse indications that something happened, and it is the most REASONABLE scenario, then you can hang you hat on it.

There's a lot more information to support this sceanario and that's because it IS EXACTLY what happened, and there is NO doubt. Nothing else is REASONABLE and that's why we've been subjected to the silliness on TV every November.

IT's time to tell them to get it right.

[Ichneumon]

I've had many Carcano rifles. None of them, not one, could be made to perform the way Oswald's did.

Then you're either not using them very well, or misunderstanding the events on the day of the shooting of JFK.

The Warren Commission was mistaken about how quickly the shots were fired. They thought the shots were fired in an elapsed time of between 4.8 and 5.6 seconds.

The problem with trying to reproduce *that* scenario is that the Warren Commission was wrong. Later analysis of the Zapruder film and other evidence clearly indicates that the three shots occurred over an elapsed time of 8.3 seconds. The first shot was fired, then 3.5 seconds later the second shot was fired, and then 4.8 seconds later the third shot was fired.

Firing three shots in 8.3 seconds is not difficult with a bolt-action rifle.

CBS, for example, reconstructed the shooting for a 1975 documentary. Eleven volunteer marksmen took turns firing three bullets at a moving target. None of them had practice with the Carcano's bolt action, as Osald had had almost daily in New Orleans. Yet the average performance was 5.6 seconds, with two out of three hits on the target.

Other reconstructions by other groups have achieved similar results. Hell, *I* could have made those shots. With the 4X scope Oswald was using, JFK was an effective 25 yards away at the time of the shots -- an easy shot with a rifle, especially when braced on boxes as Oswald's rifle was. Furthermore, while it's true the car was moving, it was not moving very fast, and it was moving directly *away* from Oswald, reducing its apparent motion to almost zero. And it helps that shooting from an elevation tends to cause a shot to land high, while the motion of the car would have caused an unlead shot to land low -- each effect would help to cancel the other.

Any conspiracy theorist who claims that the shots were "impossible" or "have never been duplicated" is simply grossly misinformed.

From an older post of mine on the topic:

I posted citations to specific tests detailing the nature of the tests and with sufficient information for you to look them up if you doubt my description. Are you going to try to tell us with a straight face that *this* wasn't specific enough for you to determine the nature of the tests, or look them up to find more detail if you chose?

[From my post #127:] For example, CBS reconstructed the shooting for a 1975 [typo, should be 1967] documentary. Eleven volunteers took three shots each at a moving target using a Carcano rifle, without even doing any prior practice on that model of rifle. Their times ranges from 4.1 seconds (total) to slightly more than 6 seconds, with the average being 5.6 seconds and 2 hits out of 3. Furthermore, the House Select Committee in 1977 did a reconstruction and found that their test shooter could hit all targets with 1.66 seconds between shots.

What more do you want, for me to pull up a chair for you and help you figure out how to load a videotape of them? Do your own homework if you want to start casting about for excuses why the recreations weren't "good" enough, so that you can try to get yourself off this hook by some lawyerly weaseling.

Oh hell, here's more detailed information for you from the HSCA recreation for you, maybe you'll give it up... The tests were conducted from an elevated platform, at targets situated at distances of 143, 165, and 266 feet from the tower, the presumed distances of the three JFK shots. Furthermore:

"Each officer fired two series of three shots and Cornwell and I eac fired one series of two shots.

The test established the following:

The weapon can be quite accurately fired more rapidly using open iron sights than the FBI tests in 1963 indicated, where the telescopic sight was used. For example, Officer Masson, during one test series, hit the body silhouette at 143 and 165 feet on the first two shots, and missed the head portion of the silhouette at 266 feet on the third shot by approximately one inch (1"), taking 2.0 seconds between shots 1 and 2, and a total of less than 5 seconds for all three shots. Two other series, oen by officer Smith and another, again, by Officer Masson, were fired in which only 1.9 seconds elapsed between two shots, and one of the three shots scored a "kill".
...
It is not difficult to fire two consecutive shots from a Mannlicher-Carcano within 1.66 seconds, and to "point aim" if not carefully "sight" it, on the target on each shot. Cornwell fired the rifle twice in 1.2 seconds, and I fired it twice within 1.5 seconds. In both cases the second shot missed, but was close to the silhoutte. In fact, my second shot only missed the silhoutte by approximately 2".

There was ample time for Oswald to have fired 3 shots, hitting with two of them, within 8.3 seconds. All series of 3 shots were fired in less than 8 seconds, two were fired in less than 7 seconds, two in less than 6, and two in less than 5."

As for the CBS test ("CBS News Inquiry: The Warren Report", a four part documentary first aired on June 25 1967), one of their volunteers, Howard Donahue, not only made three shots in less than six seconds with a Carcano, he HIT WITH ALL THREE SHOTS. The CBS test was even done through a window 60 feet up, not just a raised platform, at a target on a moving sled. I'm sorry, what's that you were saying about "no one" ever duplicating the JFK shooting?

As for the firing angle...

Here are the results of actual 3D reconstructions which precisely match the dimensions of the car, the occupants, the plaza, the medical photographs, each frame of the Zapruder film, and the hundreds of of still photos which were taken on that day:

Here's what that analysis shows for the so-called "magic bullet":

Nice, straight, single shot through both men when fired from the window of the Schoolbook Depository Building, thank you very much. And JFK's and Connally's reactions appear at the same time:

Interestingly, a few seconds *before* that, both appear to be turning in reaction to something, likely the sound of the first (missed) gunshot (but both act uninjured at this point):

As for the theory that the head shot came in any way from the front, the 3D analysis shows that given the possible entry/exit locations on the skull (and the possibilities are large due to amount of damage obscuring the exact place on the front of the head where the bullet passed), any shot from the front and/or right could not *possibly* have come from anywhere near the Grassy Knoll:

The Grassy Knoll is circled in yellow. The red cone is the band of angles from which a headshot could possibly have entered from the front, after skimming over the top of the windshield. Unfortunatly, this band does not intersect the ground, and sails over the Triple Underpass at a height of 13 feet over the railing. The blue band shows shots that could conceivably have come into the car from the front, missing the windshield on car's left side (i.e., passing through where the rolled-down driver's window would have been), but unfortunately for conspiracy theorists, no witness ever claimed to have heard or seen any shooting activity from that direction.

Besides, the wounds in the skull clearly indicate an entry wound from the *back*, fragments of that bullet were found on the front floor of the car and a dent in the upper windshield frame, the head rocked FORWARD briefly before it was flung backwards (either by the "jet effect", or neural spasm, or both), and it too was a direct shot from Oswald's window:

Oswald did it, and it wasn't that hard of sequence of shots. Deal with it.

[Shooter 2.5]

Everything I know about the assassination I was able to back up with reports and photographs. You haven't done any of that.

Connally's reaction was the same as Mrs. Kennedy's. JFK, Connelly and also Mrs. Kennedy all react to the third shot. Omissions like your's is what keeps you in the conspiracy business.

I hope I'm never on a jury with someone like you. People like you form an opinion and then push the "facts" to suit.

Moderators, this is a waste of bandwidth.

[The KG9 Kid]

"... Sorry but the rifle was so bad that it was called the "Mercy Rifle" in WWII because you couldn't hit anything with it."

You've even got that wrong. The old canard is that the M91/38 Mannlicher-Carcano was called 'The Humanitarian Rifle' in WWII by Italian troops, but that phrase is an invention of conspiracy author Robert Sam Anson who coined the term in the 1960s.

Italian troops -- particularly the elite 'Reggimento Alpini' troops who fought against the Russians on the Eastern Front in WWII -- had good regard for the M38 Mannlicher-Carcano. Every time I've seen someone physically examine an M91/38, they've usually said something along the lines of 'Hey, I thought these things were supposed to be the "world's worst shoulder rifle". This is actually a pretty smooth rifle' once they've finally looked past the beaten and Cosmoline-darkened wooden stocks. I've even seen super high dollar custom sporters made from Carcano actions that people ooh-and-ahh over the quality of until they're told that the action is a Mannlicher-Carcano they've been repeatedly informed are 'junk'.

Disparaging the M91/38 has been the foundation of the JFK conspiracists since the beginning. Why, if that lousy-shooting Oswald couldn't have possibly made the shot, then that's proof of a conspiracy with no other evidence! Now that they've established that in the minds of bozos who want to believe in spooky stories, it's just a matter of laying out how the CIA/LBJ/FBI/Cubans/USSR/Mafia/Nazis/Robert Kennedy/Freemasons/Illuminati *really* murdered our president. Buy my book now! Fantastic NEW evidence!

The fact remains that the Mannlicher-Carcano is a thoroughly decent rifle and that Oswald was a far better shot than his agenda-driven detractors claim.

But you can believe whatever crap you wish.

[The KG9 Kid]

Al Gator hates M91/38 Mannlicher-Carcanos so much he bought five of them.

True story.

[Ichneumon]

BUT explain Connally's description of how the bullet drove him forward

Because he was shot in the back. Duh.

Explain how a man so severely wounded can turn around in his seat to look back, and not just a glance but a full turn.

He didn't, you have the timing of the events backwards. He turned around to look in the direction of the sound of the first shot. As he turned back he and JFK were struck by the second shot. The third shot hit JFK in the head.

Explain how Connally held his hat even after the back shot to Kennedy (Connally's wrist was supposedly broken then yet he held his hat for another 5 seconds).

His hand clenched, either from the pain or from physical trauma to the muscles/tendons that close the hand (and run through the wrist).

Explain why numerous people from the secret service man who first saw Kennedy's head in the limo to the Parkland Memorial staff to the Autopsy in Washington said the back of his head was blown out?

Because a) he was covered in blood, and b) the conspiracy nuts misrepresent a lot of people's actual testimony. Let's check an actual photo, shall we?

Oops, the back of his head is there.

[isom35]

"back and to the left" (just like Seinfeld said)

[BILL_C]

verything I know about the assassination I was able to back up with reports and photographs. You haven't done any of that.

Then EXPLAIN the photograph of Connally "falling" forward at Z=325, which is exactly the time the Dallas Police Recording showing the 5th and final shot fired that day.

Explain how Connally could move that far that fast in one frame. IF you do a calculation of velocity per frame, you'll find that moving about 1 inch in one frame is about what one Mile per hour. Connally's head moves several inches DOWN after moving forward from a ducking motion. IT would be impossible for a man severely wounded to move like that, IMHO.

Now explain Connally's turn to look behind him from frame say Z=230 to Z=324. He describes it perfectly in his description of WHEN he is shot.

Explain WHY Roy Kellerman's description of the last two shots exactly matches what the Dallas Police Recording analysis shows.

I'm not worried about bandwidth as I contribute often enough to pay for it. What I'm worried about is that we'll continue to be shown what is probably the biggest lie in history, and unfortunately, some will continue to believe it.

I have had coorespondence with Dale Meyers, the computer animator mentioned in the two shows I started out with. His animation is WRONG, but he would NOT meet with me to discuss it. I offered to go to Detroit at my expense to discuss it.

Once you show this scenario in a real animation such as Dale Meyers has, it will be obvious to the most casual observor. That's because it's the way it happened.

Regards

[Ichneumon]

Then EXPLAIN the photograph of Connally "falling" forward at Z=325, which is exactly the time the Dallas Police Recording showing the 5th and final shot fired that day.

ROFL! The "Dallas Police Recording", eh? The "5th shot", eh? Wow, you really *are* a fan of debunked conspiracy nonsense, aren't you?

Explain how Connally could move that far that fast in one frame. IF you do a calculation of velocity per frame, you'll find that moving about 1 inch in one frame is about what one Mile per hour. Connally's head moves several inches DOWN after moving forward from a ducking motion. IT would be impossible for a man severely wounded to move like that, IMHO.

Yes, yes, we all know you're a world-renowned expert on the dynamics of human bodies...

Now explain Connally's turn to look behind him from frame say Z=230 to Z=324.

Read my earlier post.

He describes it perfectly in his description of WHEN he is shot.

Not in the way you claim it, no, he doesn't.

Explain WHY Roy Kellerman's description of the last two shots exactly matches what the Dallas Police Recording analysis shows.

Because the "Dallas Police Recording analysis" was bogus. That recording was made from a motorcycle that wasn't even in Dealy Plaza, as it turns out, and the reconstructions of the "shots" made on it were merely based on *SILENCE* on the tape that someone hypothesized *might* have been periods when the microphone was overloaded by a loud noise. Ooooh, *I'M* convinced!

What I'm worried about is that we'll continue to be shown what is probably the biggest lie in history, and unfortunately, some will continue to believe it.

Me too, but the conspiracy kooks keep pushing it anyway.

I have had coorespondence with Dale Meyers, the computer animator mentioned in the two shows I started out with. His animation is WRONG, but he would NOT meet with me to discuss it. I offered to go to Detroit at my expense to discuss it.

I'm sure he has had more than enough TrueBeliever(tm) conspiracy folks show up to scream at him already, he doesn't need more.

[The KG9 Kid]

"... Then EXPLAIN the photograph of Connally "falling" forward at Z=325, which is exactly the time the Dallas Police Recording showing the 5th and final shot fired that day."

See how it works, Shooter2.5? A reasonable person can't even address the question without getting sidetracked about how many shots were fired. It's fallacy.

BILL_C, I presume that by 'Dallas Police Recording' you mean the Dictabelt recording of DPD channel 2 as recorded by Dallas Police Officer H.B. McLain's patrol motorcycle radio?

The National Academy of Sciences shows no compelling evidence for gunshots on the Dictabelt recording and that the House Select Committee on Assassinations suspect 'impulses' on the tape in question were recorded about a minute after the shooting happened. Officer H.B. McLain maintains that his police motorcycle was not present in Dealey Plaza at the time of the shooting. He was awaiting Kennedy's motorcade to arrive at the Dallas Trademart across town when the shooting took place.

The 'evidence' you rely on to make your point has been disproven for almost 30 years. Also, most conspiracy buffs are still claiming that there were four shots in Dealey Plaza on the day of the assassination and are having an impossible time in proving the extra shot. You're saying it's five shots all of a sudden.

Sir, I'm not looking at your "new" evidence when you're exhibiting so many disproven fallacies in open view.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Well, I guess Oswald's statement must carry more weight with you than all the forensic evidence and eyewitness testimony.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Well, after reading it, I was convinced he had unlocked "the secret" to the assassination. Until I read further, examined the facts in detail, and then realized Lifton is full of it. Since he completely ignores the wounds to Connally, which clearly show shots coming from the rear, and an entry wound from a bullet that had already struck JFK, it became clear that his lurid tale of switched coffins, runaway hearses, and frantic butchery of a corpse, is a wild tome from deep within his imagination.

[SoCal Pubbie]

So what? There were witnesses at Pearl Harbor that swore they saw swastikas on some of the planes.

[BILL_C]

"The 'evidence' you rely on to make your point has been disproven for almost 30 years. Also, most conspiracy buffs are still claiming that there were four shots in Dealey Plaza on the day of the assassination and are having an impossible time in proving the extra shot."

You seem to miss the main point of what I wrote. IF you discount the Dallas Police Recording and Dr. D. B. Thomas' Paper on "ECHO CORRELATION...." you still have several indications that John Connally was shot at Z=325.

First the Zapruder Video of Connally's head movement at that time. As I posted shortly ago, with 18.3 frames/second, if you work it out you'll see one inch movement from one frame to another is about one mile/hour. IF you look at the pictures I posted, you'll see Connally's head was moving several inches downward between frames. His head was moving forward horizontally before the shot, not downward.

Several people I've shown this to thought that Connally's motion was due to the car stopping and then speeding up. Look on a bigger frame of Jackie in the back sitting up, she shows no such movement like the men in front of the car (from ducking).

Now with the odds 100,000 to one against random noise producing impulses and reflections (echoes) that look like gunshots, then a reasonable person would assume that it's a possibility that they were gunshots (that's from D.B.Thomas' writings from the last few years).

In other words, some think the ECHO CORRELATION paper is wrong, but not everybody. When I see agreement like this, I pay attention to the message. AS I told Dr. Thomas in coorespondence we had last year, I don't think Ecoustical analysis will ever prove this to anyone and he agreed. BUT IF you put the things together, it tells a consistent story.

With several different sources indicating two closely spaced shots: the Zapruder film (Connally's movement), kellerman saying bang-bang for the last two shots, and the D.B. Thomas' analysis indicating the same spacing of 0.7 seconds, is it reasonable that Connally was shot in the back at that time?

The table I put in the writeup says YES, without a doubt. In fact, the Single Bullet Theory scores very poorly.

That's why the majority of Americans don't believe the "Official Explanations", and it's because they don't pass the smell test.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Thanks for posting that detailed explanation and the visual exhibits of the "magic bullet". Most conspiracy authors like to use photos from the side that shows the least damage.

[Tares]

Explain how Connally held his hat even after the back shot to Kennedy (Connally's wrist was supposedly broken then yet he held his hat for another 5 seconds).

Are you suggesting that Gov. Connally was shot in the wrist 5 seconds after Pres. Kennnedy was shot in the back?

How do you know how long Gov. Connally held his hat after the back shot to Kennedy?

[SoCal Pubbie]

Your post 183 shows there's bad news and good news for conspiracy theorists. The bad news is that advancing technology undermines their case. The good news is that human nature hasn't advanced as fast, and many people hold their views as articles of faith. Facts don't matter to them so much.

[The KG9 Kid]

"... Well, after reading (David Lifton's 'Best Evidence'), I was convinced he had unlocked "the secret" to the assassination. Until I read further, examined the facts in detail, and then realized Lifton is full of it."

I particularly like how for David Lifton's wild conspiracy to work that government authorities were responsible for altering President Kennedy's gunshot wounds from the coffin to cover up their dirty deed, he devotes exactly two little pages to 'kinda, maybe' how it might have happened in a book that's almost 1000 pages long.

Once I realized the critical premise of Lifton's conspiracy is hustled over in a few paragraphs, I placed the book back in my library shelf hoping that one day I would finally meet David Lifton at a book signing and make him give me my money back.

[SoCal Pubbie]

I'm glad that guys like you and The KG9 Kid, and others, who know a hell of a lot more about guns than I do, show up on these threads to respond to the lunacy.