Originally Posted by
GrenadaRoger
the distance of the first shot was 85 yards, with a scope and a bolt action rifle providing lower recoil (as opposed to a semi-auto), an easy shot imho
per the Discovery Channel analysis
"One shot hit the president at the base of his neck. The bullet traveled through his neck and out through the base of his throat. Another shot hit the president in the back of his head. This was the fatal bullet. The assassin had fired three shots in just a few seconds -- estimates range from around four to eight seconds"
indeed, the third shot (second to hit Kennedy) was a coup de gras fatal one, but the first shot had hit Kennedy's spinal cord woudl have caused permanent paralysis and probably would have led to death also
page 82 of the Warren Commission Report
Description of Rifle
The bolt-action, clip-fed rifle found on the sixth floor of the Depository, described more fully in appendix X, is inscribed with various markings, including "MADE ITALY," "CAL. 6.5," "1940" and the number C2766.126 (See Commission Exhibit Nos. 1303, 541(2) and 541 (3), pp. 82-83.) These markings have been explained as follows: "MADE ITALY" refers to its origin; "CAL. 6.5" refers to the rifle's caliber; "1940" refers to the year of manufacture; and the number C2766 is the serial number. This rifle is the only one of its type bearing that serial number.127 After review of standard reference works and the markings on the rifle, it was identified by the FBI as a 6.5-millimeter model 91/38 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle.128 Experts from the FBI made an independent determination of the caliber by inserting a Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5-millimeter cartridge into the weapon for fit, and by making a sulfur cast of the inside of the weapon's barrel and measuring the cast with a micrometer.129 From outward appearance, the weapon would appear to be a 7.35-millimeter rifle, but its mechanism had been rebarreled with a 6.5-millimeter barrel.130 Constable Deputy Sheriff Weitzman, who only saw the rifle at a glance and did not handle it, thought the weapon looked like a 7.65 Mauser bolt-action rifle.131 (See chapter V, p. 235.)Thus, the Commission addressed the 7.65 Mauser v 6.5 Carcano matter....
Also, within 24 hours of finding the rifle on the 6th floor, the FBI had traced it to its manufacturer/assembler in Brooklyn, it's mail order sale by Klein Sporting Goods of Chicago to A. Hidel of Texas (A Hidel, alias of Oswald)
