The Side Mounted Scope on the 6.5 mm Carcano

[Bob Prudhomme]

From Wikipedia:


"FBI tests[edit]
The FBI tests of the Carcano's accuracy showed:
1) FBI firearms expert Robert A. Frazier testified that "It is a very accurate weapon. The targets we fired show that."[SUP][61][/SUP] From 15 yards (14 m), all three bullets in a test firing landed approximately 2½ inches high, and 1-inch (25 mm) to the right, in the area about the size of a dime.[SUP][62][/SUP] At 100 yards (91 m), the test shots landed 2½ to 5 inches (130 mm) high, within a 3 to 5-inch (130 mm) circle. Frazier testified that the scope's high variation would actually work in the shooter's favor: with a target moving away from the shooter, no lead correction would have been necessary to follow the target. "At that range, at that distance, 175 feet (53 m) to 265 feet (81 m),[SUP][63][/SUP] with this rifle and that telescopic sight, I would not have allowed any lead I would not have made any correction for lead merely to hit a target of that size."

I find much of Frazier's testimony about ballistics, rifles and bullets almost childishly easy to refute. The above excerpt from his testimony is a classic example of this, and while the omissions by the LN contributor to this Wikipedia article do a fairly good job of covering up Frazier's mistakes (or outright lies) it is still possible to get to the truth.

The first problem with Frazier's testimony is his claim that the bullets landed on the target, at 100 yards, "within a three to five inch circle". I'm not quite sure what Frazier means by this, as a circle 3"x5" would be called an oval in most classrooms I ever attended. In target shooting, the normal way of scoring a group of bullets is to determine what size of circle it takes to contain ALL of the bullet holes in the group. In this case, that would be called a 5" group; not nearly as accurate sounding as a 3"x5" group.

One distinct possibility for the type of grouping described by Frazier is something I discussed in the last post on the previous page. While the shots at 100 yards all landed 2 1/2"-5" high, they seem to be spread laterally in a 5" wide range. Is this further evidence of the shots "walking away" to the right on the target with each progressive shot, due to a warped wooden forestock pressing against the forward end of the barrel? I should point out that an improperly cleaned, unoiled and stored weapon exposed to this much moisture, likely in the humid climate of New Orleans, will often have other problems beside a warped stock. The firing pin on this rifle was reported as being rusty, and there was some concern it would break during test firing. It was also reported that it took a good deal of working the bolt back and forth to take the stiffness out of the action of this rifle. I'm willing to bet a fair amount of penetrating oil and gun oil was applied as well, though, of course, Frazier neglects to mention this.

If I had a rifle that shot 5" groups at 100 yards I would call it anything but accurate, and I would take it to a gunsmith to see what was wrong with it. Bench rest shooting with factory ammunition in a well maintained rifle should be able to produce groups of 1" diameter at 100 yards with no difficulty.

Next, we have the real gem of Frazier's collection of stories. Let's examine closely what he tells us.

His first group of shots is at 15 yards (14 m.). These shots all land about 2.5" high and about an inch to the right. It is interesting that Frazier chose to shoot at 15 yards. If we look at this diagram again:



We can see that the line of sight from the scope and the trajectory of the bullet cross each other at a distance, usually, of 10-15 yards from the muzzle of the rifle. This means that this rifle, sighted in to be accurate and hit a bullseye at, say, 100 yards, will also be accurate at 15 yards and, if hitting bullseyes at 100 yards, will hit bullseyes at 15 yards. However, Frazier reports the rifle was hitting 2.5" high of the bullseye at 15 yards.

Frazier then tells us that, at 100 yards, the bullets landed 2.5"-5" high. If we assume the first shot landed 2.5" high and the ensuing shots were "climbing", due to the previously discussed warped stock, it is possible that Frazier was telling us this rifle was shooting 2.5" high at 100 yards.

Now, this is going to get complicated, and it would be wise to look closely at this diagram again:



As you can see, there are three basic terms:
Line of Sight - what the shooter sees looking through the scope at the target.
Line of Departure - the straight path a bullet would take if unaffected by gravity.
Trajectory of Bullet - the parabolic curved path the bullet actually takes as gravity pulls it down to the earth.

As the line of sight and trajectory of bullet cross at 15 yards, the impact point at 15 yards can be brought to the bullseye by adjusting the line of sight from the scope downward by 2.5".

Therefore, if the line of sight is 2.5" high at 15 yards (540 inches) we can, using algebra, determine what the line of sight is at 100 yards (3600 inches).

2.5 is to 540 what "x" is to 3600 or 3600 x 2.5 over 540 = 16.67.

I'm not sure if all of you can appreciate the immensity of what I have just shown you but, suffice it to say that Frazier has told the WC a most outrageous lie by saying the rifle, aimed at a bullseye at 100 yards, placed bullets on the target 2.5-5" high when the line of sight was set up to see 16.67" inches high at 100 yards! Granted, there is such a thing as bullet drop but, it must be remembered that the mid-range trajectory (50 yards) of a 6.5mm Carcano sighted in at 100 yards is only a bit over 2" higher than the line of sight. And, with this rifle elevated this high, it is anyone's guess where the rifle would hit a bullseye but I would hazard a guess at 300-400 yards. This means, of course, that, at 100 yards, the bullet would be on the rising curve of the parabola and would be 16.67" high, not 2.5-5" high.

In as simple terms as I can describe it, when Frazier was looking through the scope at the bullseye on a 100 yard target, the scope elevation was adjusted to cause his bullets to hit 16.67" inches higher than the bullseye at 100 yards. This rifle did not even come close to hitting JFK.