How a Popular Misconception Gave Away a Lie by the FBI

[Drew Phipps]

Don't know if this is good news or bad, but this isn't the first time that this particular feat of trickery has been spotted. A gentleman with the unlikely name of Walt Cakebread, a former Navy man and gun enthusiast, looked at a published photo of the "magic bullet" (unknown if it was labeled CE 399 or not) in 1964 and concluded that there were 6 set of lands and grooves on the bullet, and determined that the spin rate was 1 / 7.37 inches. Knowing that wasn't right for a M-C 91/38, he shopped his observations around but wasn't taken seriously. 10 years later, the HSCA comes along and publishes a different pictures of the bullet (almost certainly by now labeled CE 399), and it shows a different pattern of lands and grooves! When Cakebread realizes that this meant that either the WC evidence was a forgery, or the HSCA evidence was, he again tried to interest researchers in it. He had no luck until he ran into author Jack White. Jack White examines all of the bullet photos and concludes that CE 399 has 5 sets of lands and grooves, and published a short article about it.

You can read all about Walt Cakebread and Jack White in the Harold Weisberg Archives (online). It appears that Harold used the article as "evidence" in support of one of his many FOIA lawsuits.