The Most Important Error the FBI told the Warren Commission about the Rifle

[Bob Prudhomme]

So is it safe to conclude from all the above analysis and charts that there simply isn't any ballistic curve that fits with all the numbers Frazier used or received in his experiments?

( muzzle velocity 2165, 15 yards= 4 inches high, 25 yards=4.5 inches high, 100 yards= 4 inches high)


If that is true, which assumptions could be changed in order to get the curve that Frazier describes: i.e. muzzle velocity? We know that if the FBI was using WCC bullets (.264 caliber) they might not have had the specified muzzle velocity for the weapon. Also the gunpowder would have been 10-20 years old at that point... Since Frazier apparently used textbooks instead of real measurements to acquire some of his numbers (like caliber and land/groove measurements), isn't it possible that he just picked a muzzle velocity out of a book instead of testing it himself?

Yes, that is a safe conclusion to draw. There is no way to make the claimed test results, at 15 and 100 yards, work with a ballistics calculator. Mr. Frazier is being untruthful in some part of his testimony.

Unfortunately, Mr. Frazier is so far off, I don't believe anything can be changed to get the curve Frazier describes. On any rifle, to be impacting a target at 15 yards 2.5 - 4 inches high requires the barrel to be extremely elevated. In every case, the bullet will be a minimum of 20 inches high at 100 yards. For the more streamlined bullets with higher ballistic coefficients (less drag) it is likely they will be even higher.

Frazier testified to the WC that the FBI acquired WCC 6.5mm ammunition, tested it and found the average muzzle velocity to be 2165 fps. Most textbooks place the muzzle velocity of the M91/38, shooting Italian military ammunition, at 2200 fps.