How a Popular Misconception Gave Away a Lie by the FBI

[Drew Phipps]

Bob: Are you thinking that the shooter fired .25 caliber ammo thru his gun to kill JFK, or that the FBI has substituted .25 caliber bullets as stand-ins for their ballistics work?

Second question: Would a .25 caliber bullet fired from a 6.5 MM Carcano 91/38 "bounce around" inside the barrel, possibly acquiring the anomalous land/groove markings that we see on CE 399? I'm imagining that the bullet hits first "side A" on the barrel, then "side B", then back to "side A", only because the bullet isn't tightly gripped by the lands/grooves, the second time it hits "side A" it isn't quite in the same rotational state, so it acquires a second set of land/groove markings on that side...

BTW CE 141 (the unfired bullet from inside the rifle) does appear to be .264 not .268 (or .257) in diameter, based on the ruler in the picture.

[Bob Prudhomme]

Bob: Are you thinking that the shooter fired .25 caliber ammo thru his gun to kill JFK, or that the FBI has substituted .25 caliber bullets as stand-ins for their ballistics work?

Second question: Would a .25 caliber bullet fired from a 6.5 MM Carcano 91/38 "bounce around" inside the barrel, possibly acquiring the anomalous land/groove markings that we see on CE 399? I'm imagining that the bullet hits first "side A" on the barrel, then "side B", then back to "side A", only because the bullet isn't tightly gripped by the lands/grooves, the second time it hits "side A" it isn't quite in the same rotational state, so it acquires a second set of land/groove markings on that side...

BTW CE 141 (the unfired bullet from inside the rifle) does appear to be .264 not .268 (or .257) in diameter, based on the ruler in the picture.

No, I don't think a .25 calibre bullet was fired at JFK, at least not from an M91/38 anyways.

It is hard to say what would happen to a .25 calibre bullet fired from a 6.5mm Carcano rifle, especially if the barrel of that Carcano was worn extensively. As there would be next to no contact with the lands, the bullet may not spin at all, and may just exit straight out the end of the barrel; albeit at a much reduced velocity due to the propellant gases escaping past it.

[Bob Prudhomme]

Bump

[Bob Prudhomme]

Bob: Are you thinking that the shooter fired .25 caliber ammo thru his gun to kill JFK, or that the FBI has substituted .25 caliber bullets as stand-ins for their ballistics work?

Second question: Would a .25 caliber bullet fired from a 6.5 MM Carcano 91/38 "bounce around" inside the barrel, possibly acquiring the anomalous land/groove markings that we see on CE 399? I'm imagining that the bullet hits first "side A" on the barrel, then "side B", then back to "side A", only because the bullet isn't tightly gripped by the lands/grooves, the second time it hits "side A" it isn't quite in the same rotational state, so it acquires a second set of land/groove markings on that side...

BTW CE 141 (the unfired bullet from inside the rifle) does appear to be .264 not .268 (or .257) in diameter, based on the ruler in the picture.

No, I don't think a .25 calibre bullet was fired at JFK, at least not from an M91/38 anyways.

It is hard to say what would happen to a .25 calibre bullet fired from a 6.5mm Carcano rifle, especially if the barrel of that Carcano was worn extensively. As there would be next to no contact with the lands, the bullet may not spin at all, and may just exit straight out the end of the barrel; albeit at a much reduced velocity due to the propellant gases escaping past it.

There is a definite possibility Frazier never measured CE 573, the WC's Walker bullet, at all but, instead, assumed the 6.5mm Carcano and a .25 calibre rifle to have the same diameter bullet, and measured the lands and grooves impressions of a fired .25 calibre bullet to make their calculations. As Frazier already knew the bullet diameter, from a text, of the 6.5mm Carcano bullet at .267" (.2677" actually) he also likely felt it unnecessary to go to the trouble of actually doing the calculations, and just assumed his land and groove impression measurements would produce the figure of .267". Boy, was he wrong. His work is a classic demonstration of the definition of the word ASSUME. It makes an ASS out of U M E.

It must be remembered that everyone in the FBI was likely under a great deal of pressure from Hoover to produce damning evidence against Oswald as quickly as possible. There is testimony showing people in the FBI felt C2766 had a badly stressed firing pin that could break at any time. Would Frazier have been willing to take a chance of breaking the firing pin on C2766 with repeated shooting tests?