Inexplicable Wounds made by Special Bullets

[Bob Prudhomme]

Italian military ammo for the 6.5mm Carcano was mainly manufactured by the company Societa Matallurgica Italiana, and the letters "SMI" can be seen on the headstamps of vintage Carcano ammo. For decades now, gun experts have warned against using military surplus SMI Carcano ammo as it has a reputation for being very unreliable.

This unreliability shows up in several forms:

1. Hangfires - a situation where the shooter pulls the trigger and the firing of the rifle is delayed for up to several seconds.
2. Misfires - a situation where the shooter pulls the trigger and nothing at all happens. Rangemasters just LOVE these.
3. Short shots - a situation where the shooter pulls the trigger, the rifle fires but the bullet lands far short of its target due to a severe drop in muzzle velocity.

The main cause of the problems with the SMI cartridges was in the primers used in these cartridges. For those not in the know, the primer is the little detonator seated in the base of a rifle cartridge. The bolt's firing pin strikes it, setting it off and the primer then ignites the gunpowder inside the cartridge.

A composition of chlorate and mercury fulminate was used in the manufacture of these primers, and this compound proved to be highly corrosive. This problem was made worse by the "triangular" neck crimp used to seat bullets into the cartridge casings. Unlike the full crimp into a cannelure, often seen on military ammo, this triangular crimp did not provide a very good seal, and poorly stored SMI ammo often had deteriorated gunpowder.

Further compounding the Italian's problem with SMI ammo was the fact that most of their 6.5mm ammo was made in the 1920's to satisfy the needs of their African campaigns. However, Italy had no intention of using the 6.5mm calibre round in WWII, and introduced the 7.35x51mm cartridge for the all new M38 short rifle design in 1938, with the intention of completely abandoning the 6.5mm round. The reasons for this change are another story altogether but, suffice it to say the 7.35mm bullet had "secret" features (slavishly copied from the .303 British Mk. VII bullet) that would once and for all put to rest the moniker of "Humanitarian Rifle".

Adolf Hitler changed all this by jumping the gun and going to war years before the date he had promised Mussolini. Italy wavered reluctantly for months but finally, in June 1940, gave in to Hitler and declared war on the Allies. This left Italy unprepared for war and, partly due to ammo supply problems, the 7.35mm rifle program was halted in 1939, and the 6.5mm round was re-introduced, as there were still large inventories of 6.5mm cartridges. The problem was, though, that a great deal of this ammo was almost 20 years old by this time. In well manufactured ammo, this might not have been a real problem but, given the primer and crimp problems of the SMI cartridges, long storage only made the problems worse.

Next: How the reputation got worse after World War Two

[Bob Prudhomme]

It would seem that, following the cessation of hostilities at the end of WWII, there would be no way the reputation of the 6.5mm Carcano rifles as being inaccurate could get any worse but, this was not to be the case. Many Carcanos were brought home by Allied soldiers and these included, of course, the sawed off M91/24 TS carbines with the best part of their progressive twist rifling missing. A lot of the SMI 6.5mm ammo of the corrosive primer and poor crimp fame found its way back with Allied soldiers as well.

To make matters worse, thousands of Carcanos began finding their way into North American and European sporting rifle markets. Not only were more of the M91/24 TS carbines now in the hands of hunters, another phenomenon began to occur. Remember the original M91 long rifle with the 31 inch barrel? When surplus dealers began selling these on the open market, it was felt the long barrel looked out of place on a hunting rifle, and these long barrels were cut short in an attempt to sporterize the M91. Here is a picture of the most famous of these:



While debate has raged for years over whether LHO received a short rifle or a carbine, the photo in the ad is of neither, unless the forward end of the stock and barrel has been modified in the photo. This modification might have occurred when the ad was being prepared, and would have not been connected to the assassination.

The rifle in the ad is what is known as a "Suprema"; an M91 cut down in length to make a sporting rifle out of it. The giveaway is the large rear sight. The only carbine close to it is the M91/24 TS seen below. Also being a cut down M91, it shares the large M91 rear sight.



Note the obvious difference in the forward end of the stock and barrel, and that the butt of the Suprema stock is longer.

The shortening of so many M91 barrels for the surplus market put even more rifles in the hands of hunters that were woefully inadequate of being able to give enough spin to their bullets to make them accurate. Add to this the imported SMI bullets with their bad primers and seals, and we can see the Carcano reputation deteriorating rapidly.

Just when it seemed things couldn't get any worse, several other things began to take place. Onto the surplus market came four million rounds of 6.5mm Carcano cartridges manufactured by the Western Cartridge Co. of USA that were made in 1954, 1949 or pre-1944, depending on which particular fairy tale you happen to subscribe to. While the cartridges themselves were well made, there was a slight problem with the size of the bullets. Remember, several posts back, I told you that the standard diameter for all 6.5mm calibre rifle bullets was a bullet .264" in diameter, with the exception being the 6.5mm Carcano, which required a bullet .268" in diameter? Well, guess what diameter the Western Cartridge Co. bullets were? Yup, they have been measured with micrometers, and the diameter turns out to be .264", .004" too small for the Carcano. This difference in diameter is enough to drastically effect the accuracy of a Carcano rifle.

Next: Hunting ammo for the Carcano, or 60 years of the wrong bullets.

[Bob Prudhomme]

While there were adequate supplies of imported surplus SMI 6.5mm Carcano ammo and 6.5mm Carcano WCC ammo available to shooters, these bullets were all full metal jacket bullets and unsuitable (plus illegal) for hunting. Some hunters solved this problem by carefully filing off the tip of the copper alloy jacket, exposing the lead core and making it a soft tipped bullet, but this method was a crude way of making a soft tipped bullet. Some gunsmiths, such as John Masen of Dallas, Texas, would pull the Carcano FMJ bullets for customers and re-seat hunting bullets into the cartridges. As the only hunting bullets available for this would be the .264" diameter variety, once again accuracy was lost.

It soon became apparent there was a market for 6.5mm Carcano soft-tipped hunting cartridges, and several ammo makers began making cartridges for the Carcano. Every single one of them used bullets that were .264" in diameter instead of the required .268" diameter and, in fact, a company by the name of Prvi Partizan used a bullet only .2635" in diameter. Either the manufacturers didn't know or they didn't care that they were a great part of the reason Carcanos were not shooting accurately. Needless to say, this put the finishing touches on the inaccurate Carcano rifle reputation.

Lastly, the abnormally long and heavy (for the calibre) Carcano bullet was not exactly what would be called a "flat shooting" cartridge, especially not at the lower velocities the bullets travelled at. Cartridge makers such as Prvi Partizan began loading a shorter, lighter bullet (139 grains instead of the old 162 grains) into Carcano cartridges, and changed the nose to a spitzer point instead of the standard round nose. Likely, another reason was economics, as these shorter bullets were probably made originally for a more common 6.5mm calibre rifle. See photo below, comparing a standard FMJ 6.5mm Carcano cartridge loaded with a 162 grain bullet to the Prvi Partizan 6.5mm Carcano cartridge loaded with a soft tipped spitzer point 139 grain bullet:



The difference in overall cartridge length is quite obvious. This had the effect of lengthening the distance from the bullet to where the barrel riflings began (freebore) far more than the Carcano designers originally intended.


It was not until 2004 that a cartridge manufacturer by the name of Hornady recognized the problem and began making .268" diameter bullets specifically for Carcano rifles. Multitudes of "junk" Carcano rifles instantly began shooting more accurately.

Edit: My apologies. The Prvi Partizan cartridge shown above is loaded with a FMJ bullet. It seems, according to the box, that the FMJ bullets were even shorter and lighter, weighing only 123 grains. Here is a photo of the 139 grain soft tipped bullet:

[Bob Prudhomme]

That pretty much sums up the sad, and sometimes undeserved, tale of the "inaccurate" Carcano rifles. As we have seen, it was often modifications made to the original long rifle design that created the problems, especially in the case of the carbines.


While the M91/38 short rifles (Oswald's alleged rifle) were assumedly made with new barrels with a 1:8.47 standard twist in these barrels, once again we have a short rifle that is still a shortened version of the original rifle. The M91 long rifle may have been accurate but, with its heavy bullet, it had a relatively mediocre muzzle velocity and was NOT a flat shooting rifle. By shooting the 6.5mm bullet through the 21 inch barrel of the M91/38, instead of the 31 inch barrel of the M91, the muzzle velocity drops by 2-300 fps, making the M91/38 short rifle even less of a flat shooting rifle than the long rifle.


Couple this factor with the undersized Western Cartridge Co. bullets supposedly fired by Oswald, and I don't think Oswald could have made those shots.


I believe we have covered the Carcano accuracy problems quite thoroughly, and should proceed with the main point of this thread. If I have missed anything, feel free to add it to the list.

[Drew Phipps]

Were the shorter Prvi bullets any more accurate? Shorter bullets need less spin to stabilize.

[Tracy Riddle]

As I said earlier, the ballistic and forensic evidence in this case isn't reliable enough to be able to draw any definite conclusions about the type of weapons used. It took me many years to realize that.

[Bob Prudhomme]

Hi Drew

Here is a link to an article discussing the Prvi Partizan cartridges loaded with the shorter, .2635" diameter bullets with a semi-spitzer (spire) point.

http://kegisland.com/carcano-ammo-warnin...tizan.html

As the author states, some Carcano rifles may shoot acceptably with this under sized ammo, others may not. His is the most extreme case of inaccuracy I have ever read about, and most of these extreme cases seem to involve shorter bullets that make for an extreme amount of freebore in the Carcano chamber.

While the official groove diameter of the 6.5mm Carcano rifles is supposed to be .2677" (rounded off to .268"), I have seen it reported, by Carcano owners and gunsmiths, that a careful measurement of a large number of Carcano barrels has turned up groove diameters as extreme as .271" and one at .272". While some of this can be attributed to barrel wear and corrosion, often times it would appear that these larger diameters are found in the more crudely made war time production models.

Were the shorter Prvi Partizan bullets any more accurate? In most cases, accuracy suffered with this ammo, often dramatically. It is difficult to say whether the small diameter or the shorter bullet with the semi-spitzer point made the greatest contribution to inaccuracy.

As I have said before several times, it would be great if we could get our hands on C2766 for a day or so. It was one of the more crudely made wartime production models, plus it had a fair amount of barrel wear or corrosion. It would be interesting to measure the groove and bore diameter of this rifle, as the WCC ammo LHO allegedly used had bullets a mere .264" in diameter.

[Bob Prudhomme]

As I said earlier, the ballistic and forensic evidence in this case isn't reliable enough to be able to draw any definite conclusions about the type of weapons used. It took me many years to realize that.

Hi Tracy

What evidence in this case is reliable enough to be able to draw any definite conclusions?

While definite conclusions may not be possible we can, however, rule out the impossible. For example, look at the SBT. No matter how hard Dale Myers tries, he cannot get around the basic medical fact that you cannot get a bullet through JFK's neck, from Point A to Point B, without encountering a couple of large vertebrae along the way. The necessary minimum lateral angle, measured from the centre line of the limo, of 23° does not jive with the SN being only 9° laterally removed from the centre line of the limo, and the extreme angle of 23° would necessitate Connally being on the opposite side of the limo, in order to be hit in the right armpit by the SBT bullet.

As you say, though, without reliable ballistic and forensic evidence, we cannot draw any definite conclusions about the SBT, and Dale Myers is allowed to go on thrilling the sheeple with his cartoon; impossible as it is.

I am looking at the evidence we do have, forensic, medical and ballistic, and attempting to find similarities and patterns that will point to a particular type of bullet, cartridge and rifle. JFK's and Connally's wounds are very strange, if we accept even a portion of what we are told about them as true, and their very nature rules out most common types of bullets. However, I will never be able to give you a definite answer on what exactly caused them.

[Tracy Riddle]

As I said earlier, the ballistic and forensic evidence in this case isn't reliable enough to be able to draw any definite conclusions about the type of weapons used. It took me many years to realize that.

As you say, though, without reliable ballistic and forensic evidence, we cannot draw any definite conclusions about the SBT, and Dale Myers is allowed to go on thrilling the sheeple with his cartoon; impossible as it is.

No, I did not say we can't draw any conclusions about the SBT. The SBT is crap for many reasons. CE399 was obviously fired into a water tank, probably by the FBI. It wasn't the bullet found at Parkland.

It's pretty well established that a huge number of witnesses heard a popping noise, then a pause, then two loud bangs very close together. From that, we can establish: a) at least two types of weapons were used, b) the two loud bangs could not be produced by one bolt-action Carcano, c) any additional shots were probably fired by weapons using silencers.

A lot of what we can figure out about this case is essentially "negative truth" or "negative knowledge" - we can tell what didn't happen. From that, hopefully we can eliminate enough possibilities to figure out what DID happen, but that's not always possible.

[Drew Phipps]

Tracy: There is a possibility that the MC rifle could be excluded as the assassination weapon, or if specialty ammo for an MC rifle is required to cause the wounds, then Oswald as a lone nut with no money could be excluded as a shooter. Specialty ammo is easier to track. Last I heard, Masen (sole provider of speciality ammo for the MC in the Dallas area in the 1960's) is still alive, and possibly subject to prosecution.

PS: the early evidence and law enforcement conclusions in the case was that the first two shots were too close together to be fired by 1 shooter with a bolt action rifle (as per Epstein in Inquest).