Where did the Carcano clip come from and who put it back in the rifle

[Alan Denholm]

When the Carcano rifle was found and displayed in the TSBD after it was found the bullet clip is clearly missing.
The Carcano is unique in that the clip is ejected after the last bullet is chambered, so that's what you would expect,



However there is no sign of the clip in the "alleged snipers nest" , three hulls yes
but no clip

Yet when the rifle is being removed from the TSBD the clip is in the rifle.


(This picture is copied from a 1964 book Destiny in Dallas so its pretty authentic.)

So who put the clip back in the rifle , and if there were no bullets available how did they manage that
, who found the clip , who put the clip back in the rifle and why would you put the clip back in the rifle
they never put the hulls back in the clip, you would surely bag the clip as a seperate exhibit.

Any body any ideas as too, the when , the whom and the where of the old clip switcheroo.

(Hope these photos are big enough to be seen)

[Albert Doyle]

Discussion of the clip, for what it's worth:



http://www.assassinationresearch.com/v1n2/gtds.html

[Drew Phipps]

Hmm. When the rifle was found there was one unfired bullet in the clip. That means the clip would normally stay attached to the rest of the rifle. Either Fritz or Day (I forget) removed the unfired bullet while still inside the TSBD. Presumably at that point, the clip fell out.

Normal evidentiary process would be to "bag" everything separately, that was found separately. However, the condition of the rifle had changed since its location, so there's no telling how it was "bagged". I would assume Day, who walked out with the rifle, would have also walked out with the clip.

Can you also put a circle around the part of the 1963 photo that shows the clip?

I thought when I read the title to this thread you were going to talk about how Oswald allegedly acquired the clip in the first place, since neither clip not ammo came with his mail order purchase.

[Albert Doyle]

My source says the last bullet was found chambered.

[Drew Phipps]

The description I remember reading was that the clip stayed in the gun till the unfired bullet was removed.

[David Josephs]

Found this great diagram years ago... thanks to Richard as it easily shows how the rifle works.

When the last round was chambered yet not fired the clip is supposed to stay.
When Fritz/Day unchambers the last round the clip SHOULD fall out.






The clip is only mentioned in a note written by Day later on. If the clip fell out when the barrel was opened... there is nomention of it and no photos of the clip within the TSBD or anywhere else for that matter except for the assumption that the rifle in Day's hands has a clip protruding from the magazine..



Mr. LATONA. I w[B]as not successful in developing any prints at all on the weapon. [/B]I also had one of the firearms examiners dismantle the weapon and I processed the complete weapon, all parts, everything else. And no latent prints of value were developed.
Mr. EISENBERG. Does that include the clip?
Mr. LATONA. That included the clip, that included the bolt, it included the underside of the barrel which is covered by the stock.












To date there is no evidence to show how or where the clip came from... as I understand it "SMI" is the manufacturer. In the alphabetic notebooks of the evidence (Dallas box 6 folder 2 file 2) there is no listing of a CLIP or any CLIP mentioned with the "Rifle" entry... BUT, there is a clip that was taken with Wesley's rifle

http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/18/1825-055.gif

does anyone have a photo of this rifle entered as evidence? or the clip more importantly?

I'd think this could this be where the clip comes from yet the Day letter he says his secretary typed was supposedly from the afternoon of the 22nd... so that may not be even a good guess... if we can believe Day and the provenance of this note. It did not appear in the rifle when found yet since the bolt may not have been worked before the TSBD Day rifle images were taken, the clip would be up in the magazine...

Not a soul tells of the clip popping out and hitting the floor when ejecting the last round...

[Tom Scully]

I do not think the Carcano clip is pictured in the photo two posts above in front of the TSBD.

More likely the Carcano is photographed against the background of a folded cloth in a detective's
jacket pocket, a cloth expected for a detective to have close by after coming directly from a
major crime scence. Much easier to grab to use to handle a piece of suspected evidence than reaching for a handkerchief in a breast pocket.

Here are various Carcano stripper clip photos. The evidence photos misrepresent the actual
open sided design and appearance of the clip.

And here:
http://www.homegunsmith.com/archive/T28244.html

[Ray Mitcham]

If the magazine clip is loaded from the top, shouldn't one of the shells have the perfect thumb or fingerprint of the person who loaded the clip?

[Bart Kamp]

Skaggs (from Robin Unger's site), I used the levels to get some more detail in it as this is practically in silhouette.

The two below are from Jack White's archive

[Bart Kamp]

From CNN The 60's The JFK Assassination. My screen grabs
The top shot I reckon is Alyea, amazing angle, nothing pre-planned of course......