LEE HARVEY OSWALD'S RIFLE

JFK Revisited, yet again.

For a time, I too thought a magical bullet was involved until I saw an accurate, objective reconstruction of the shooting to include the proper positioning of JFK and Gov. Connolly in the vehicle. No magic involved.

If shot's came from the grassy knoll, why wasn't Jackie struck?

As for JFK snapping back, consider this: have you ever noticed the muscular effort involved when seated in the rear seat of an automobile, to hand something to the driver, such as paying your cab fare? Rear car seats are sloped rearward. Second, JFK had a really bad back and he was trussed up for support. The instant the fatal bullet arrived, his muscles went slack and he had no where to go but rearward.
 
Arik said:
So why is the Carcano considered a sub par rifle?
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That's largely a matter of personal opinion. The 6.5 Carcano was good enough for the Italian military to use as its service rifle for quite a long time, and it apparently served their purposes. Regarding the caliber, the 6.5mm is not too shabby in its performance. The armies of Japan and the Scandinavian countries, and maybe a few others such as Portugal, were also using 6.5 caliber rifles and cartridges of equivalent power during the same time period. There are certainly "better" rifles and cartridges, but the evidence is that the Carcano was effective and adequate in Oswald's hands.
 
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DWalt said:
That's largely a matter of personal opinion. The 6.5 Carcano was good enough for the Italian military to use as its service rifle for quite a long time, and it apparently served their purposes. Regarding the caliber, the 6.5mm is not too shabby in its performance. The armies of Japan and the Scandinavian countries, and maybe a few others such as Portugal, were also using 6.5 caliber rifles and cartridges of equivalent power during the same time period. There are certainly "better" rifles and cartridges, but the evidence is that the Carcano was effective and adequate in Oswald's hands.
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I was just curious. I only ever had one once. Never fired one but I have heard that it's crappy from many random people. Never bothered to look it up bit this topic just reminded me

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It's entirely possible.......

It's feasible that O fired the only gun. I don't think there had to be people on overpasses and grassy knolls and people could be imagining or misinterpreting the activity around these areas. What gets weird is about everything else that happened before and after.

Now the rifle. Carcano's typically and almost universally have stiff actions. But it's been shown that the shot wasn't that tough and a little extra grease might have helped smooth it out long enough to make three shots that quickly.
 
Hi Forum;

The controversy over JFK assassination not withstanding, I also had the occasion to shoot one of those carbines in 1962 as a teenager at our local Rod & Gun in southern tier New York, and I can tell you from that one time experience that I still have a deep scar over my right eye. Note the adds........equipped with a "good quality" 4X scope. Quality my foot! The scope was small tube 3/4", made for a .22 is my guess nowadays, me too dumb at the time to even think about eye relief, so I paid the price (and 8 stitches). Sure got me thinking along the right lines for the future. Never shot that rifle again, never wanted to, and fell in with the same crowd that said it was a piece of ****, but now wisdom of the ages tells me it was a) crappy scope and mounting, and b) dumb me, and not the rifle. But anyway.........check out those Garand prices....gets me drooling like I have a phobia or something
 
Arik said:
I was just curious. I only ever had one once. Never fired one but I have heard that it's crappy from many random people. Never bothered to look it up bit this topic just reminded me

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
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They are just a clunky, cheaply made rifle. I have one, and also a 6.5 Arisaka. The Arisaka is a far superior arm to the Carcano.
Even a Mosin Nagant seems to be of better quality.
 
Many of the Carcano's were made by Beretta and they are hardly junk. The biggest valid complaint about them is a single locking lug. I've owned and shot several over the years and they were certainly adequate as military arms in the time period when they were used.
Jim
 
Warren Sear said:
I have been to Dealey Plaza in Dallas, and in my opinion, that would have been an easy shot.
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The only thing I ever thought would make it difficult was the enormity of the moment. Kind of like a Super Bowl-winning (or losing, sorry Bills fans!) field goal. Then I remember the immortal words of English Bob...



English Bob: [discussing the assassination of President Garfield] Well there's a dignity royalty. A majesty that precludes the likelihood of assassination. If you were to point a pistol at a king or a queen your hands would shakes as though palsied.

Barber: Oh I wouldn't point no pistol at nobody sir.

English Bob: Well that's a wise policy, a wise policy. But if you did. I can assure you, if you did, that the sight of royalty would cause you to dismiss all thoughts of bloodshed and you would stand... how shall I put it? In awe. Now, a president... well I mean...

(chuckles)
English Bob: why not shoot a president.
 
Arik said:
You mean like fit and finish?

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I mean the clunky, hard to work action, the nutcracker trigger, bb gun sights, the single locking lug, etc. I see nothing impressive about it.

I don't expect to see a nice finish on a military rifle, but this thing just seems unsafe to me.
 
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Interesting history of the Carcano. Carcano - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In reading this one finds the Italian ammo was not consistently loaded causing group variations, this happen in the same lot.

With consistent ammunition it performs similarly to the 6.5 Mannlicher-Schoenour cartridge which is excellent per some writers and close to the 6.5 Swede which is awesome from my personal use.

Ammo link. 6.5x52mm Carcano - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Being from Dallas, I read up on everything I found when I came back from patrol and tunnel cleaning.
Yes you can tell where I was doing our Govt's business.
The Rifle in the hands of a trained Marine is a killing machine, period.
This is what Oswald was, a trained killing machine.
If he was not killed 3 days later by Jack Ruby, who knows what he could of caused later, even incarcerated.
 
I will agree that "maybe" LHO might have been able to make those three shots, but I find it extremely difficult to calculate how he was fast enough to make them that quickly from 3 different locations, within the allotted time. Even "Roadrunner" would be hard pressed to accomplish that feet.
 
HOUSTON RICK said:
Having sat in Oswald's sniper nest (before it was roped off in the museum) and looking out where JFK was hit, it was no "miracle shot". I suspect that the majority of the people on this forum could have accomplished it with any decent rifle if they had a mind to.
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I had previously bought that same rifle, without the scope,
for my wife a deer rifle. I know it is fast and accurate enough
to do what Oswald did. There didn't have to be more than
one shooter.
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Whatever you do, DO NOT GET INTO AN ARGUMENT with a conspiracy theorist!!!! They will never, never, not ever admit that JFK was killed by a 20 dollar rifle fired by a lone assassin from a 6th floor window.

I've been there, too - I agree, the majority of people on this Forum, if they shoot rifles, could have done it easily.

It's not worth arguing with people who refuse to believe it. Firearms experts included.
 
For those who may not be aware of it, the Russian Federov Avtomat rifle from the WWI period is considered by most experts to have been the very first weapon worthy of the name "Assault Rifle". It was chambered in the 6.5mm Japanese (6.5x50) cartridge, similar to the Italian 6.5 Carcano (6.5x52). If the Carcano rifle had any weaknesses, it was not the caliber.
 
DWalt said:
For those who may not be aware of it, the Russian Federov Avtomat rifle from the WWI period is considered by most experts to have been the very first weapon worthy of the name "Assault Rifle". It was chambered in the 6.5mm Japanese (6.5x50) cartridge, similar to the Italian 6.5 Carcano (6.5x52). If the Carcano rifle had any weaknesses, it was not the caliber.
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I agree, with the caveat that it isn't the easiest nor least inexpensive round to find.
 
My only question is... 108 rounds...?? What's up with that?

People always ask me, "Where were you when Kennedy was shot"? I don't know... but I didn't do it!
 
"In reading this one finds the Italian ammo was not consistently loaded causing group variations, this happen in the same lot."

Another interesting tidbit - it was never determined where LHO got the 6.5 ammo. It didn't come with the rifle, and it was American made (by Western) as part of a CIA order from the late 1940s. It was not Italian. I have a very long story about that, but I won't go into it, as it doesn't end by saying where Oswald got it.
 
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