Post #17 of this thread includes a compilation video provided by Dan. I was remembering seeing what Dan describes below and I must have mistaken that for Day taking the rifle back from him. My bad…
Day turns to Fritz who grabs the strap. Fritz then produces a handkerchief and appears to grab the bolt handle (or around that area) and Day immediately pulls the rifle away from him. After this Day and Fritz examine the rifle together.
However, the end of Dan’s compilation shows Day dusting the rifle for prints. I assume that happened after Day and Fritz examined the rifle together. Therefore Fritz must have handed the rifle back to Day at some point.
Yes, you're right....Fritz had to have let Day take possession of the rifle because Alyea filmed Day dusting the rifle with finger print powder behind the brightly lit west window. I'm not sure that Day ever relinquished total possession to Fritz... There may be some law that would have been broken if Day had taken his hand off the rifle...
Now let's Look at the practical aspect of this..... If Lee Oswald had been the shooter, what would his actions have been after he had fired three shots? In my opinion he would definitely ( by reflex action) have loaded that fourth round, and it would have been in the chamber with the bolt closed and latched. And therefore the rifle would not have been found with the bolt unlatched and about 1/4 inch short of being closed and latched. It just doesn't make sense for an assassin to stop loading his rifle in mid stroke.
I firmly believe that the rifle was simply a throw down gun and it was never fired that day....