“The cartridges recovered with Lee Harvy Oswald's rifle were part of a batch made in 1949 by the Western Cartridge Company in East Alton Il. They were made for the government of Greece as part of US military aid during the Greek civil war. They were commonly available on the surplus market during the early 1960's. They were packed in typical American 20 round boxes of white cardboard."
https://personal.stevens.edu/~gliberat/carcano/ammo/history.html (Stevens Institute of Technology, “Carcano Ammunition - History & Headstamps”).
Is that correct, or were they part of a 4,000,000-round lot made for the Marines (possibly as a front for the CIA!) in 1954, as other sources suggest?
Anyway, just some random thoughts based on my experience with guns and reloading in the early 1970s:
1. Reloaded ammunition was far cheaper than factory fresh. It was often sold by gun stores in plastic bags or other non-standard packaging. On the other hand, military surplus ammo wasn't nearly as expensive either.
2. Even if you bought factory or military ammo, the empty shells could be sold or traded to gun shops and reloaders.
3. Dented shells that could not be reloaded were often used (including by me) for dry firing.
4. Reloaded ammunition definitely produced more duds than factory ammo. Lack of velocity and tumbling were not uncommon. Meticulous as I try to be, I abandoned reloading for this reason. I always considered military surplus a bit iffy as well, although I have limited experience.
I sometimes wonder if these considerations might have something to do with the dented shell, the lack of other ammunition found among Oswald’s possessions and/or the witnesses who said the first shot sounded different. I also recall reading that Oswald carried a little white box from the department store in Ft. Worth where Marguerite had once worked that “just happened” to hold exactly four Carcano shells.
I’m still liking the
Phantom Shot theory - one dry firing shell with dented lip when the rifle was retrieved from Ruth's garage, two shots fired, fourth unfired bullet in clip. However, I claim no expertise in this area. I find it interesting only in terms of trying to think through exactly what Oswald did, even from a LN perspective.
