The Sportsdrome Gun Range: Mystery or Myth?

[Charles Collins]

This will never end! Be sure to look for my forthcoming book, The Sportsdrome Gun Range: The Most Interesting Place in the World.

Actually, what follows is kind of interesting since it set me off on a previously unexplored tangent.

You would logically think that flocks of Oswald impersonators at the Gun Range would be right down John Armstrong’s Harvey & Lee alley – and you would be right! See https://harveyandlee.net/Patsy/The_Patsy.html.

In Armstrong’s theory, all the “Oswald” sightings were of LEE. His doppelganger HARVEY (Armstrong always capitalizes the names) was doing things like visiting the Paine home or hanging out at the rooming house.

As far as I can tell, Armstrong doesn’t deal with the issue as to whether LEE might have been expected to be more convincing than these “Oswald” sightings sound. A bulldogger hat with a big chaw of tobacco? A yellow snap-button Western shirt and wire-rim glasses? A flame-spewing rifle that Dr. Wood described as a “howitzer?” Well, perhaps.

He does deal with the big question as to what sense it would have made: “The conspirators were able to show that HARVEY had allegedly purchased a mail order rifle and, after repeated visits to the Sports Drome Rifle Range, was a very capable marksman.”

The conspirators took all these risks, with a LEE who doesn’t sound a whole lot like Oswald and a rifle that pretty much no one thought matched the assassination weapon, just to establish that HARVEY was a highly capable marksman? But wait, isn’t it Conspiracy Gospel that Oswald (oops, sorry – HARVEY) lacked the requisite skills and could not have accomplished the JFKA with his clunky Carcano? Perhaps they were just covering all bases. He could've done it, he couldn't have done it, whatever.

But wait, if the whole thing was a fraud, why not just dummy up an order for a more plausible assassination weapon in the first place, have LEE practice with it at the Gun Range while looking and sounding like HARVEY would have been expected to look and sound, and then plant it in the TSBD to frame HARVEY? Wouldn’t that be much less Three Stooges-like? Well, let’s not ask impertinent questions.

I will give Armstrong credit for one thing: He correctly has the first Price encounter on October 26, not September 28. He had been touting the September 28 date at conferences, but at least now the website has the correct date.

Armstrong just takes the sightings at face value, untroubled by the weirdness: Price saw LEE on October 26 driving a 1940 or 1941 Ford. On November 9, Price saw LEE in an old model Chevrolet and using a rifle on which all markings other than the serial number had been filed off, equipped with the clearest scope Price had ever seen. On November 10, Price saw LEE firing with a heavy-bore rifle and Slack tried several times to get him to participate in the turkey shoot contest. On November 16, Armstrong accurately describes the Woods’ sighting but repeats Dr. Wood’s version of how he and Sterling later recognized Oswald on TV (which was, of course, HARVEY) without noting that Sterling had a different version and Mrs. Wood didn’t confirm her husband’s version. On November 17, Price saw LEE and handled his “Mauser-type” military rifle with a Tascosa (Japanese) scope, on which Price could see nothing but a serial number. After Price had left, Slack complained to Floyd Davis that two young men, one in the booth occupied by LEE, were shooting at his targets.

The above is simply Armstrong’s reasonably accurate account. I am ignoring all the discrepancies and un-Oswald-like things that he ignores because you already know about them.

In short, Armstrong is simply hellbent to find LEE’s handlers setting up poor schmuck HARVEY anywhere and everywhere he can, without regard to whether it makes any sense or whether LEE sounds like a very convincing HARVEY.

But wait (did I already say that?), Greg Doudna, self-styled researcher extraordinaire, said at the Ed Forum, “On independent analysis it is clear he [i.e., “Oswald”] was gunsmith and gun dealer John Thomas Masen, who looked like Oswald, and was mistaken at the Rifle Range for Oswald.” (Greg just returned from a two-week suspension for insulting Nieder-wacky, so he’s OK in my book.)

OK, so who was John Thomas Masen and why did he arrive at the Gun Range in so many different vehicles looking so different each time?

Armstrong was aware of Masen – there is a thin file on him in the John Armstrong Collection at Baylor. More to the point, the FBI was very aware of him, too. I quote from Chapter 6 of the Final Report of the ARRB:

John Thomas Masen was a Dallas area gun dealer who was arrested on gun smuggling charges two days before the assassination of President Kennedy. During the fall of 1963, Masen supplied arms to the Directorio Revolucianario Estudiantial (DRE), an anti-Castro group based in Miami. The FBI interviewed Masen during the assassination investigation regarding allegations that he may have sold 6.5 mm Mannlicher-Carcano ammunition to Lee Harvey Oswald. Some researchers have alleged that Masen had connections to Oswald. The Review Board requested access to FBI files on John Thomas Masen from the following locations: Headquarters, San Antonio, Dallas, and Miami. The FBI reported that the Miami field office file had been destroyed, but the Review Board designated as assassination records the Headquarters, San Antonio, and Dallas field office files in their entirety. These files describe the FBI's investigation of Masen in 1963 and 1964, and his association with the DRE.

Wow, huh? I am not going very far down that rabbit hole, thank you, but you can read a breathlessly conspiratorial version of the story in a very long article in the Washington Post of August 7, 1994 by – wait for it – Ray and Mary La Fontaine, authors of the fabled (if that’s the word) Oswald Talked. No, really: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1994/08/07/the-fourth-tramp/1f58fbe9-a0fa-4fc2-8ebf-d62694845bbe/.

As far as the Sportsdrome Gun Range is concerned, I didn’t find anything to connect Masen to it – but maybe Doudna knows more than I do. The FBI’s contacts with him in reference to M-C ammunition are set forth in Commission Exhibit 2694, https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh26/pdf/WH26_CE_2694.pdf.

On March 11, 1964, Masen told the FBI that he did sell 6.5 mm M-C ammunition at his gun shop at 7402 Harry Hines Blvd. (some seven miles from Oswald’s room on Beckley and almost ten miles from the Paine home). He did not recognize Oswald and said that people in the gun repair business typically used the Trinity River bottom to test fire guns. In fact, he said he did this “frequently.” The Sportsdrome was not mentioned. Masen said he obtained his M-C ammunition from a gun dealer named John Brinegar.

On March 12, the FBI interviewed Brinegar at his shop at 11448 Harry Hines Blvd. (some 15 miles from Beckley and 11 miles from the Paine home). Brinegar had been a gunsmith more than 30 years and was a fount of knowledge about the M-C rifle, which he said sold for $3 in lots of 75. He likewise mentioned the Trinity River bottom as a likely practice site; nothing was said about the Sportsdrome. He likewise didn’t recognize Oswald.

After contacting the Western Cartridge Company, the FBI did a telephone canvass and determined that Masen and Brinegar seemed to be the only sources of M-C ammunition in the Dallas area.

On March 24, Masen told the FBI that he had purchased ten boxes of military load M-C ammunition from Brinegar in early 1963 and had sold them to individuals. He had purchased another ten boxes in the summer of 1963 in anticipation of deer-hunting season and had reloaded them with hunting loads and lead bullets; he still had two boxes. He again denied any knowledge of Oswald.

On March 26, Brinegar confirmed Masen’s story with the exception of saying that he had traded him the second ten boxes. Brinegar had likewise reloaded some of the M-C ammunition in anticipation of hunting season. He again denied any knowledge of Oswald.

The FBI took samples from both Masen and Brinegar – the hunting load from Masen, the military load from Brinegar – and these were determined not to match the assassination shells. (Masen’s and Brinegar’s interviews do suggest that finding 71 M-C shells at the Gun Range may not have been particularly unusual since it was a popular hunting round.)

Once again, you will be staggered by the amount of work the FBI did. Look at their efforts as set forth in CE 2694 to investigate the Trinity River bottom.

In Dick Russell’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, Masen is described as a “dead ringer” for Oswald and his “identical twin.” To me, he looks like Oswald in the same way that every guy with the same general features looks like Oswald, but you can be the judge: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=16244#relPageId=43.

My question remains: What reason, if any, is there to connect him to the Sportsdrome?

An excellent and informative post. Thanks Lance!  I do see a resemblance between Masen and LHO. I didn't notice his age, height, or weight listed. But from the dates of his enrollment in the colleges I would assume that he was around the same age group as LHO. I can definitely imagine the possibility of Masen visiting the Sportsdrome gun range (and later being mistaken for LHO by some of the folks there).

[Lance Payette]

An excellent and informative post. Thanks Lance!  I do see a resemblance between Masen and LHO. I didn't notice his age, height, or weight listed. But from the dates of his enrollment in the colleges I would assume that he was around the same age group as LHO. I can definitely imagine the possibility of Masen visiting the Sportsdrome gun range (and later being mistaken for LHO by some of the folks there).

I saw that he was born in 1940 - so very close in age - but I tried every permutation of a search I could think of and came up empty. I do think Oswald was rather ordinary-looking. Look how many people have been claimed to be Oswald lookalikes. I have an ex-brother-in-law who REALLY looks like him.

Here's a lengthy internal ARRB memo that describes Masen as 56 in 1996 and rehashes what the La Fontaines have to say in great detail: https://documents3.theblackvault.com/documents/jfkfiles/NARA-Oct2017/ARRB/JZIMMERM/WP-DOCS/OSWATALK.WPD.PDF.

If this weren't all humorous enough, the Dealey Plaza Echo originally published a photo of "Masen" that turned out to be Dial Ryder! EVERYONE looks like Oswald!

In a thread on the Ed Forum many years ago, several folks including Bill Kelly didn't think Masen looked like Oswald at all.

[Lance Payette]

Possibly we should forget Masen.

This is apparently a student photo of our lad. He is described in an FBI document as 5'-5" - https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=136351#relPageId=3. None of the "Oswald" sightings at the Sportsdrome was of anyone that small. That's LEE on the left, HARVEY on the right.

[Tom Graves]

Golly, did I strike a nerve? I find it his most endearing quality. Anyway, it's right on his tombstone: "He was toothless and nuttier than a fruitcake, but he was our Dad and we liked him."

Which reminds me of a great quote from a Hell's Angels book I once read. One of the Hell's Angels' badass mamas was completely toothless but told the author, "I may be ugly as hell, but I can suck the chrome off a bumper."

Is he completely toothless in the clip?

[Lance Payette]

Holy cow, John Thomas Masen apparently turned out to be quite successful: https://www.johnmasen.com/.

Unless he's died, he's 85 and living in scenic Flower Mound, TX (just about exactly halfway between Dallas and Ft. Worth).

This is his home, which is ... well, nicer than mine:

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/3601-Pearl-Ln_Flower-Mound_TX_75022_M76666-27552

There, I think I've invaded his privacy enough for one day. His wife Linda, age 77, says "A big Texas howdy to y'all!"

[Charles Collins]

Holy cow, John Thomas Masen apparently turned out to be quite successful: https://www.johnmasen.com/.

Unless he's died, he's 85 and living in scenic Flower Mound, TX (just about exactly halfway between Dallas and Ft. Worth).

This is his home, which is ... well, nicer than mine:

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/3601-Pearl-Ln_Flower-Mound_TX_75022_M76666-27552

There, I think I've invaded his privacy enough for one day. His wife Linda, age 77, says "A big Texas howdy to y'all!"

A nice home for sure. I did a search on his gun accessories web site for Carcano. No results….     

[Tom Graves]

A nice home for sure. I did a search on his gun accessories web site for Carcano. No results….     

Did Fancy Prancer Rants mention that Masen was about the only source for 6.5mm Carcano ammo in the Dallas area back in 1963?

[Lance Payette]

Did Fancy Prancer Rants mention that Masen was about the only source for 6.5mm Carcano ammo in the Dallas area back in 1963?

No, Lance more accurately mentioned that the FBI determined after contacting the manufacturer and canvassing numerous outlets that Brinegar was the primary source in the Dallas area, that Masen had obtained his M-C ammunition from him and that the two of them were the only Dallas-area sources. There is no reason to suppose that Oswald obtained whatever ammunition he had from either Brinegar or Mason, the only evidence one way or the other being their statements that they didn't recognize him. Ammunition could be bought by mail in 1963, and I would imagine Texas and Louisiana were as lenient as any states in the union.

As others have sagely pointed out, you are a troll and a bore, and your efforts to make others look silly consistently backfire and make you look like a buffoon. You have enough knowledge to make useful contributions, but you desperately need a new act.