JFK Assassination Plus General Discussion & Debate > JFK Assassination Plus General Discussion And Debate
How could former Marine sharpshooter Oswald miss everything with his first shot?
Charles Collins:
--- Quote from: John Corbett on June 13, 2026, 11:50:58 AM ---I'll never understand why people keep using the phrase "miss the entire limo". It implies Oswald was trying to shoot the limo and makes it seem the miss was by a ridiculous amount. He was trying shoot JFK who was sitting as far right in the limo as was possible. I think a 3 foot miss is a bit of an exaggeration but even that is plausible given the difficulties Oswald faced on that first shot.
--- End quote ---
The reason people use the phrase “miss the entire limo” is because there is no evidence that a missed-first-shot bullet hit anywhere in or on the limo, therefore it apparently did miss the entire limo in which JFK (the target) was riding in). It makes no sense to me that LHO would even consider making an attempt to intentionally shoot at a target in which he might miss by such a large margin. Especially since he had apparently set up his sniper’s nest for comfortable, rested and seated (and therefore very stable) shots just after the target cleared the oak tree only a few seconds later.
John Mytton:
--- Quote from: Michael T. Griffith on June 13, 2026, 12:27:07 PM ---
This, too, makes no sense, and it contradicts what Zapruder himself said. Zapruder never indicated that he stopped filming at this time but only after the shooting when the limo sped out of sight after going under the triple underpass.
If Zapruder had intended to start filming only after the limo turned onto Elm Street, he never would have started filming when the lead motorcycles began turning onto Elm Street. He would have been able to plainly see that the two lead cars in the motorcade were still on Houston Street. He would have simply waited until the limo began to make its turn.
--- End quote ---
There's two reason we know Zapruder restarted his 8mm camera @Z133 and therefore the entire sequence was not filmed continuously!
1. The first frame when an 8mm camera is restarted allows more light to leak into the camera and as can be seen, Z133 is brighter than Z134. Also note that Z001 is even brighter but this effect varies iirc due to mechanical interactions of the camera and the amount of film left.
Look at the light blue car at the top of the frame, the lighter clothing and the lighter shade of the road.
2. When Zapruder restarted his camera and pushed the physical button, this made the next frame much blurrier and the frame after that shows a distinctive horizontal jiggle.
After Zapruder restarted his camera and the initial excitement, his panning becomes relatively smooth, well, up until his startled vertical jiggles after he heard shots.
Zapruder at first filmed over 7 seconds of essentially nothing, just the motorbikes, then he quickly shut off his camera and waited till he saw and confirmed he actually had Kennedy's Limo in his viewfinder.
Then when we first see the Limo in Z133, the cars at this point on Houston were barely visible behind the crowd.
BTW, this is such a silly argument and I don't know why it needs explaining.
Zapruder had about two minutes of film to play with and obviously the main event that he wanted to capture was JFK's Limo driving past him because at the time who knows what he may have filmed, the Limo may have stopped and JFK could have shaken hands with the crowd, who knows? So when Zapruder saw the motorbikes turning into Elm he started filming but when there was no Limo, he instinctively stopped filming to conserve his limited precious film, then when he was certain that the Limo was in sight, Zapruder started filming again. The critics must think that Zapruder had unlimited film but the reality is that Zapruder was well aware of his limited resources and wanted every frame to count!!
JohnM
Tom Graves:
--- Quote from: Michael T. Griffith on June 13, 2026, 12:27:07 PM ---You realize that a sixth-floor gunman would have been firing virtually straight down at hypothetical Z124, right?
--- End quote ---
Griffith,
Grow some gonads and look at the three frames from a Secret Service film in Roselle's and Scearce's article.
https://d7922adf-f499-4a26-96d4-8ab2d521fa35.usrfiles.com/ugd/d7922a_e280e26982b44f2c97c6e6e27026e385.pdf
-- Tom
Tom Graves:
--- Quote from: John Corbett on June 13, 2026, 11:45:13 AM ---A Z124 shot would mean JBC did not start his turn to the right until 40 frames later at Z164. That's over two seconds. A 147 shot would have JBC reacting in just under one second. That seems more plausible to me.
--- End quote ---
Connally made a quick head turn to his left at Z-150 before turning his head back to his right.
That's why he's "facing straight ahead" in the famous Croft photo which was taken at Z-160, iirc.
(FWIW, a horizontal head turn isn't indicative of a "startle reaction," but a conscious reaction after a startle reaction.)
John Corbett:
--- Quote from: Charles Collins on June 13, 2026, 12:38:00 PM ---The reason people use the phrase “miss the entire limo” is because there is no evidence that a missed-first-shot bullet hit anywhere in or on the limo, therefore it apparently did miss the entire limo in which JFK (the target) was riding in). It makes no sense to me that LHO would even consider making an attempt to intentionally shoot at a target in which he might miss by such a large margin. Especially since he had apparently set up his sniper’s nest for comfortable, rested and seated (and therefore very stable) shots just after the target cleared the oak tree only a few seconds later.
--- End quote ---
Why not just say he missed his intended target. It makes the point without implying he was completely incompetent with the rifle. CTs often use the phrase, "missed the entire limo" to imply Oswald was not competent with a rifle and was incapable of firing the shots that killed JFK.
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