Shooting Strategy AI Dialogue

[Charles Collins]

Oswald had only seconds to decide whether to take that early shot and the choice he made isn't going to necessarily be the one you would have made had you been in his situation. The only risk to taking that first shot is it would have alerted the protection detail and if they had reacted quicker than they did, Oswald might not have had a clear follow up shot. Again, Oswald could very well have made a different judgement call than you would have. He knew he had four rounds in his rifle and a limited time to fire them so he might very well have decided to get in as many shots as possible in the limited window of time available to him.

Again, Oswald could very well have made a different judgement call than you would have.


Yes, and the same applies to your thinking.

[Andrew Mason]

What do you make, then, of the evidence from the witnesses who saw the rifle pointing out of the window after the first shot: Howard Brennan, Amos Euins, James Worrell and Mrs. Cabell?  None of them mentioned seeing any change in rifle position.

I underlined “after the first shot” for emphasis. The change in rifle position may have happened before they looked up there. Plus, if any of them did look up in time, the amount of change in the rifle position may not have been discernible from their positions and/or a detail that they didn’t remember.

Mrs. Cabell did not describe much delay between hearing the shot and seeing the rifle. She said the first shot sounded as the car began its turn at the intersection.  She said she was facing the TSBD and upon hearing the first shot looked directly up and saw the rifle. The Cabell car is behind the VP security car and it has yet to appear at the intersection when the zfilm last shows the intersection at z193.

[John Corbett]

Mrs. Cabell did not describe much delay between hearing the shot and seeing the rifle. She said the first shot sounded as the car began its turn at the intersection.  She said she was facing the TSBD and upon hearing the first shot looked directly up and saw the rifle. The Cabell car is behind the VP security car and it has yet to appear at the intersection when the zfilm last shows the intersection at z193.

(SIGH)

Here we go with another one of Andrew's "So-and-so said" observations, as if that establishes something as a fact. The truth is that a lot of witnesses in Dealey Plaza gave us lots of versions of what happened. Some of them were right and some of them were wrong. Andrew seems unwilling to look beyond the witness statements to figure out who was right and who was wrong. He developed a crazy scenario years ago that makes no sense and ever since has been cherry picking the witness observations to find support for his scenario. He then takes the forensic evidence and tries to force fit it to his scenario. It is a completely bassackwards approach to the evidence which has yielded his bassackwards conclusion. He will remain hopelessly lost in learning the truth of the JFKA and his silly scenario, which only he believes, will die with him, even if that's fifty years from now.

[Andrew Mason]

(SIGH)

Here we go with another one of Andrew's "So-and-so said" observations, as if that establishes something as a fact.

I never said that Mrs. Cabell’s evidence was a fact. But it is evidence that fits with a first shot too late and with the rifle in the wrong position for a missed first shot.  You don’t seem to want to acknowledge that at every turn the witnesses fit together in a way that is completely inconsistent with a missed first shot. 

The truth is that a lot of witnesses in Dealey Plaza gave us lots of versions of what happened. Some of them were right and some of them were wrong. Andrew seems unwilling to look beyond the witness statements to figure out who was right and who was wrong. He developed a crazy scenario years ago that makes no sense and ever since has been cherry picking the witness observations to find support for his scenario. He then takes the forensic evidence and tries to force fit it to his scenario. It is a completely bassackwards approach to the evidence which has yielded his bassackwards conclusion. He will remain hopelessly lost in learning the truth of the JFKA and his silly scenario, which only he believes, will die with him, even if that's fifty years from now.

There are at least 80 witnesses who provided evidence that is entirely inconsistent with a missed first shot.  You nevertheless maintain that JFK smiled and waved for at least 3 seconds after the first “horrible ear-shattering noise” despite not being able to point to a single witness who said that occurred.  I suppose that is not cherry picking because you haven’t yet found a cherry.  I don’t have to cherry pick. Everytime I reach in my cherry basket I pull out a handful.

[Charles Collins]

Just putting myself in Oswald's head, as I am wont to do, I believe the thought process more likely would have been "I may only get one shot at this, so I'm going to make it the best one I can." I don't picture a former Marine sharpshooter taking a "what the hell, maybe I'll get lucky" first shot and alerting the entire world to his location.

This seems like typical ad hoc reasoning: I think he missed an early first shot, ergo this is what he was thinking and what happened. Common sense - oops, that's the other thread - says my scenario is more likely.

I thought his cheapie scope was nonadjustable - no?

I thought his cheapie scope was nonadjustable - no?

There are three adjustments available on the scope found on the rifle on the sixth floor of the TSBD on 11/22/63.
1).  Elevation - adjusts the horizontal crosshair up and down.
2).  Windage - adjusts the vertical crosshair left and right.
3).  Ocular or Diopter - adjusts the focus to bring the the crosshairs (reticle) into sharp focus.

What it doesn’t have is any adjustment for different magnifications (it is fixed at 4X). And it doesn’t have any adjustment for parallax (to bring the target into sharp focus and minimize any parallax effects).

[John Corbett]

I thought his cheapie scope was nonadjustable - no?

There are three adjustments available on the scope found on the rifle on the sixth floor of the TSBD on 11/22/63.
1).  Elevation - adjusts the horizontal crosshair up and down.
2).  Windage - adjusts the vertical crosshair left and right.
3).  Ocular or Diopter - adjusts the focus to bring the the crosshairs (reticle) into sharp focus.

What it doesn’t have is any adjustment for different magnifications (it is fixed at 4X). And it doesn’t have any adjustment for parallax (to bring the target into sharp focus and minimize any parallax effects).

I wonder if Oswald ever bothered to adjust his scope. At the ranges he fired at both in the Walker attempt and the JFKA, he didn't need competition level precision. A really good marksman probably wouldn't  even need the scope for such short ranges but for an average USMC marksman like Oswald, I can see how it would be helpful, even if not perfectly zeroed of the distance he was firing at. The fact the FBI determined the scope was aiming high indicates it had been zeroed for longer ranges. The scope was also aiming very slightly to the right. The WC theorized the high right aim of the scope might have aided Oswald because the movement of the limo would require Oswald to  lead his target and put his aim point high and to the right. We will never know if Oswald took all of this into account he aimed the rifle. Whether by skill or luck, Oswald did manage to put three of his shots on his intended target because his rifle was the one that fired the shots that struck JFK to the exclusion of all other firearms in the world.

One thing we will never know is what Oswald's aim point was. Was he aiming at the center of mass which would mean the headshot was high or was he aiming at the head which would make the backshot low. That's one of several questions Oswald never answered for us.

[Charles Collins]

I wonder if Oswald ever bothered to adjust his scope. At the ranges he fired at both in the Walker attempt and the JFKA, he didn't need competition level precision. A really good marksman probably wouldn't  even need the scope for such short ranges but for an average USMC marksman like Oswald, I can see how it would be helpful, even if not perfectly zeroed of the distance he was firing at. The fact the FBI determined the scope was aiming high indicates it had been zeroed for longer ranges. The scope was also aiming very slightly to the right. The WC theorized the high right aim of the scope might have aided Oswald because the movement of the limo would require Oswald to  lead his target and put his aim point high and to the right. We will never know if Oswald took all of this into account he aimed the rifle. Whether by skill or luck, Oswald did manage to put three of his shots on his intended target because his rifle was the one that fired the shots that struck JFK to the exclusion of all other firearms in the world.

One thing we will never know is what Oswald's aim point was. Was he aiming at the center of mass which would mean the headshot was high or was he aiming at the head which would make the backshot low. That's one of several questions Oswald never answered for us.

The evidence suggests that LHO did some substantial planning for the Walker attempt. Therefore I would fully expect that he had a pretty good estimate of the distance involved with the place that he planned to shoot from. LHO apparently paid extra money for the scope, so it seems to me that he planned to use it for the Walker attempt. With the above in mind, and Marina’s reports of LHO practicing with the rifle, I have to believe that he zeroed the scope for his estimated distance of the Walker attempt (~100’). And I would expect that the scope was still zeroed for that ~100’ distance on 11/22/63.

The iron sights are another story. They are fixed (non-adjustable) at 200-meters if I remember correctly. I will try to find out the exact distance that the iron sights are above the center of the bore and see if I can come up with a ballistics calculation of how far off they would have been at the various distances of the Walker attempt and the distances involved in Dealey Plaza.