JFK Assassination Forum
JFK Assassination Plus General Discussion & Debate => JFK Assassination Plus General Discussion And Debate => Topic started by: Charles Collins on June 11, 2026, 01:02:41 AM
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A couple of snips from “Phantom Shot” by Mike Majerus and Jack Nessan:
Dr. E. Forrest Chapman was a Deputy Medical Examiner in the State of Michigan who had a background in forensic pathology. In 1973, he was allowed to examine some of the Kennedy assassination evidence in the National Archives.
The Warren Commission firearms experts who examined CE 543 failed to mention one other curious thing about the shell casing, something Dr. Chapman referred to as the "dishing effect." When the trigger is pulled and the firing pin strikes the primer at the base of the shell casing, the firing pin makes a small indentation in the soft metal of the primer. Dr. Chapman noticed that the indentation on the CE 543 primer was larger than the indentations on the other shell casings found in the sniper's nest. This indicated that the firing pin had struck CE 543 more than once. The second time the pin struck, the indentation became larger. This was another indication that the shell casing had been used for dry firing. Chapman also noticed that the primer on CE 543 was pushed inward in a concave fashion, and was curved like a bowl or a contact lens. His tests showed that this effect only occurred when the firing pin struck the primer of an empty shell casing. The absence of an explosion meant that it had much less resistance than it did when it was a live shell. As a result, the firing pin pushed deeper into the soft metal of the primer when the shell was empty, causing the concave indentation.
Here is an image from the above referenced book:
(https://i.vgy.me/Af7KO8.png)
And here is an image of CE 543 that (to my eyes) doesn’t show any evidence of dishing or anything else I might associate with dry-firing:
(https://i.vgy.me/nVwQwM.jpg)
I have been reading the expert WC testimony of FBI agent Robert Frazier and looking at the related images. I cannot imagine that Frazier and his team would have missed any dishing effect and other disfiguring to the primer caused by LHO dry firing the rifle with CE 543 in the chamber as Chapman claims.
Has anyone here researched this subject or know of any evidence that might shed more light on this claim?