JFK Assassination Forum

I posted this a few weeks ago at another forum:

Dr. Gregory said he thought the bullet entered the top side of JBC's right wrist and exited the bottom side. If so, how could a bullet that exited JBC's chest have done that? We know that JBC was holding his cowboy hat in that hand. Was he holding his cowboy hat really awkwardly near his chest or somewhat lower equally awkwardly when he was shot at Z-222?


Another member replied:

Ai response

Dr. Gregory was absolutely right about the wrist wound orientation, but his interpretation does not contradict the Single Bullet Theory once you factor in Connally’s real arm position.

Three key points:

1️⃣ Connally was NOT holding his hat up by his chest

At Z-222/223, Connally’s right wrist was held low and turned inward, almost flat across his lap. This position is visible in multiple Z-frames.

➡️ He only raises the hat after he has been hit and is reacting.

2️⃣ The bullet exiting Connally’s chest was traveling downward and to his right

This matches:

• the sixth-floor angle,

• Connally’s rotated body position,

• and the inward-turned orientation of his wrist.

Thus, the bullet exiting his chest would naturally continue forward-downward → into the top, radial (thumb-side) portion of his wrist, exactly as Dr. Gregory described.

3️⃣ The wrist wound does NOT require an “awkward” hat-holding position

Connally was holding the hat loosely by the brim, low over his lap.

His wrist was not vertical — it was angled inward and slightly raised.

➡️ When the bullet exited his chest, his wrist was already in the line of fire.

No strange or contorted pose is needed.

⸻

Why Dr. Gregory’s testimony actually supports the SBT

People often quote Gregory as if he disproved the SBT — he didn’t.

He said the entry to the wrist slanted downward and toward the thumb side.

That is exactly the direction the bullet would travel after:

1. entering JFK’s back → exiting his throat

2. entering Connally’s back → exiting his chest

3. continuing forward/downward → striking Connally’s wrist

Gregory did not say the wrist wound was inconsistent — he said he could not determine the exact direction without seeing Connally’s arm position at the moment of impact.

The Z-film now shows us that position clearly.

⸻

🔍 So the correct reconstruction is:

• At Z-222, Connally is rotated rightward.

• His torso is turned.

• His wrist is low, across his lap, turned inward.

• Hat held loosely by the brim.

• The bullet exits chest → strikes wrist in the orientation Gregory described.

Everything matches the physical evidence.

⸻

Bottom Line Answer:

The wrist wound is perfectly consistent with the bullet that exited Connally’s chest.

No awkward hat position is needed.

No second shooter is required.

This is why every modern forensic reconstruction (not just the Warren Commission) reaches the same conclusion.

I believe that the response you quoted has it right. I think that if JBC had not been holding his hat, that the more relaxed position of his palm facing towards his belly would be the expectation. The fact that JBC was holding his hat is what caused the rotation of his forearm such that the palm of his hand would be facing downward instead of the more relaxed position with the palm facing his belly.

I posted this a few weeks ago at another forum:

Dr. Gregory said he thought the bullet entered the top side of JBC's right wrist and exited the bottom side. If so, how could a bullet that exited JBC's chest have done that? We know that JBC was holding his cowboy hat in that hand. Was he holding his cowboy hat really awkwardly near his chest or somewhat lower equally awkwardly when he was shot at Z-222?


Another member replied:

Ai response

Dr. Gregory was absolutely right about the wrist wound orientation, but his interpretation does not contradict the Single Bullet Theory once you factor in Connally’s real arm position.

Three key points:

1️⃣ Connally was NOT holding his hat up by his chest

At Z-222/223, Connally’s right wrist was held low and turned inward, almost flat across his lap. This position is visible in multiple Z-frames.

➡️ He only raises the hat after he has been hit and is reacting.

2️⃣ The bullet exiting Connally’s chest was traveling downward and to his right

This matches:

• the sixth-floor angle,

• Connally’s rotated body position,

• and the inward-turned orientation of his wrist.

Thus, the bullet exiting his chest would naturally continue forward-downward → into the top, radial (thumb-side) portion of his wrist, exactly as Dr. Gregory described.

3️⃣ The wrist wound does NOT require an “awkward” hat-holding position

Connally was holding the hat loosely by the brim, low over his lap.

His wrist was not vertical — it was angled inward and slightly raised.

➡️ When the bullet exited his chest, his wrist was already in the line of fire.

No strange or contorted pose is needed.

⸻

Why Dr. Gregory’s testimony actually supports the SBT

People often quote Gregory as if he disproved the SBT — he didn’t.

He said the entry to the wrist slanted downward and toward the thumb side.

That is exactly the direction the bullet would travel after:

1. entering JFK’s back → exiting his throat

2. entering Connally’s back → exiting his chest

3. continuing forward/downward → striking Connally’s wrist

Gregory did not say the wrist wound was inconsistent — he said he could not determine the exact direction without seeing Connally’s arm position at the moment of impact.

The Z-film now shows us that position clearly.

⸻

🔍 So the correct reconstruction is:

• At Z-222, Connally is rotated rightward.

• His torso is turned.

• His wrist is low, across his lap, turned inward.

• Hat held loosely by the brim.

• The bullet exits chest → strikes wrist in the orientation Gregory described.

Everything matches the physical evidence.

⸻

Bottom Line Answer:

The wrist wound is perfectly consistent with the bullet that exited Connally’s chest.

No awkward hat position is needed.

No second shooter is required.

This is why every modern forensic reconstruction (not just the Warren Commission) reaches the same conclusion.

LHO could not have fired both those rounds.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

It is possible that the rounds were cycled through the action without the trigger ever being pulled.

Are there any advantages to practicing the manipulation of the bolt that way?

According to Marina, Oswald used dry-fire his rifle on their front porch in New Orleans. Normally one uses no bullets when dry-firing or uses special blanks. A small number of people however might use live rounds, at least in the bottom of the clip (with empty shells in the top of the clip), in the belief this would mimic the correct weight of a rifle in a live-fire situation to include the weight of the bullets.

Using live rounds like this in the bottom of the clip with dummy rounds at the top of the clip is dangerous however as one might miscount how many times they have dry-fired the rifle and then accidentally fire off one of the live rounds in the bottom of the clip.

There is suggestive evidence Oswald might have been using live rounds in this reckless manner in New Orleans while dry-firing. The below video highlights a rarely mentioned characteristic that was observed on the spent shells (and also on the one live round found in Oswalds rifle) found on the 6th floor of the TSBD. Apparently the mechanism inside the Mannlicher Carcano rifle which holds the live rounds has a bent piece of metal under the live rounds that acts like a spring forcing the bullets upwards after each previous shell has been ejected following the working of the bolt action. Because the bottom bullet in the clip is in contact with this lifter spring piece of metal when it is forcing the bullets upwards, the spring leaves a slight scrape on the bottom bullet.

If one were to load the Mannicher Carcano clip with say 6 rounds fresh out of a box of bullets (the clip holds a maximum of 6 rounds) or in the case on 11/22/63 when it was only loaded with 4 rounds, only the bottom bullet in the clip would be in contact with the lifter spring. Therefore only the bottom bullet of the 4 would end up with the scrape from the lifter spring. The last bullet in Oswald rifle (the one that was never fired) did indeed have this scrape mark as one would expect. However, also two of the spent shells found on the floor of the snipers nest also had this scrape mark.

This would apparently suggest that at some point in the past, two of the bullets that were fired at JFK had at some point in the past been loaded into the rifles clip and been the bullet at the bottom of the clip directly in contact with the lifter spring, then been scraped by the metal spring as a result, and then taken back out of the rifle only to be later used in the assassination on Nov 22nd 1963. It paints a picture of live rounds being repeatedly put into the rifle and then being taken back out.

Is it possible Oswald had repeatedly loaded live rounds into his rifle in New Orleans while dry-firing the rifle, and then taken them back out after the dry-firing exercise, and this is how the bullets got the scrape marks?

Most people familiar with firearms would find dry-firing using live ammo in the bottom of the clip completely reckless, though a small number of people might do it. This reddit thread has people giving their opinion: https://www.reddit.com/r/CCW/comments/1h57ja3/dry_firing_with_weight/

Here is the video outlining the scrape marks on the bullets:

P.S. Is anyone familar with the practice of dry-firing a rifle. Is it possible to eject a full round (ie casing with bullet still attched) from a rifle by working the bolt?

The fact that 3 of the casings recovered (one of which was the casing which still had the bullet in it) had scrape marks, this would appear to suggest that when Oswald was dry-firing the rifle in New Orleans, he only had a limited number of bullets available and so had to keep using the same bullets, hence why 3 of the 4 casings discovered in the snipers nest had scrape marks.

Therefore, we should not be surprised that no bullets were ever found among Oswalds possessions other than the ones found in the snipers nest. The scrape mark being present on so many of the casings in the snipers nest arguably suggests that whoever owned this rifle did not have many bullets.

The fact that 3 of the casings recovered (one of which was the casing which still had the bullet in it) had scrape marks, this would appear to suggest that when Oswald was dry-firing the rifle in New Orleans, he only had a limited number of bullets available and so had to keep using the same bullets, hence why 3 of the 4 casings discovered in the snipers nest had scrape marks.

Wait.  I'm confused here.
Only three casings were found in the sniper's nest.  All three were empty shell casings.
The fourth was a live round manually ejected from the weapon by Capt. Fritz and that wasn't in the sniper's nest.