Fourth Edition of "Forensic Science and President Kennedy's Head Wounds"

[John Corbett]

Head shot fragments hit JCs upheld wrist, AKA top of wrist. Nelly said she thought the third shot is the one that hit his wrist. Head fragment removes a possibility of slug shedding tiny fragments within the skull.

Is that the way it happened in your Bizzaro Universe.

[Stewart Fillmore]

As part of an ongoing project testing the forensic/ballistic elements of the assassination. I’ve done extensive and redundant ballistic testing, trajectory analysis and forensic reconstructions. To test the head shot trajectory and fragmentation pattern, I shot three intact pig’s heads.  I had pre and post X-rays taken.  Using surplus 6.5 Carcano on one of the heads, the shot did not explode the head and left a relatively small exit hole (8-9mm) with minor skull fracturing.  A witness panel 2 feet behind the head revealed only a slight yaw and the x-ray showed no fragmentation/jacket separation.  The maintained its trajectory through the skull into the witness panel.  Then using .257 Roberts with a thin jacketed sierra matchking projectile at 3300 fps, it took out the occipital skull and most of the brain with it.  It left the characteristic lead snowstorm on the x-ray and the smallest of fragments on the witness panel. 

I was a little uncertain as to the cortical thickness of the skull so I did a separate test shooting a 7 mm thick pork shoulder blade embedded on one end of a 8 inch ballistic gel block and pork ribs on the other end.  The Carcano round made a 6 mm round hole in the shoulder blade, cut a straight path through the ballistic gel, and clipped the edge of one if the ribs leaving a perfect semi circle.  The witness panel again showed a slight yaw and no fragmentation/jacket separation whatsoever with no deviation in trajectory. 

I’ve long been skeptical of the trajectories of CE 567 and 569, so that was the purpose of the test—but I couldn’t get the Carcano jacket to shear. 

[John Corbett]

As part of an ongoing project testing the forensic/ballistic elements of the assassination. I’ve done extensive and redundant ballistic testing, trajectory analysis and forensic reconstructions. To test the head shot trajectory and fragmentation pattern, I shot three intact pig’s heads.  I had pre and post X-rays taken.  Using surplus 6.5 Carcano on one of the heads, the shot did not explode the head and left a relatively small exit hole (8-9mm) with minor skull fracturing.  A witness panel 2 feet behind the head revealed only a slight yaw and the x-ray showed no fragmentation/jacket separation.  The maintained its trajectory through the skull into the witness panel.  Then using .257 Roberts with a thin jacketed sierra matchking projectile at 3300 fps, it took out the occipital skull and most of the brain with it.  It left the characteristic lead snowstorm on the x-ray and the smallest of fragments on the witness panel. 

I was a little uncertain as to the cortical thickness of the skull so I did a separate test shooting a 7 mm thick pork shoulder blade embedded on one end of a 8 inch ballistic gel block and pork ribs on the other end.  The Carcano round made a 6 mm round hole in the shoulder blade, cut a straight path through the ballistic gel, and clipped the edge of one if the ribs leaving a perfect semi circle.  The witness panel again showed a slight yaw and no fragmentation/jacket separation whatsoever with no deviation in trajectory. 

I’ve long been skeptical of the trajectories of CE 567 and 569, so that was the purpose of the test—but I couldn’t get the Carcano jacket to shear.

I have said for a long time that no shooting can be perfectly replicated. There are simply too many variables. Even if a pig skull replicates JFK's skull, which of course it doesn't, even a slight change in the angle of entry could produce an entirely different result. A recreation can show what MIGHT have happened but it can never prove what did happen. You could do your experiment 100 times and you would likely get 100 different results. Some of them might be very similar, but none are going to be identical.

The proof of what CAN happen when a 6.5 X 52mm Carcano bullet strikes a human skull lay on the floor of the presidential limo and in the photos and x-rays of JFK's skull. There is no evidence of any other type of bullet having been fired at JFK that day. 3 spent shells were found on the 6th floor of the TSBD that were positively matched to the rifle found a short distance away and that rifle was positively matched to CE399 found at Parkland and to two of the fragments found on the floor of the limo. It doesn't take Columbo to figure out the fragmented bullet found on the floor of the limo was the one that struck JFK's skull and also cracked the windshield and dented the frame. For that to possible, it only needed to happen once. It does not need to be duplicated.

[Michael T. Griffith]

As part of an ongoing project testing the forensic/ballistic elements of the assassination. I’ve done extensive and redundant ballistic testing, trajectory analysis and forensic reconstructions. To test the head shot trajectory and fragmentation pattern, I shot three intact pig’s heads.  I had pre and post X-rays taken.  Using surplus 6.5 Carcano on one of the heads, the shot did not explode the head and left a relatively small exit hole (8-9mm) with minor skull fracturing.  A witness panel 2 feet behind the head revealed only a slight yaw and the x-ray showed no fragmentation/jacket separation.  The maintained its trajectory through the skull into the witness panel.

Yes, this is always how FMJ bullets behave when they hit skull bone. They will never shatter into dozens of tiny fragments, much less do so and then also shear off fragments at the entry site. This has been confirmed in numerous wound-ballistics tests.

Then using .257 Roberts with a thin jacketed sierra matchking projectile at 3300 fps, it took out the occipital skull and most of the brain with it.  It left the characteristic lead snowstorm on the x-ray and the smallest of fragments on the witness panel.

Yes, indeed. The ammo that hit JFK's head behaved in a very similar manner, i.e., like high-velocity frangible ammo.   

I was a little uncertain as to the cortical thickness of the skull so I did a separate test shooting a 7 mm thick pork shoulder blade embedded on one end of a 8 inch ballistic gel block and pork ribs on the other end. The Carcano round made a 6 mm round hole in the shoulder blade, cut a straight path through the ballistic gel, and clipped the edge of one if the ribs leaving a perfect semi circle. The witness panel again showed a slight yaw and no fragmentation/jacket separation whatsoever with no deviation in trajectory.

In contrast, the non-fatal bullet that hit Governor Connally left fragments in his chest, wrist, and thigh, and it also veered leftward and downward.

I’ve long been skeptical of the trajectories of CE 567 and 569, so that was the purpose of the test—but I couldn’t get the Carcano jacket to shear.

Yes, forensic literature indicates that the only time an FMJ bullet may shear off its jacket is if it is fired from a very short distance from a high-velocity rifle and does not have time to stabilize its flight.

Thank you for sharing this interesting information.

[Andrew Mason]

Head shot fragments hit JCs upheld wrist, AKA top of wrist. Nelly said she thought the third shot is the one that hit his wrist. Head fragment removes a possibility of slug shedding tiny fragments within the skull.

What is your source for saying that Nellie "said she thought the third shot is the one that hit his wrist"?