Difference between revisions of "November 22/article"

   "Never in the history of gunfire has there been a bullet this ridiculous."

Ever since the assassination of John F. Kennedy the question has lingered: how could just one bullet possibly traverse 15 layers of clothing, 7 layers of skin, approximately 15 inches of tissue and a necktie knot, remove 4 inches of rib, and shatter a radius bone? Simply preposterous, right?

A Discovery Channel special "Unsolved History: JFK — Beyond the Magic Bullet", attempted to replicate the conditions of that day. The participants set up blocks of ballistics gel with a substance similar to human bone inside. Next, two mannequin figures made of ballistic anatomical substances (animal skin, gelatin, and interior bone-analog cast) were set up in the exact relative position of JFK and Connally. A marksman, from a distance equal to that of the sixth floor of the Book Depository building, fired the same rifle model found in the Book Depository, using a round from the same batch of Western Case Cartridge Company 6.5x52 mm ammunition purchased with the surplus Carcano weapon in early 1963.