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Martyn's avatar

Very interesting! But how did your classmate gain access to the rifle that Oswald had used?

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JB's avatar

I think he means a replica, not the very one.

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Scott  McColloch's avatar

Lots for sale at the time! M1 Carbines were $100 and I really wish I had that much at the time. The rare ones have appreciated to a few thousand and they are nice little rifles.

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SR Miller's avatar

Not the actual rifle, same make&model, same/similar ammo - the point being that the rifle was of such poor quality that the poster believes the events impossible. However, there are sufficient opinions on the interwebs that this rifle wasnтАЩt as bad as the poster makes it out to be. Me, the only two conspiracy theories I hew to are that all of our leaders are actually pod people and weтАЩre alone in the galaxy. As for Kennedy, Oswald, and Ruby ЁЯд╖тАНтЩАя╕П : the answer is probably out there, probably in a nondescript wooden crate, parked in a cavernous building, sitting next to the crate holding/hiding the Ark of the Covenant. Yeah, the one with the Star of David burned on to the side.

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Scott  McColloch's avatar

Not just the rifle, but the cheap bulk ammunition was all you could get. The cartridge had a lot in common with the current market darling, the 6.5 Creedmore, but not all ammunition is created equal and what suffers is precision and accuracy, These had corrosive primers and maybe cheap steel cases like the 7.62x39. I am a life long shooter with a scientific background (physics and chemistry) and am enough of an expert to argue with any other тАЬexpertтАЭ!

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SR Miller's avatar

ЁЯдФ I am a 6.5 Creedmoor owner ЁЯШЖ

Also a reloader

Also a life long shooter since iron sight .22 competition south of the Everglades (funny aside - we were talking in church yesterday and I have no memory of ever using ear protection until I took my son out shooting - the .22 rifle I wish IтАЩd had back in the mid 60s).

Also USMC early 80s

Everything IтАЩve read about this rifle, the one round left of the 4 he started with, his certified skill as a marine - none of that says to me he could NOT have fired the fatal shot; BUT, HOWEVER

I have questions, doubts.

Oswald was USMC late 50s, discharged тАШ59, dishonorable, flew to USSR. He would have qualified with an M14 gas powered semiautomatic- predecessor to my M16. I was a moment of wedded amorous bliss when this goober was in the corp so I donтАЩt know if he had any training with using a bolt action rifle - his wife is reported as saying he spent time operating/dry firing his weapon. But to fire three rounds, even close to accurate, in the range of 80-120m, at an 8" pumpkin, moving around, in a moving vehicle.

IDK, nothing screams capable of target acquisition, load, target acquisition, cycle, acquire, repeat. Less than 9 seconds.

The fellas who tested the rifle to assess its capabilities were all expert marksmen familiar with bolt action rifles - no doubt more acquainted than the nameless goober.

Could heтБЙя╕П He had the tools (where we disagree)

Did heтБЙя╕П IтАЩm not convinced.

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Scott  McColloch's avatar

Mail order for around $20 just like Oswald. They were cheap and available, advertised in Shooting Sports Magazines of the time. This was, of course, before the National Firearms Act of 1968 that went into effect on Oct 22 as I recall and created the ffl system.

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Micheal Nash, Ph. D.'s avatar

Yeah. You could even buy by mail unused army issued Remington 30.06s for something like $30. Buy one and gunsmiths sportified (?) them. Made excellent hunting rifles

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Scott  McColloch's avatar

I didnтАЩt mention it, but the high school was an old style military school at the time not the same one, but more or less like Donald TrumpтАЩs high school. The school was founded by an, at least, acquaintance of some of my ancestors in 1814. They all swore allegiance to the commonwealth of Virginia and therefore not to King George signing a still existing document. The school became a military school during the Civil War. Also in 1863 the school loaned a previous building to the new Government of West Virginia for a temporary Capitol until one was built.

03s and 03a3s from CMP were standard issue for freshmen through juniors, then some got to be officers with fake sabers based on a point system. You got points for extra curricular activities and lost them for punishment detail. I wasnтАЩt big on activities, but didnтАЩt loose many. and was a first lieutenant. Anyway, those are not this left side dominant guyтАЩs favorite rifle, but if I had one I could do either a conventional or fancy manual of arms to this day. They were stored over the summer in cosmoline and annual ritual was getting it all off to pass inspection... not a lot of fun.

In my day most of the teachers were WW II or Korean War Vets, so without regard to more recent experiences most of the woke issues of todayтАЩs education system are totally foreign to my personal experience.

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Scott  McColloch's avatar

Over night I had a thought. Snipers or тАЬsharp shootersтАЭ had been regarded as an important element of combat since at least the Civil War. At least at first in WW II the official sniper rifle of at least some of our forces was the 1903 Springfield with a low power telescopic sight. As I recall these were 8x Weavers. This combination was well regarded for accuracy and reliability, so why did Oswald buy the cheapest rifle he could find when for $10 albeit 50% something much better both in terms of accuracy and reliability sometimes listed in the same ad. Also, much more lethal 30-06 ammunition was commonly available with expanding bullet hunting rounds, while military full metal jacket rounds was all that was really available for the 6.5 Carcano.

HmmmтАж Also, (sorry to be so blunt) the Kennedy head shot suggests he was hit by such an expanding bullet not generally available in 6.5 Carcano.

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