Assuming he was working alone and shot JFK from the book depository with a Carcano Model 91/38. I know this is somewhat of a contentious issue, but I just want to know about his marksmanship in the version of events accepted by most historians, so no Grassy Knoll shooters please.
Boy, that was awkward. Anyway, with that said how good of a marksman was Oswald? Upper 10 percentile of shooters? Olympic calibre shooting? Or did he just ‘get lucky’?
It was a very easy shot, the proverbial fish in a barrel. He didn’t have to be good at all. I personally believe the only reason it took three shots was he was nervous. IIRC the distances were 85, 95 & 100 yards approximately. This is short range for a scoped rifle.
Capt
Marine-trained marksman. There are three rankings for riflemen and LHO qualified for the second one (Sharpshooter), 212 out of 250. Before he left (and already planned to), he shot a 191, good enough to be qualified as Marksman.
It’s established that any reasonably competent target shooter could duplicate the Dealey Plaza shots.
The only thing I have to add to the previous posters is that a visit to the 6th Floor Museum in the book depository building will erase any illusions one might have about the difficulty of the shots. The X on the street does not look far away at all. Easy shots with a scoped rifle.
I should add that while a Marine’s rifle ranking is critical to advancement and LHO had already decided to leave the Corps, meaning his score meant nothing, he still achieved a rank demonstrating well above average target-shooting skill. He also practiced incessantly with the Carcano rifle once he received it.
I have a running bet at my local saloon. The bet is if you can do three shots in 5 seconds…
…your buddies will catch you as you fall off the barstool. Go past five seconds and yer on yer own…
These two things have convinced many experts that there was nothing remarkable about the shots.
That is what I was going to say. Dealey Plaza is a shockingly small area. It is much smaller in real life than it appears in photos and video. Going there will instantly highlight why the conspiracy theories don’t hold water. The shots were easy ones for any remotely competent shooter. The Grassy Knoll isn’t some distant place where other snipers could have hidden either. It is just a smallish patch of slightly raised grass directly on the other side of the street and right behind where the crowd was lined up.
if only he’d hit Edwin Walker, from even closer. Or knocked on his door and shot him as he later did Officer Tippit.
I agree. People don’t realize how easy a shot this would be. Shooting a scoped rifle from a benched position is very easy. Literally the first time I ever shot a rifle I was hitting the x-ring at a hundred yards.
The men who served with Oswald in the military have stated that they weren’t exactly impressed with his shooting skills. I think it’s fairly accurate to describe him as a mediocre Marine-corps rifleman. That puts his skill level above that of your average civilian sportsman, but doesn’t make him an incredible sniper by any stretch of the imagination.
Wikipedia lists the rifle as having an effective range of about 600m. That makes it a bit more accurate than a modern M-16 (a bit under 500m) and far more accurate than an AK-47 (about 300m). Those aren’t exactly sniper rifles, though. It doesn’t compare quite so well against something like the M40 sniper rifle, which has a range of about 900m. The M40 has been in use since the Vietnam era.
ETA: Mediocre rifle, mediocre shooter, but an easy shot, well within the capability of the rifle used.
Good enough to split a skull at a 100 yards.
The Carcano has been trash-talked by many, mostly in the CTcrowd, but it was a serviceable weapon produced and used in the millions with a perfectly adequate record. No, it was not a high accurate sniper rifle, but it was the equivalent of the M-1 LHO was familiar with and, obviously, good enough.
Right. Anyone who has heard a rifle up close without ear protection and who has visited Dealey Plaza knows that a grassy knoll shooter did not exist.
I remember a few years ago a tv journalist said she (Meredith Viera?) visited the plaza and was surprised how small the plaza is. Another thing to remember is only one shot was fatal.
The final and longest shot was just under 90 yards.
The only real trick to the shot is making the bullet change direction. :eek:
No bullets changed direction in the killing of this President.