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THE DENTED SHELL: HARD EVIDENCE OF CONSPIRACY IN THE JFK ASSASSINATION
By Michael T. Griffith/1997
@all Rights Reserved
It seems that when using a hull that has previously been fired, the lip of the case expands slightly and can catch on a lip below the barrel opening in the breech. This can ONLY happen with an EMPTY case that has already been fired and even then only occasionally.
Could the dented shell (CE 543) that was reportedly found next to the sniper's window on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building (TSBD) have been used to fire a missile on the day of the assassination? According to ballistics and firearms expert Howard Donahue, the answer is no, as Bonar Menninger reports:
It was true that three spent Carcano shells were found on the floor of the Book Depository...Yet one of the shells was dented and showed numerous marks from the carrier, the large spring in the Carcano clip that pushed the bullet up to the chamber. Donahue did not believe this dented shell could have been used to fire a bullet that day. The gun would not have functioned properly. (MORTAL ERROR, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991, p. 114)
This, of course, is a crucial issue, for if one of the shells could not have been used to fire a bullet during the shooting, this would mean the sixth-floor gunman could have only fired two shots (unless there was a fourth shell that was never found, which is extremely unlikely). In other words, if the dented shell could not have been used to fire a bullet at President Kennedy, then there must have been another gunman.
However, Gerald Posner, author of the book "CASE CLOSED," says the HSCA proved the shell could have been used to fire a bullet:
Another shell [of the three found on the sixth floor] was dented on the rim, raising doubts that it could have been fired from a rifle in that condition. In experiments by the House Select Committee, rapid firing of the Carcano resulted in some shells being dented in the exact same location upon ejection (HSCA, Vol. 1, pp. 435, 454, 534). (CASE CLOSED, New York: Random House, 1992, p. 270)
I asked Howard Donahue about Posner's assertion. Donahue is a court-certified firearms expert and an world-class marksman. He was invited to participate in the famous 1967 CBS rifle test and achieved the best score of the simulation. Here is what Donahue said about Posner's claim (all emphasis is original):
Dear Mike: Sept. 11, 1996,
Concerning the case with the damaged lip. Posner claims it could have held a projectile at that time. Let me explain something about Posner. He will tell you anything to make a point. There were NO SHELLS DENTED IN THAT MANNER BY THE HSCA. I will refer you to Professor Thompson's book, SIX SECONDS IN DALLAS, page 144, exhibit no. 543. Dr. Thompson discovered this case had been fired (dry fired) at least three times.
He also tried to dent the cases by throwing them against a wall, to no avail. Just to prove this, I am enclosing a fired 6.5 mm Carcano case. Throw it around any way you wish and try to dent it. These cases are very strong. It could have only been dented by feeding the case into the breech of the gun with great force. This would be from the clip.
Two shots only from Oswald? The following info is mostly from SIX SECONDS IN DALLAS:
1. No one INSIDE the TSBD heard more than two shots.
2. Howard Brennan, on the sidewalk UNDERNEATH the 6th floor window, heard only two shots.
3. The three men DIRECTLY under the window at first heard only two shots but eventually changed their testimony.
4. The last two shots were fired so closely together they could never have been fired from a Carcano. If anyone tells you it is possible, then they have never fired a Carcano.
In closing, I have never seen a case dented like this. Dr. Thompson never saw any cases so deformed. So Posner says the HSCA had several empties dented like these???
Thanks for your interest--please keep in touch.
Howard Donahue Firearms Examiner
British researcher Chris Mills likewise has concluded the dented shell could not have been used to fire a bullet during the assassination, as a result of his own experiments with a Carcano rifle. I quote from an e-mail message Mills sent to me on this subject:
Ian Griggs has forwarded a posting which you wrote for the jfk.sharegroup. In this you discuss the dented shell casing.
Ian forwarded this on to me because of my recent experiments with my own Mannlicher Carcano. Quite by accident I recently dented a shell in exactly the same manner as that which is shown in the photographs showing the shell purportedly found on the sixth floor.
My M/C [Mannlicher-Carcano rifle] is deactivated and I was experimenting with empty shells. The very first one produced the dent on the rim. I had to repeat the operation about 60 more times before the results were reproduced. But the damage was exactly the same. It seems that when using a hull that has previously been fired, the lip of the case expands slightly and can catch on a lip below the barrel opening in the breech. This can ONLY happen with an EMPTY case that has already been fired and even then only occasionally.
This means that at least one of the cartridge cases found on 11.22.63 was NOT fired from that window.
In a subsequent message, Mills elaborated on his statement that one of the cartridge cases found in the sixth-floor sniper's nest could not have been fired from the window:
One of the cases [of the three reportedly removed from the sniper's nest] was found with an inward facing dent on the lip of the casing. This could not have happened before a missile left the shell as the dent would preclude the shell actually holding the bullet. It must have occurred at some time after this particular shell was fired.
Several researchers have tried to duplicate the damage by standing on the case, throwing it against walls, etc., but to no avail. The case cannot be similarly damaged by loading a live round into the chamber either, as it is protected and guided into the breech by the bullet itself.
What I found, by accident, is that similar damage can be caused by loading an empty case into the weapon. It appeared to me that the more times this was attempted, the more likely the damage was to occur.
This led me to the apparent conclusion that unless the person in the 6th floor fired the weapon, ejected the shell, picked it up and then reloaded it (a pointless activity, as I'm sure you will agree), this particular case had been fired at some earlier time, then reloaded empty, probably several times. I consider that this is what caused the damage.
This left me wondering why (a) practice with an empty shell case? and (b) why leave an extra case behind?
Question A: At first, I thought it may be to practice with the weapon, but I guess that would be just as effective without a shell case in. I now think it more likely that the empty case was fed through several times in order that it could be matched (by scratch marks on its surface) to the M/C, whether or not the original bullet was really fired from that weapon.
Which brings me to Question B: As I said in my last letter, if you plant a missile which is supposed to have come from the murder weapon, you must have a shell casing to go with it at the murder scene. If not, more missiles may turn up than cases found. Hence the dumped case, whoever did it being unaware of the damage to its lip.
The dented shell is hard evidence that more than one gunman fired at President Kennedy, and hence that there was a conspiracy.
----------------------------------------------------------
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael T. Griffith is a two-time graduate of the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and of the U.S. Air Force Technical Training School in San Angelo, Texas. He is also the author of four books on Mormonism and ancient texts. His articles on the JFK assassination have appeared in DATELINE: DALLAS, DALLAS '63, THE DEALEY PLAZA ECHO, and THE ASSASSINATION CHRONICLES. Additionally, he is the author of the book COMPELLING EVIDENCE: A NEW
LOOK AT THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY (Grand Prairie, TX: JFK-Lancer Productions and Publications, 1996).
THE DENTED SHELL: HARD EVIDENCE OF CONSPIRACY IN THE JFK ASSASSINATION
By Michael T. Griffith/1997
@all Rights Reserved
It seems that when using a hull that has previously been fired, the lip of the case expands slightly and can catch on a lip below the barrel opening in the breech. This can ONLY happen with an EMPTY case that has already been fired and even then only occasionally.
Could the dented shell (CE 543) that was reportedly found next to the sniper's window on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building (TSBD) have been used to fire a missile on the day of the assassination? According to ballistics and firearms expert Howard Donahue, the answer is no, as Bonar Menninger reports:
It was true that three spent Carcano shells were found on the floor of the Book Depository...Yet one of the shells was dented and showed numerous marks from the carrier, the large spring in the Carcano clip that pushed the bullet up to the chamber. Donahue did not believe this dented shell could have been used to fire a bullet that day. The gun would not have functioned properly. (MORTAL ERROR, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991, p. 114)
This, of course, is a crucial issue, for if one of the shells could not have been used to fire a bullet during the shooting, this would mean the sixth-floor gunman could have only fired two shots (unless there was a fourth shell that was never found, which is extremely unlikely). In other words, if the dented shell could not have been used to fire a bullet at President Kennedy, then there must have been another gunman.
However, Gerald Posner, author of the book "CASE CLOSED," says the HSCA proved the shell could have been used to fire a bullet:
Another shell [of the three found on the sixth floor] was dented on the rim, raising doubts that it could have been fired from a rifle in that condition. In experiments by the House Select Committee, rapid firing of the Carcano resulted in some shells being dented in the exact same location upon ejection (HSCA, Vol. 1, pp. 435, 454, 534). (CASE CLOSED, New York: Random House, 1992, p. 270)
I asked Howard Donahue about Posner's assertion. Donahue is a court-certified firearms expert and an world-class marksman. He was invited to participate in the famous 1967 CBS rifle test and achieved the best score of the simulation. Here is what Donahue said about Posner's claim (all emphasis is original):
Dear Mike: Sept. 11, 1996,
Concerning the case with the damaged lip. Posner claims it could have held a projectile at that time. Let me explain something about Posner. He will tell you anything to make a point. There were NO SHELLS DENTED IN THAT MANNER BY THE HSCA. I will refer you to Professor Thompson's book, SIX SECONDS IN DALLAS, page 144, exhibit no. 543. Dr. Thompson discovered this case had been fired (dry fired) at least three times.
He also tried to dent the cases by throwing them against a wall, to no avail. Just to prove this, I am enclosing a fired 6.5 mm Carcano case. Throw it around any way you wish and try to dent it. These cases are very strong. It could have only been dented by feeding the case into the breech of the gun with great force. This would be from the clip.
Two shots only from Oswald? The following info is mostly from SIX SECONDS IN DALLAS:
1. No one INSIDE the TSBD heard more than two shots.
2. Howard Brennan, on the sidewalk UNDERNEATH the 6th floor window, heard only two shots.
3. The three men DIRECTLY under the window at first heard only two shots but eventually changed their testimony.
4. The last two shots were fired so closely together they could never have been fired from a Carcano. If anyone tells you it is possible, then they have never fired a Carcano.
In closing, I have never seen a case dented like this. Dr. Thompson never saw any cases so deformed. So Posner says the HSCA had several empties dented like these???
Thanks for your interest--please keep in touch.
Howard Donahue Firearms Examiner
British researcher Chris Mills likewise has concluded the dented shell could not have been used to fire a bullet during the assassination, as a result of his own experiments with a Carcano rifle. I quote from an e-mail message Mills sent to me on this subject:
Ian Griggs has forwarded a posting which you wrote for the jfk.sharegroup. In this you discuss the dented shell casing.
Ian forwarded this on to me because of my recent experiments with my own Mannlicher Carcano. Quite by accident I recently dented a shell in exactly the same manner as that which is shown in the photographs showing the shell purportedly found on the sixth floor.
My M/C [Mannlicher-Carcano rifle] is deactivated and I was experimenting with empty shells. The very first one produced the dent on the rim. I had to repeat the operation about 60 more times before the results were reproduced. But the damage was exactly the same. It seems that when using a hull that has previously been fired, the lip of the case expands slightly and can catch on a lip below the barrel opening in the breech. This can ONLY happen with an EMPTY case that has already been fired and even then only occasionally.
This means that at least one of the cartridge cases found on 11.22.63 was NOT fired from that window.
In a subsequent message, Mills elaborated on his statement that one of the cartridge cases found in the sixth-floor sniper's nest could not have been fired from the window:
One of the cases [of the three reportedly removed from the sniper's nest] was found with an inward facing dent on the lip of the casing. This could not have happened before a missile left the shell as the dent would preclude the shell actually holding the bullet. It must have occurred at some time after this particular shell was fired.
Several researchers have tried to duplicate the damage by standing on the case, throwing it against walls, etc., but to no avail. The case cannot be similarly damaged by loading a live round into the chamber either, as it is protected and guided into the breech by the bullet itself.
What I found, by accident, is that similar damage can be caused by loading an empty case into the weapon. It appeared to me that the more times this was attempted, the more likely the damage was to occur.
This led me to the apparent conclusion that unless the person in the 6th floor fired the weapon, ejected the shell, picked it up and then reloaded it (a pointless activity, as I'm sure you will agree), this particular case had been fired at some earlier time, then reloaded empty, probably several times. I consider that this is what caused the damage.
This left me wondering why (a) practice with an empty shell case? and (b) why leave an extra case behind?
Question A: At first, I thought it may be to practice with the weapon, but I guess that would be just as effective without a shell case in. I now think it more likely that the empty case was fed through several times in order that it could be matched (by scratch marks on its surface) to the M/C, whether or not the original bullet was really fired from that weapon.
Which brings me to Question B: As I said in my last letter, if you plant a missile which is supposed to have come from the murder weapon, you must have a shell casing to go with it at the murder scene. If not, more missiles may turn up than cases found. Hence the dumped case, whoever did it being unaware of the damage to its lip.
The dented shell is hard evidence that more than one gunman fired at President Kennedy, and hence that there was a conspiracy.
----------------------------------------------------------
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael T. Griffith is a two-time graduate of the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and of the U.S. Air Force Technical Training School in San Angelo, Texas. He is also the author of four books on Mormonism and ancient texts. His articles on the JFK assassination have appeared in DATELINE: DALLAS, DALLAS '63, THE DEALEY PLAZA ECHO, and THE ASSASSINATION CHRONICLES. Additionally, he is the author of the book COMPELLING EVIDENCE: A NEW
LOOK AT THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY (Grand Prairie, TX: JFK-Lancer Productions and Publications, 1996).