DPD Chief Curry Opines JFK Shot With "Steel-Jacketed" Bullets? Why? Walker?

[Benjamin Cole]

The JFKA almost never fails to fascinate, with seemingly every nugget of new or remembered-again information triggering further inquiries.  

Recently was posted here in EF-JFKA was an Associated Press news article from Nov. 29, 1963, which quotes Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry as stating that "in his opinion the bullets [that struck President Kennedy] were steel jacketed, but he said this was not confirmed to him." 

"Steel jacketed"? 

That is jarring, to say the least.

Why on earth would Chief Curry, one week after the JFKA, speculate that the bullets that struck JFK---which Curry had never seen, or examined, and which were still an FBI "secret"---were relatively rare steel-jacketed bullets, rather than the industry norm, standard and very common copper-jacketed bullets?  

There is nothing in the JFKA itself to suggest steel jacketed bullets were used. In fact, the horrible head shot was evidently accomplished with a copper -jacketed bullet. 

So why--why?--in late November 1963 was the Dallas Police Chief Curry seeking to have confirmed, evidently by the FBI, that the bullets that struck JFK were steel-jacketed? 

That is unfathomable. 

By 1963, almost all rifle bullets and most other bullets were copper-jacketed (technically, copper-alloys). The jacketing helps prevent lead-fouling of barrels (lead being a very soft metal). For rifles, the increasing explosive power of bullets had necessitated jackets to prevent a pure lead slug from mushrooming or deforming as it went down the barrel. 

The idea that the Dallas Police Chief Curry would be seeking confirmation, from the FBI, that the bullets that struck JFK were steel jacketed is remarkable. 

But why? Why would Curry suspect steel jacketed bullets? 

The answer almost certainly goes back to the ever-controversial April 10, 1963 gun shot taken Genera Edwin Walker. Inside the Walker home a slug was recovered by police and ID'ed as "steel jacketed" by two DPD detectives, in a same-day official police report they authored and signed. 

DPD Detective Van Cleave then told reporters from at least four different news organizations, including the AP, that the bullet recovered was a "30.06." 

Which is interesting. The US military, due to WWII wartime copper shortages, did manufacture a steel-jacketed 30.06 during the war and shortly thereafter, bullets which were sold into surplus when the US adopted NATO-compatible ammo in 1955. The 30.06's were phased out of military use.

But civilians could buy steel-jacketed 30.06 bullets. 

OK, so...

By Nov. 29, DPD detectives had been through the belongings of Lee Harvey Oswald, and had found the ever-gloomy backyard photograph of General Walker's house (the one with auto license plate cut out). 

Also on Nov. 29, the German newspaper Deutsche National und Soldaten-Zeitung published an article that accused LHO of having shot at General Walker.

The reasonable deduction is Chief Curry on Nov. 29 or earlier had reviewed the official police files on the Walker shooting, and read that a steel-jacketed slug had been found in the Walker residence.  

So, it looked like this: LHO, accused of shooting of JFK, had in his possession backyard photos of the house in which another high-profile public figure who had been shot at. A house in which a steel-jacketed slug had been recovered on the night of the shooting. 

So...naturally, Curry asked the FBI to confirm if "steel jacketed" bullets had been used in the JFKA.

You can't make this stuff up. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark Ulrik]

2 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

But why? Why would Curry suspect steel jacketed bullets?

Not sure how to explain this to you. He was speculating about the bullet in question (not sure which one, but obviously not CE573) being some type of metal jacketed bullet, and the reporter got a nice little story out of it.

2 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

DPD Detective Van Cleave then told reporters from at least four different news organizations, including the AP, that the bullet recovered was a "30.06."

Wow. Does that obvious bit of speculation carry more weight if more than one "news organization" was present? The thought of the good detective being able to, on the spot, identify the caliber of a lump of metal that came out through a wall, is frankly ridiculous. As I'm sure you know, one of the police reports stated that the bullet was of "unknown caliber". Can't you see how inconsistent it is to consider the report misleading on that particular point and at the same time firmly believe that "steel-jacketed" was accurate?

Edited April 28, 2023 by Mark Ulrik

[Benjamin Cole]

6 hours ago, Mark Ulrik said:

Not sure how to explain this to you. He was speculating about the bullet in question (not sure which one, but obviously not CE573) being some type of metal jacketed bullet, and the reporter got a nice little story out of it.

Wow. Does that obvious bit of speculation carry more weight if more than one "news organization" was present? The thought of the good detective being able to, on the spot, identify the caliber of a lump of metal that came out through a wall, is frankly ridiculous. As I'm sure you know, one of the police reports stated that the bullet was of "unknown caliber". Can't you see how inconsistent it is to consider the report misleading on that particular point and at the same time firmly believe that "steel-jacketed" was accurate?

Mark Ulrik---

It is unlikely that Chief Curry, one week after the JFKA, publicly opined that specifically that relatively uncommon "steel jacketed" bullets were used in the JFKA for no reason. 

Rather, it is highly likely Chief Curry by Nov. 29 had read the police report on the Walker shooting, and the official written finding of two DPD detectives that a "steel jacketed" slug was found in the Walker home. 

By Nov. 29, Chief Curry had read the April 10 1983 DPD Walker report, naturally enough, after LHO's Walker home backyard photo was recovered by the DPD post-JFKA---an incriminating photograph, to be sure. 

Chief Curry, by Nov 29, had then asked the FBI to confirm that the bullets used in the JFKA were also "steel jacketed."  Not full metal jacket, or copper-jacketed. 

Curry was seeking more evidence---steel-jacketed bullets---tying LHO to the JFKA, and evidence that would help solve the Walker shooting. 

You can say the two DPD detectives made a mind-boggling error in ID'ing the true Walker bullet as "steel jacketed." 

But sheesh, Chief Curry obviously thought the Walker bullet was steel-jacketed, and was seeking clues from the FBI. 

Police detectives and officials, investigating murders and presidential assassinations, do not use the terms "steel-jacketed bullets" and "copper-jacketed bullets" interchangeably. Even 99% of gun board bros do not. No one does, really. 

PS--Was DPD detective Ira Van Cleave "speculating" when he told news organizations the Walker bullet was a 30.06? He was a police detective,  had handled the true Walker bullet and put his initial (mark) on the bullet. Van Cleave was offering a very informed opinion---likely a fact. 

If you had handled CE573---would you call that a "steel jacketed" bullet? If so I advise you stay out of police work. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Benjamin Cole]

 

If LHO had confederates in the Walker shooting...maybe they gave him a 30.06 rifle to use---a very common rifle at that time (and still a favorite among US hunters). 

OK, speculation:

1. Marina's testimony, as everyone agrees, is erratic to the point of worthlessness. 

2. But let's say in this case Marina remembered and testified correctly. Perhaps LHO did in fact take the disassembled M-C to the Walker scene, but when he got there his confederates said, "We have the rifle ready already. Use this one, a 30.06. It is a cheap, throw-away rifle." (The common 30.06's having been produced since 1906, with plenty of military surplus on the market after the US military phased the weapon out after 1955.)

3. Perhaps LHO did fire at Walker. But LHO was told by confederates, "No worries. We will plant this 30.06 slug where the cops will find it. They will not be able to trace the bullet back to your rifle." That is how a steel-jacketed 30.06 was conveniently found resting in between bundles of paper by the wall through which the true Walker bullet had passed. 

The one thing I am fairly certain about---no one with even a minimal knowledge of bullets could conflate CE573 with a steel-jacketed bullet. 

To repeat, CE573 is a textbook photo of a copper-jacketed bullet.

Additionally, the idea that police detectives, or even gun enthusiasts and hunters, in 1963 described all rifle bullets as "steel jacketed" is pure fiction. I challenge anyone to find such in the literature. Steel jackets were the rare exception, and generally held in low regard. Almost all rifle bullets were copper-jackets. 

The idea that Chief Curry would try to confirm, as he did on Nov. 29 or thereabouts, with the FBI that "steel jacketed" bullets were used in the JFKA---when he really meant copper-jacketed bullets---is farfetched to the point of farce. That dog don't hunt. 

Most likely (95% odds) a steel-jacketed 30.06 slug was found in the Walker home on April 10, 1963. Such bullets existed, as military surplus. 

That does not exonerate LHO in the Walker shooting, or in the JFKA. 

It does cast a color on the gathering of evidence in the JFKA, and suggests the WC conducted a prosecution of a leftie, loner loser, rather than an investigation into the JFKA. 

[Benjamin Cole]

Add on: The idea that detectives and lab workers in police work would conflate the terms "steel jacketed" and "copper jacketed" willy-nilly is just....weak, and a canard. 

For example, when FBI'er examined CE 573 on Dec. 4, he immediately ID'ed the bullet as a "copper jacketed lead bullet." (See handwritten notes). 

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10040#relPageId=12 (See handwritten notes). 

Frazier did not ID the bullet as "steel jacketed" or even "full metal jacket." 

Full metal jacket bullets were almost all copper-jacketed anyway, with relatively rare exceptions of some wartime surplus bullets, made from steel due to WWII copper shortages. There may have been some other oddball production of steel-jacketed bullets--but steel-jackets were held in low regard--and a notable exception. Worth specifically noting at an attempted murder scene. 

The FMJ term actually has military origins, and refers to a bullet that complies with the Geneva convention. It means the slug jacket is "full" and does not have a soft lead tip, sometimes called a "dum-dum" bullet. 

Of course, all of this is old hat to police detectives and anyone who has worked with ammo. 

No professional ever said, "I describe all rifle bullets as steel jacketed."  

I defy readers of EF-JFKA to provide an example anywhere when detectives conflated the terms "steel jacketed" and "copper jacketed," or of a police agency anywhere that described "all rifle bullets as steel jacketed."