Logic, the Alleged Shooting Feat, and Oswald's Marksmanship

[Michael Griffith]

Suppose someone told you that John Doe scored a 66 on an advanced calculus test. Suppose you learned that Joe Doe had never studied calculus and had never scored higher than a B on a basic algebra test. Suppose you learned that three math experts who had studied calculus for years only scored a 33 on the same advanced calculus test that John Doe took, except that the calculus test that the experts took was actually somewhat easier than the test that John Doe took.

Logically, you would suspect that John Doe either did not actually score a 66 or that he got unbelievably lucky. If you learned there was credible evidence that John Doe was not the one who took the test, you would see his score as raising strong doubt about who took the test.

This is pretty much exactly where we stand with the evidence on Oswald’s marksmanship and the alleged shooting feat. On Oswald’s best day at a Marine Corps rifle range, firing at stationary targets with a semi-automatic rifle, he barely managed to score in the second of three qualification categories (Sharpshooter). The last time he fired for record in the Marine Corps, he scored in the lowest of the three qualification categories (Marksman). Yet, he allegedly pulled off a shooting feat that three experienced Master-NRA-rated riflemen were unable to duplicate in a rifle test conducted for the WC by the Department of the Army.

The three riflemen in the WC rifle test were not only Master-rated but had participated in national rifle competitions. Furthermore, instead of firing from an elevation of 60 feet, as Oswald allegedly did, they fired from an elevation of 30 feet. Instead of firing at a moving target, as Oswald allegedly did, they fired at stationary targets. They were allowed to take as much time as they wanted for their first shot, a luxury that Oswald would not have had. Significantly, they used the same rifle that Oswald allegedly used.

As anyone can see from looking at the targets from the WC’s rifle test (CE 582, CE 583, and CE 584), the expert riflemen missed the head and neck area of the targets 19 out of 21 times (and one of those two hits was near the very top of the head, noticeably higher than where Oswald allegedly hit JFK in the head). The targets were paper targets on target boards. The targets resembled the top half of a human silhouette, basically from the middle of the back to the top of the head.

The Army’s Ronald Simmons told the WC that he assumed the riflemen were aiming for the center of the target. The hits on the targets suggest that all three riflemen were aiming at the center of the target (which raises the question of why they were not told to aim for the points where Oswald allegedly hit JFK). Yet, even allowing for this center-of-target aiming point, the Master-rated riflemen came nowhere near duplicating Oswald’s alleged shooting feat.

On the first-shot target (CE 582), most of the shots landed in or near the middle area of the target, with two noticeable misses. Only one of the shots landed in the head. With the exception of the hit in the head, all the shots hit several inches below the point where Oswald allegedly hit JFK in the upper back/lower neck.

On the second-shot target (CE 583), not one of the shots hit the middle part of the target. Not one. Four of the shots missed the target completely, and three others nearly did so. One of the shots hit almost at the very top of the target, far from the aiming point but equating to a hit near the very top of the head.

On the third-shot target (CE 584), once again, not one of the shots landed in the middle part of the target. One of the shots missed the target by about 3 inches. Several other shots landed near the bottom edge of the target.

Obviously, these results do not resemble Oswald’s alleged shooting feat.

Moreover, it is important to note that none of the riflemen missed so badly that they missed the boards to which the targets were attached, yet Oswald allegedly missed the entire gigantic presidential limousine (6.5 feet wide, 21 feet long) with one of his alleged three shots. Indeed, the only way to expand Oswald's alleged firing time from 6 seconds to 8-9 seconds is to assume that he fired before Z166 and that, incredibly, he somehow missed the entire limousine with his easiest and closest shot.

Finally, it should be noted that Simmons stated that the rating of Master was far above the military rating of Sharpshooter:

          Mr. SIMMONS. There is really no comparison between the rating of master in the NRA and the rating of sharpshooter in the Army. (3 H 450)

So, could Oswald have gone two for three in 6-9 seconds firing with a bolt-action rifle from the cramped sniper’s nest on the sixth floor? Theoretically speaking, it is possible that he did perform the shooting feat attributed to him by the WC, just as it is theoretically possible that you will win millions of dollars if you play the lottery three times. But, it is extraordinarily unlikely. We cannot prove that Oswald could not have done the shooting, but the WC’s own rifle test shows that it is wildly improbable that he did so.

Edited May 2, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[Michael Crane]

According to other Marines...Oswald scored "Maggies Drawers" in the Marines.

Maggies Drawers = Completely missing the whole target.

 

Q: Did you fire with Oswald?

Delgado: Right. I was in the same line. By that I mean we were on line together, the same time, but not firing at the same position, but at the same time, and I remember seeing his shooting. It was a pretty big joke, because he got a lot of "Maggie's drawers," you know, a lot of misses, but he didn't give a darn.

Q: Missed the target completely?

Delgado: He just qualified, that's it...

Edited May 2, 2023 by Michael Crane

[Michael Griffith]

4 hours ago, Michael Crane said:

According to other Marines...Oswald scored "Maggies Drawers" in the Marines.

Maggies Drawers = Completely missing the whole target.

Q: Did you fire with Oswald?

Delgado: Right. I was in the same line. By that I mean we were on line together, the same time, but not firing at the same position, but at the same time, and I remember seeing his shooting. It was a pretty big joke, because he got a lot of "Maggie's drawers," you know, a lot of misses, but he didn't give a darn.

Q: Missed the target completely?

Delgado: He just qualified, that's it...

Yes, indeed. Other Marines who also saw Oswald shoot said he was a poor shot, such as Sherman Cooley and James Persons. 

Cooley said the following in an interview with former Rockefeller Foundation fellow
Henry Hurt:

          If I had to pick one man in the whole United States to shoot me, I'd pick Oswald. I
saw the man shoot. There's no way he could have ever learned to shoot well
enough to do what they accused him of doing in Dallas. (Reasonable Doubt, New
York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1985, p. 99)

Persons told Hurt that Oswald's lack of coordination was part of the reason he was a "very poor" shot:

          He [Persons] also remembers that Oswald possessed a lack of coordination that
contributed to his being very poor in rifle marksmanship. (Reasonable Doubt,
photo page 14, caption) 

Hurt interviewed over 50 former Marines who had seen Oswald shoot. Virtually all of them said Oswald's rifle proficiency was laughable (Reasonable Doubt, pp. 99-100). 

Moreover, members of the gun club that Oswald joined in Russia said he was a poor shot (G. Robert Blakey and Richard Billings, Fatal Hour, New York: Berkley Books,
1992, p. 139). David Ferrie said Oswald was a horrible shot.

[Charles Blackmon]

How can anybody believe the Warren Commission version of events? Just incredible.

[Ron Ecker]

I remember the esteemed Walter Cronkite concluding how Oswald was able to do what he did against all odds: "He was shooting at the President of the United States."

Yep, that explains it.

 

 

[Joe Bauer]

Oswald did a lot of target practice in the months before 11,22,1963.

In her Warren Commission testimony, Marina said he shot his rifle at leaves in park visits in New Orleans.

She also said he later went to Lop Field in Dallas to practice.

And he did get one practice shot at Walker.

Also according to Marina, Lee would spend hours alone in their various apartments cleaning his rifle and one assumes pretend aiming and firing at imaginary targets.

Oswald may have missed hitting rabbits at 10 feet away with a shotgun in Russia but he was reportedly only along for the fun time with his new Minsk buddies.

Seems Oswald just didn't care about making his marksman rating while on the Marine range with Delgado...hence just going through the motions?

Oswald also reportedly spent hours leafing through gun magazines in the parking garage office next to Reilly's Coffee company in New Orleans while he was supposed to be in the main production building cleaning coffee machines.

His brazen neglect of his work place duties to do so ( despite Judyth Vary Baker altering his time cards ) resulted in his being canned.

His downtown NO, broad daylight "Fair Play/Hands Off Cuba" leaflet passing may have also contributed to his firing.

David Ferrie himself said Oswald was a poor shot? Never heard that statement before.

In that Ferry and Oswald together Air Cadet camp out photo which shamed "Case Closed" book author Gerald Posner, it looks as if short statured Lee was assigned pot and pan washing duties more than rifle shooting practice.

Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman ( a gun buff/sporting goods store owner ) mis-identified the Texas School Book Depository building found rifle as a Mauser. It was many hours if not days later that he realized his mistake.

He later ended up in long term confinement in a mental ward in his 50's.

He was a WWII Army/Air Force combat vet and actually spent time as a prisoner of war.

Surely, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome from his prisoner of war experience could explain his mental breakdown in his 50's. Yet, could his hugely reported TXSBD found rifle misidentification screw up on 11,22,1963 have haunted his mind as well?

It is very surprising that so many top world-class expert rifle marksmen mostly missed the target hits that Oswald made in a 6 and 1/2 second span.

Oswald's JFK's 8 inch wide skull target bullseye hit at 265 feet away, all while JFK himself was moving his head two feet to his left and while his limo was also moving down and away was a bullseye hit for the ages.

Was the target the marksmen were shooting at only 8 inches wide and moving sideways as well as away and down at 5 to 11 MPH? 

Unlike the JFK kill shot re-creation marksmen, Oswald's final shot was under life and death stress.

Oswald was surely aware that his first 2 loud shots would probably draw some attention and looks up toward his extremely illuminated mid-day sun open window position.

He knew that he could have been stormed at any second by wild-eyed gun wielding officers and been blown apart.

That last shot would have been lined up and taken with as much anxiety as a combat soldier in the heat of battle and with the enemy charging in.

One last second chance to change history?

Talk about cojones!

His sweaty hands trying to steady his defective sight aim at such a small and 3 way moving target...and hitting it within inches of dead center is one of the most remarkable target bullseye hits in history. And under life and death stress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[Michael Griffith]

1 hour ago, Ron Ecker said:

I remember the esteemed Walter Cronkite concluding how Oswald was able to do what he did against all odds: "He was shooting at the President of the United States."

Yep, that explains it.

Yeah, as if firing at the most powerful man on Earth would have made it easier.

In the interest of time, I didn't even mention the firing times of the three Master-rated riflemen. Here they are:

Hendrix: 8.2 seconds and 7.0 seconds (two sets)

Staley: 6.75 seconds and 6.45 seconds (two sets)

Miller: 4.6 seconds, 6.15 seconds, and 4.45 seconds (three sets; he was the only one to fire three sets)

Yet, we're asked to believe that Oswald either (1) went two for two in 5.56 seconds after wildly missing his first, closest, and easiest shot at some point before Z166, or (2) went two for three in 5.56 seconds because he didn't start firing until JFK reemerged into view from beneath the oak tree at Z210. An even more unlikely scenario has him firing while his view of JFK was obscured by the oak tree between Z166 and Z209, and then going two for two in 5.56 seconds after Z209. Any way you slice it, he would have had to go two for two in 5.56 seconds or two for three in 5.56 seconds. None of the Master-rated riflemen in the WC's rifle test were able to duplicate any version of this alleged feat. 

I should add that the three riflemen were allowed to do dry-run practice with the rifle before the test. 

The targets were standard head-and-shoulders silhouettes and were about 2 square feet in size. And, again, the riflemen were firing from only 30 feet up and the targets were not moving.

As for Oswald's alleged target practice in the months before the assassination, WC staffer Wesley Liebeler shredded that myth in his internal memos to the Commission (LINK).

Edited May 2, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[Pat Speer]

I discuss the WC's claims about the shooting and Oswald's ability in Chapter 4g at patspeer.com.

As pointed out by Michael, the test shooters were Master rifleman aiming at the middle of their targets.

And yet notice where they hit their targets firing shots two and three with the presumed assassination rifle. (To be clear I have added two red stars to these images to demonstrate where two of Oswald's shots were believed to have landed.)

"Oswald" had TWO shots land near the middle of his moving target while firing rapid fire when three top shooters failed to have any land as close to the center of their stationary targets while firing rapid fire!

Something smells, right?

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by Pat Speer

[Charles Blackmon]

2 hours ago, Joe Bauer said:

 

 

That last shot would have been lined up and taken with as much anxiety as a combat soldier in the heat of battle and with the enemy charging in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And yet a mere couple minutes after taking that shot he is supposedly observed cool as a cucumber casually sipping a soft drink. As if he was some kind of veteran assassin.

[Sean Coleman]

On 5/2/2023 at 12:00 AM, Michael Griffith said:

Suppose someone told you that John Doe scored a 66 on an advanced calculus test. Suppose you learned that Joe Doe had never studied calculus and had never scored higher than a B on a basic algebra test. Suppose you learned that three math experts who had studied calculus for years only scored a 33 on the same advanced calculus test that John Doe took, except that the calculus test that the experts took was actually somewhat easier than the test that John Doe took.

Logically, you would suspect that John Doe either did not actually score a 66 or that he got unbelievably lucky. If you learned there was credible evidence that John Doe was not the one who took the test, you would see his score as raising strong doubt about who took the test.

This is pretty much exactly where we stand with the evidence on Oswald’s marksmanship and the alleged shooting feat. On Oswald’s best day at a Marine Corps rifle range, firing at stationary targets with a semi-automatic rifle, he barely managed to score in the second of three qualification categories (Sharpshooter). The last time he fired for record in the Marine Corps, he scored in the lowest of the three qualification categories (Marksman). Yet, he allegedly pulled off a shooting feat that three experienced Master-NRA-rated riflemen were unable to duplicate in a rifle test conducted for the WC by the Department of the Army.

The three riflemen in the WC rifle test were not only Master-rated but had participated in national rifle competitions. Furthermore, instead of firing from an elevation of 60 feet, as Oswald allegedly did, they fired from an elevation of 30 feet. Instead of firing at a moving target, as Oswald allegedly did, they fired at stationary targets. They were allowed to take as much time as they wanted for their first shot, a luxury that Oswald would not have had. Significantly, they used the same rifle that Oswald allegedly used.

As anyone can see from looking at the targets from the WC’s rifle test (CE 582, CE 583, and CE 584), the expert riflemen missed the head and neck area of the targets 19 out of 21 times (and one of those two hits was near the very top of the head, noticeably higher than where Oswald allegedly hit JFK in the head). The targets were paper targets on target boards. The targets resembled the top half of a human silhouette, basically from the middle of the back to the top of the head.

The Army’s Ronald Simmons told the WC that he assumed the riflemen were aiming for the center of the target. The hits on the targets suggest that all three riflemen were aiming at the center of the target (which raises the question of why they were not told to aim for the points where Oswald allegedly hit JFK). Yet, even allowing for this center-of-target aiming point, the Master-rated riflemen came nowhere near duplicating Oswald’s alleged shooting feat.

On the first-shot target (CE 582), most of the shots landed in or near the middle area of the target, with two noticeable misses. Only one of the shots landed in the head. With the exception of the hit in the head, all the shots hit several inches below the point where Oswald allegedly hit JFK in the upper back/lower neck.

On the second-shot target (CE 583), not one of the shots hit the middle part of the target. Not one. Four of the shots missed the target completely, and three others nearly did so. One of the shots hit almost at the very top of the target, far from the aiming point but equating to a hit near the very top of the head.

On the third-shot target (CE 584), once again, not one of the shots landed in the middle part of the target. One of the shots missed the target by about 3 inches. Several other shots landed near the bottom edge of the target.

Obviously, these results do not resemble Oswald’s alleged shooting feat.

Moreover, it is important to note that none of the riflemen missed so badly that they missed the boards to which the targets were attached, yet Oswald allegedly missed the entire gigantic presidential limousine (6.5 feet wide, 21 feet long) with one of his alleged three shots. Indeed, the only way to expand Oswald's alleged firing time from 6 seconds to 8-9 seconds is to assume that he fired before Z166 and that, incredibly, he somehow missed the entire limousine with his easiest and closest shot.

Finally, it should be noted that Simmons stated that the rating of Master was far above the military rating of Sharpshooter:

          Mr. SIMMONS. There is really no comparison between the rating of master in the NRA and the rating of sharpshooter in the Army. (3 H 450)

So, could Oswald have gone two for three in 6-9 seconds firing with a bolt-action rifle from the cramped sniper’s nest on the sixth floor? Theoretically speaking, it is possible that he did perform the shooting feat attributed to him by the WC, just as it is theoretically possible that you will win millions of dollars if you play the lottery three times. But, it is extraordinarily unlikely. We cannot prove that Oswald could not have done the shooting, but the WC’s own rifle test shows that it is wildly improbable that he did so.

So how did John Doe do it? Was he a cheat?

[Ron Ege]

8 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

Yeah, as if firing at the most powerful man on Earth would have made it easier.

In the interest of time, I didn't even mention the firing times of the three Master-rated riflemen. Here they are:

Hendrix: 8.2 seconds and 7.0 seconds (two sets)

Staley: 6.75 seconds and 6.45 seconds (two sets)

Miller: 4.6 seconds, 6.15 seconds, and 4.45 seconds (three sets; he was the only one to fire three sets)

Yet, we're asked to believe that Oswald either (1) went two for two in 5.56 seconds after wildly missing his first, closest, and easiest shot at some point before Z166, or (2) went two for three in 5.56 seconds because he didn't start firing until JFK reemerged into view from beneath the oak tree at Z210. An even more unlikely scenario has him firing while his view of JFK was obscured by the oak tree between Z166 and Z209, and then going two for two in 5.56 seconds after Z209. Any way you slice it, he would have had to go two for two in 5.56 seconds or two for three in 5.56 seconds. None of the Master-rated riflemen in the WC's rifle test were able to duplicate any version of this alleged feat. 

I should add that the three riflemen were allowed to do dry-run practice with the rifle before the test. 

The targets were standard head-and-shoulders silhouettes and were about 2 square feet in size. And, again, the riflemen were firing from only 30 feet up and the targets were not moving.

As for Oswald's alleged target practice in the months before the assassination, WC staffer Wesley Liebeler shredded that myth in his internal memos to the Commission (LINK).

Michael, thank you.

Of course if a non-zero probability event sequence should occur, such as Oswald accomplishing the hits he's been credited with (which you rightly point out that no one else - ever - has equaled), then it could conceivably, be theorized that he somehow miraculously "lucked out" that day.

Me thinks that anyone with a modicum of rifle shooting experience, semi-automatic vs bold action and stationary vs moving target would likely move the probability of Oswald's alleged feat to absolute zero - even given Oswald's alleged "shooting experiences", subsequent to his USMC days. 

We're to believe that that Nov. 22nd, Oswald would've been able to give, for example, say Carlos Hathcock - "a run for his money"? 

You're absolutely right.  Let's please confirm that Oswald was even actually in the sixth floor depository window during the JFKA. 

Chief Curry; "No one has ever out him (Oswald) in the Texas School Book Depository with a rifle in his hand."

 

 

 

[Ian Lloyd]

If the master marksmen couldn't replicate LHO's alleged efforts from 30' elevation shooting at stationary targets, then who possibly could have done it?

[Gil Jesus]

The rifle tests proved that the CE 139 rifle was NOT the murder weapon and the Warren Commission lied about how the assassination went down.

My take on it:

https://gil-jesus.com/the-rifle-tests/

Edited May 3, 2023 by Gil Jesus

[Pat Speer]

3 hours ago, Ian Lloyd said:

If the master marksmen couldn't replicate LHO's alleged efforts from 30' elevation shooting at stationary targets, then who possibly could have done it?

As their inability to replicate the proposed shooting is related to the rapid rate of fire of the shooting, it strongly suggests that a shooter using that rifle could not have fired as rapidly as proposed and that at least one of the shots was fired by a different rifle. 

This problem was recognized, moreover, shortly after the WC, and led to CBS' 1967 assertion that the first shot must have missed. This, of course, was smoke, as most everyone viewing the President at the time of the first shot saw him react to this shot, and no one saw him continue waving for seconds afterward.

 

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Pat Speer

[Michael Griffith]

23 hours ago, Joe Bauer said:

Oswald did a lot of target practice in the months before 11,22,1963.

In her Warren Commission testimony, Marina said he shot his rifle at leaves in park visits in New Orleans.

She also said he later went to Lop Field in Dallas to practice.

And he did get one practice shot at Walker.

Also according to Marina, Lee would spend hours alone in their various apartments cleaning his rifle and one assumes pretend aiming and firing at imaginary targets.

Oswald may have missed hitting rabbits at 10 feet away with a shotgun in Russia but he was reportedly only along for the fun time with his new Minsk buddies.

Seems Oswald just didn't care about making his marksman rating while on the Marine range with Delgado...hence just going through the motions?

Oswald also reportedly spent hours leafing through gun magazines in the parking garage office next to Reilly's Coffee company in New Orleans while he was supposed to be in the main production building cleaning coffee machines.

His brazen neglect of his work place duties to do so ( despite Judyth Vary Baker altering his time cards ) resulted in his being canned.

His downtown NO, broad daylight "Fair Play/Hands Off Cuba" leaflet passing may have also contributed to his firing.

David Ferrie himself said Oswald was a poor shot? Never heard that statement before.

In that Ferry and Oswald together Air Cadet camp out photo which shamed "Case Closed" book author Gerald Posner, it looks as if short statured Lee was assigned pot and pan washing duties more than rifle shooting practice.

Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman ( a gun buff/sporting goods store owner ) mis-identified the Texas School Book Depository building found rifle as a Mauser. It was many hours if not days later that he realized his mistake.

He later ended up in long term confinement in a mental ward in his 50's.

He was a WWII Army/Air Force combat vet and actually spent time as a prisoner of war.

Surely, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome from his prisoner of war experience could explain his mental breakdown in his 50's. Yet, could his hugely reported TXSBD found rifle misidentification screw up on 11,22,1963 have haunted his mind as well?

It is very surprising that so many top world-class expert rifle marksmen mostly missed the target hits that Oswald made in a 6 and 1/2 second span.

Oswald's JFK's 8 inch wide skull target bullseye hit at 265 feet away, all while JFK himself was moving his head two feet to his left and while his limo was also moving down and away was a bullseye hit for the ages.

Was the target the marksmen were shooting at only 8 inches wide and moving sideways as well as away and down at 5 to 11 MPH? 

Unlike the JFK kill shot re-creation marksmen, Oswald's final shot was under life and death stress.

Oswald was surely aware that his first 2 loud shots would probably draw some attention and looks up toward his extremely illuminated mid-day sun open window position.

He knew that he could have been stormed at any second by wild-eyed gun wielding officers and been blown apart.

That last shot would have been lined up and taken with as much anxiety as a combat soldier in the heat of battle and with the enemy charging in.

One last second chance to change history?

Talk about cojones!

His sweaty hands trying to steady his defective sight aim at such a small and 3 way moving target...and hitting it within inches of dead center is one of the most remarkable target bullseye hits in history. And under life and death stress.

WC staffer Wesley Liebeler blew gaping holes in the WC's claims about Oswald's pre-assassination target practice:

          There is a great deal of testimony in the record that a telescopic sight is a sensitive proposition. You can't leave a rifle and scope laying around in a garage underfoot for almost 3 months, just having brought it back from New Orleans in the back of a station wagon, and expect to hit anything with it, unless you take the trouble to fire it and sight the scope in. This would have been a problem that should have been dealt with in any event, and now that it turns out that there actually was a defect in the scope, it is perfectly clear that the question must be considered. The present draft leaves the Commission open to severe criticism. Furthermore, to the extent that it leaves testimony suggesting that the shots might not have been so easy out of the discussion, thereby giving only a part of the story, it is simply dishonest.

          5. Why do we have a statement concerning the fact that Oswald's Marine records show that he was familiar with the Browning automatic rifle, .45-caliber pistol and 12-gage riot gun? That is completely irrelevant to the question of his ability to fire a rifle, unless there is evidence that the same skills are involved. It is, furthermore, prejudicial to some extent.

          6. Under the heading "Oswald's Rifle Practice Outside the Marines" we have a statement concerning his hunting activities in Russia. It says that he joined a hunting club, obtained a license and went hunting about six times. It does not say what kind of a weapon he used. While I am not completely familiar with the record on this point, I do know for a fact that there is some indication that he used a shotgun. Under what theory do we include activities concerning a shotgun under a heading relating to rifle practice, and then presume not to advise the reader of the fact?

          7. The statements concerning Oswald's practice with the assassination weapon are misleading. They tend to give the impression that he did more practicing than the record suggests that he did. My recollection is that there is only one specific time when he might have practiced. We should be more precise in this area, because the Commission is going to have its work in this area examined very closely.

          8. On the top of galley page 51 we have that statement about Oswald sighting the telescopic sight at night on the porch in New Orleans. I think the support for that proposition is thin indeed. Marina Oswald first testified that she did not know what he was doing out there and then she was clearly led into the only answer that gives any support to this proposition.

          9. I think the level of reaching that is going on in this whole discussion of rifle capability is merely shown by the fact that under the heading of rifle practice outside the Marine Corps appears the damning statement that "Oswald showed an interest in rifles by discussing that subject with others (in fact only one person as I remember it) and reading gun magazines." (LINK)

Even assuming Oswald did the target practice claimed by the WC, he still would have had nowhere near the expertise and experience of the three Master-rated riflemen in the WC's rifle test. Yet, those riflemen did not come close to duplicating Oswald's alleged shooting feat, even though they fired at stationary targets from only 30 feet up. 

Some seem to believe that being under "life and death stress" would have enabled Oswald to shoot far better than he normally would shoot. The opposite is true. Read some military history and you will find numerous accounts of soldiers who missed enemy combatants at close range precisely because they were under "life and death stress."  

Edited May 3, 2023 by Michael Griffith