The rifle and the shooter

Klein’s Sporting Goods in Chicago received an order on 13 March 1963, on a coupon clipped from the February American Rifleman. It came with a $21.45 money order bought the day before: $19.95 for the rifle with a scope, plus $1.50 postage. Klein’s shipped rifle C2766 on 20 March to “A. Hidell” at Post Office Box 2915 in Dallas, which Oswald had rented. Experts found the handprinting on the order coupon was his. When arrested he carried a Selective Service notice and a Marine certificate of service in the name Alek James Hidell. [1][2]

The Dallas police lieutenant J. C. Day lifted a palm print from the underside of the barrel, a spot covered by the wooden stock when the rifle is assembled. The FBI’s expert found no identifiable prints on the rifle itself; the lift card reached the FBI on 29 November, and the FBI matched irregularities on the card to the barrel. Fibers caught in the butt plate most probably came from the shirt Oswald wore. [1]

His wife, Marina, took the photos of him holding a rifle in their back yard; see the backyard-photos file. [1]

On Thursday 21 November Oswald asked co-worker Buell Wesley Frazier for a ride to Irving, where Marina was living with Ruth Paine. He said, “I’m going home to get some curtain rods.” His landlady said his room in Dallas already had curtains and rods. Two curtain rods in the Paines’ garage were still there afterward. According to the evidence, the rifle had been stored since September in a green and brown blanket in that garage; Marina had once opened the blanket and seen the stock. [1]

The next morning Frazier and his sister, Linnie Mae Randle, saw Oswald carry a long paper package. They estimated it at about 27 or 28 inches. The rifle’s longest part, the wooden stock, measured 34.8 inches, and the hand-made bag found by the sniper’s window was 38 inches long. Frazier said he did not look at the package very much. [1]

The shots were fired from about 177 to 266 feet at a car moving slowly away, almost in a straight line. The Commission’s experts were blunt. Maj. Eugene Anderson of the Marine Corps marksmanship branch said the shots were not “particularly difficult.” The FBI examiner said the 4-power scope “requires no training at all.” Ronald Simmons of the Army’s weapons evaluation branch said it “would not be required that a man be an exceptional shot.” Marine Sgt. James Zahm called a rifle with a 4-power scope “the ideal type of weapon for moving targets.” [1]

Oswald was rated a sharpshooter in 1956 and a marksman in 1959, both above the minimum for Marines. Critics point to the lower second score and to Marine friends who called him a poor shot. [1]

FBI tests put the fastest time to work the bolt and fire again at about 2.25 to 2.3 seconds. The House committee, which concluded he fired three shots with one miss, found the timing feasible. [2]

In 1967 CBS News ran its own rapid-fire tests with a Carcano and a moving target, and its series supported the lone-gunman conclusion. A former CBS employee, Roger Feinman, later argued the network’s series was built to back the Warren report. [3][4]