A question about the bullets

According to the Warren Report, the first shot missed, the second shot hit Kennedy in the back of the neck, went through the front of his throat, went into and through Connelly, and wound up in Connelly’s thigh. The third shot hit Kennedy in the head, mortally wounding him. In the Zapruder film, we see Kennedy’s head appear to explode.

Granting for the sake of argument that Oswald was the shooter, did he use different types of bullets? Can any type bullet cause one’s head to explode?

Had the bullets from the second and third shots been switched, would the assassination look the same?

Edit: As I understand it, the bullet labeled “CE399” was the bullet of the second shot; I don’t know what the Warren Report says happened to the bullet of the third shot. Did it disintegrate? Was it just lost? Do they have it as a different exhibit?

cavalier973 wrote:According to the Warren Report, the first shot missed, the second shot hit Kennedy in the back of the neck, went through the front of his throat, went into and through Connelly, and wound up in Connelly’s thigh. The third shot hit Kennedy in the head, mortally wounding him. In the Zapruder film, we see Kennedy’s head appear to explode.

Granting for the sake of argument that Oswald was the shooter, did he use different types of bullets? Can any type bullet cause one’s head to explode?

I'm far from being an expert, but from what I have read, the short answer is that the larger the bullet, the greater the impact damage, which seems unsurprising.

Had the bullets from the second and third shots been switched, would the assassination look the same?

Reasonable question, Hopefully someone can jump in with a reasonable answer.

The acoustic evidence did lead some to believe that the third of four shots allegedly heard on the tape, shot came from knoll.

Edit: As I understand it, the bullet labeled “CE399” was the bullet of the second shot; I don’t know what the Warren Report says happened to the bullet of the third shot. Did it disintegrate? Was it just lost? Do they have it as a different exhibit?

Not sure if the WC even attempted to answer what happened to the third bullet. It was determined that no fragments in the brain or found on the limo floor came from the third bullet.

I’ve wondered that myself.

I explain the effects of the head shot as being due to a substantially tangential trajectory through the right side of the head fired from behind and the oblique angle of the head at the time of impact. It essentially opened up a very large area behind and above the ear which allowed a very large mass of brain material to be released. Given JFK’s body position, his incapacitation from the first shot and his rigid brace around his torso, I don’t think it would take much to push his body to the side. How much was due to the bullet (acting like a cue ball in billiards putting another ball in a side pocket) and how much, if any, was due to the mass of material avulsed from the head, I can’t say.

I would disagree about the first shot entering at the back of the neck. It’s pretty clear that the first shot was several inches lower. That’s why both the Warren Commission  and HSCA artists had to draw JFK leaning substantially forward to make the trajectory work out from the 6th floor of the TSBD.

In my opinion, if there was one shooter, it’s unlikely they would give any particular shot in the sequence any more attention by using special ammunition. I would think the goal would be get a kill shot in the least amount of time.

The acoustical analysis back in the 70s was correct, although it may not have detected every shot fired.

The head-shot was fired from about 8 feet west of the picket-fence corner at Z312. The blur in Z313 indicates that the acoustical effect on Zapruder's camera coincided with the shot's impact on Kennedy - implying that the shooter was very close to the former. (The so-called 'forward motion' of Kennedy's head has been exaggerated - it is mainly caused by an optical illusion resulting from the blur but we may also be seeing an immediate radical deformation of the skull.) 

Due to the difference between the speed of sound and that of a bullet travelling at Mach 2, the sound from a shot fired from a rearwards position such as the TSBD would not have reached Zapruder when Kennedy was struck. 

In my view the fatal shot comprised a hollow-point bullet, as Robert Prudhomme argued. Hence the terrible injuries inflicted. Such ammunition typically does not leave a straight through-and-through track back to the source. 

As per 'Last Second in Dallas' by Josiah Thompson, another bullet - this time a conventional round fired from the rear - struck Kennedy about 0.7 seconds later. At least this part of the Bethesda autopsy was (partially) correct. The short time between these shots accounts for the 'sonic boom'/'one shot on top of the other' descriptions of witnesses.

Kennedy was also struck in the back earlier, although this wound was shallow and the bullet fell out at a pre-autopsy. (Could this have been CE399?) He was also hit in the throat from the front and the enlarged tracheotomy wound here reflects a desperate attempt to retrieve the bullet. 

Just my opinion...

Bullets!

With thanks to Malcolm Blunt. Scans by me.