From: mst4298@zeus.tamu.edu (Mitchell S Todd)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy.jfk
Subject: Re: Oswald's Photograph
Date: 24 Jul 92 20:18:00 GMT
Organization: Applied Upyerstemmatey Corp
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <92205.011114U54778@uicvm.uic.edu>, U54778@uicvm.uic.edu writes...
>In article <22JUL199214450858@rigel.tamu.edu>, mst4298@rigel.tamu.edu (Mitchell
>S Todd) says:

>>                                       Unjacketed ammunition is quite
>>        rare, and I've never fired any, nor can I find anyone who has.

>Mitchell, so much has been written about the nature of the bullets.  So much
>is argued about in this newsgroup about the same.

>I have a clear memory of coming over
>to one of the hunters house one day and entering the kitchen where he had
>a bullet form press.  He was melting lead in a special container on the
>gas stove and making bullets in the form.  Since I didn't go hunting with
>them at this time, I assume he was making bullets for a rifle.  Was this
>possible?  Or were the bullets intended for a hand gun?

>Can I assume that bullets could be made for a rifle in one's own home and
>have characteristics completely different from any bullets sold on the
>market at the time?  Or is this just my ignorance of firearms showing?

	No, you are right. People handload rifle ammuntion all the time.
	As a general rule, handloaders are people who shoot bullets
	by the truckload and want to save money by recylcing the 
	old cartridge cases.	
	
	I generally discount the use of handloads in the assassination
	because of several reasons. 

	If you postulate a sophisticated conspiracy, it becomes very 
	unlikely that "they" would use handloads. The quality control
	of commercial loads is far superior to that of handloads.
	With handloads, there is a relatively high risk of overcharging, 
	undercharging, bad primers, malformed bullets, and case
	splitting. This is not to say that you're *seriously* risking your 
	neck or your aim everytime you fire a handload, but the risk is
	higher with homemade cartridges. Any reasonably accomplished
	and funded marksman would prefer the increased relaibility 
	commercial loads. 
	
	As for a lone Oswald, I tend to doubt that he would have fired
	handloads, since he doesn't seem to have had any access to 
	the proper equipment. He would have to use a mold for making
	bullets of the proper caliber. Further, the 6.5mm bullets 
	Oswald is alleged to have used are surplus items, cheap 
	enough to have made handloading a poor alternative.

	Then there is the problem of self-incrimination. It's
	easier to dispose of a box of cartridges than it is
	to dispose of the molds and other paraphanalia needed
	to handload. 


	Even though Roffman cites both Fillinger and Long's book,
	I have some reason to doubt Roffman's conclusions. To 
	begin with, Roffman  misconstrues the meaning of the word
	"round" as it appears in the Clark report. I've read
	a blurb-cum-description of _The Physician and the Law_,	
	and the book is portrayed as a general work, rather than	
	a detailed study of bullet wounds (such works seem to be
	damned hard to find, I'm still looking for a complete one).
	Dr Fillinger has not seen the autopsy x-rays (at least
	at the time of Roffman's book). Experts who have seen
	the autopsy materials feel that the x-rays either do not
	rule out an FMJ round or explicitly opine (as in  Dr Chase's
	case) that the x-rays indicate the impact of FMJ-type 
	ammuntion.
	

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