page_title: John F. Kennedy assassination rifle
section_title: Rifle
hierarchical_section_title: John F. Kennedy assassination rifle / Rifle
caption_attribution_description: Two photographs of Lee Harvey Oswald holding his Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, his pistol, and two newspapers, in his backyard in Dallas, Texas. JFK Exhibit F-179
context_page_description: The John F. Kennedy assassination rifle is a long-barrelled firearm that was used to assassinate John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States.
  In March 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald, using the alias "A. Hidell", purchased by mail order a 6.5×52mm Carcano Model 91/38 infantry rifle with a telescopic sight. He also purchased a revolver from a different company, by the same method. The Hidell alias was determined from multiple sources to be Oswald. Oswald fired the rifle from the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas, Texas, mortally wounding Kennedy as his presidential motorcade drove by on November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time. Photographs of Oswald holding the rifle, a palmprint found upon examination of the rifle, and detective work tracing its sale, all eventually led to Oswald. Marina Oswald later testified she was told by Lee that the rifle was also used before in an attempt to assassinate retired U.S. Army General Edwin Walker in Dallas.
context_section_description: This surplus-sold rifle had the markings: "CAL. 6.5", "MADE ITALY", and "Terni", (the city of the manufacturer: the Royal Arms factory, Regia fabbrica d'armi di Terni) stamped with the Italian royal crown as part of the Terni factory symbol, and "ROCCA" (the manufacturer of the bolt cocking piece); it also had the serial number C 2766 and the numerals "1940" and "40" (the year of manufacture).
  The 4-power telescope, made by Ordnance Optics, had been attached to the rifle by a gunsmith at Klein's Sporting Goods, an American retailer, shortly before being sold as a single unit with the surplus rifle, to Oswald.
  Joseph D. Nicol, superintendent of the Illinois Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, and Robert A. Frazier, FBI special agent, testified to the Warren Commission. A distinctive gouge mark and identical dimensions also identify it as the rifle Oswald is holding in several photographs taken in his backyard by his wife in March 1963.
  A 6.5×52mm Carcano 160 gr (10 g) round-nosed fully copper-jacketed bullet, of a type normally used in 6.5 mm military rifles (such as the Carcano) was found on Governor Connally's gurney in Parkland Hospital. This bullet (CE 399, see single bullet theory), and two bullet fragments found in the presidential limousine, were ballistically matched to the rifle found in the book depository building. A partial palm print of Oswald was also found on the barrel of the gun.
  Rifle
  6.5×52mm Italian Carcano M91/38 bolt-action rifle with a six-round magazine
  Serial number C2766. Overall length when assembled: 40.2 inches (102 cm); longest piece when disassembled: 34.8 inches (88 cm)
  Western Cartridge Co. ammunition with a 160-grain (10 g) round nose bullet
  Side-mounted Ordnance Optics 4 × 18 telescopic sight
  Agents of the FBI learned on November 22, 1963, from retail gun dealers in Dallas that Crescent Firearms, Inc., of New York City, was a distributor of surplus Italian 6.5-millimeter military rifles. When contacted, Crescent Firearms said that they had shipped the rifle with the serial number C2766 to Klein's Sporting Goods Co., of Chicago. On the morning of November 23, Klein's found the order coupon and shipping record, showing the rifle was ordered by and shipped to "A. Hidell" at post office box 2915 in Dallas, Texas. That box had been rented under the name of Lee H. Oswald. Oswald was carrying two forged identification cards with the name "Alek James Hidell" in his wallet at the time of his arrest.
  The handwriting on the order coupon perfectly matched that of Oswald's when compared to his passport application and letters he had written. The Italian Armed Forces Intelligence Agency reported that the rifle with the serial number of C2766 was unique in its records.
  In 1979, photographic analysis by the House Select Committee on Assassinations found that the rifle in the National Archives was photographically identical, in a number of distinctive marks, to the one found in the book depository and photographed at the time by numerous journalists and the police. The rifle was also identical in its dimensions to the one seen in the Oswald backyard photos, and both had the same damage mark on the stock.
caption: Oswald with the rifle, pistol, and two newspapers, in Dallas in 1963
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