Warren Report: Appendix X - Tests Simulating President Kennedy's Neck Wound

After reviewing the autopsy report on President Kennedy, the Edgewood scientists simulated the portion of the President's neck through which the bullet passed.  It was determined that the bullet traveled through 13.5 to 14 centimeters of tissue in the President's neck.  That substance was simulated by constructing three blocks: one with a 20-percent gelatin composition, a second from one animal meat and a third from another animal meat.  Those substances duplicated as closely as possible the portion of the President's neck through which the bullet passed.  At the time the tests were conducted, it was estimated that the President, was struck at a range of approximately 180 feet, and the onsite tests which were conducted later at Dallas established that the President was shot through the neck at a range of 174.9 feet to 190.8 feet.  At a range of 180 feet, the Western bullets were fired from the assassination weapon, which has a muzzle velocity of approximately 2,160 feet per second, through those substances which were placed beside a break-type screen for measuring velocity.  The average entrance velocity at 180 feet.  was 1,904 feet per second.

To reconstruct the assassination situation as closely as possible both sides of the substances were covered with material and clipped animal skin to duplicate human skin.  The average exit velocity was 1,779 feet from the gelatin, 1,798 feet from the first animal meat and 1,772 feet from the second animal meat.  Commission Exhibit No. 847 depicts one of the animal meats compressed to 13.5 to 14.5 centimeters to approximate the President's neck and Commission Exhibit No. 848 shows the analogous arrangement for the gelatin.  The photograph marked Commission Exhibit No. 849 shows the bullet passing through the gelatin in a straight line evidencing very stable characteristics.