(Note: This assignment is advisory only—you do not have to turn in the answers. Take a little break!)

Warren Commission Report Appendix X (pp. 547–597).

1. How do bullets pick up traceable markings as they are fired from a rifle?

2. How do cartridge cases behave when ejected from a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle of the type used in the Depository? Were the actual locations of the three cartridge cases found in the "sniper’s nest" consistent with this behavior?

3. To what extent were the bullets retrieved from Officer Tippit’s body traceable to Oswald’s Smith & Wesson revolver?

4. What is a paraffin test? What were the results of Lee Harvey Oswald’s paraffin tests? What conclusions can be drawn from these results?

5. Did Lee Harvey Oswald actually order the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle and the Smith & Wesson revolver that the Commission linked to him? Outline the reasoning behind your conclusions.

6. Describe the penetrating power of a WCC/MC bullet in relation to other bullets. Can a WCC/MC bullet pass through two human bodies?

7. How did the Army’s Edgewood Arsenal simulate Kennedy’s neck wound? How much velocity did the WCC/MC bullets lose in passing through the simulated neck? Was the bullet still stable when it emerged?

8. How did Edgewood simulate Connally’s chest wound? What were the effects on the bullet and the simulated chest? What can be concluded about the bullet that entered Connally’s chest?

9. How did Edgewood simulate Connally’s wrist wound? What were the effects on the bullet and the wrist? What did these tests show about the bullet that damaged Connally’s wrist?

10. How are different kinds of fibers differentiated under the microscope? How could fibers still be found on the rifle after it had been handled and tested? What was concluded about the origin of these fibers, and how incriminating was it to Oswald?

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