One of the most misleading terms in all of JFK assassination research is the "pristine bullet," meaning the Mannlicher-Carcano bullet found on a stretcher in Parkland Hospital by Darrell C. Tomlinson. (CE 399) Most books show a side view of this bullet. From this perspective, it does indeed look pristine, or undamaged. But a cross-sectional view of the bottom reveals considerable distortion. The image reproduced here is from Appendix A of Gerald Posner's Case Closed, which in turn was reproduced from the HSCA report. As Dr. John K. Lattimer has said, viselike forces were required to produce this much distortion of the full-metal-jacketed bullet.

In the rare cases where the distortion is acknowledged, it is usually presented as being unusual or even unique. That the bullet could allegedly pass through two bodies, create seven wounds along the way, and emerge in such prime condition is considered impossible, and hence the name "magic bullet." But recent European ballistics research has given the lie to this idea as well. A 1994 book by Karl G. Sellier and Beat P. Kneubuehl, entitled Wound Ballistics and the Scientific Background (Elsevier), shows that nearly any jacketed bullet shot into gelatin will deform in a way identical to CE 399, provided only that the impact velocity exceeds 600 m s^-1. The image reproduced here is pages 176 and 177 from their book. Note how similar the bullets that impacted at 630 and 670 m s^-1 appear to CE 399. Thus, there was nothing special about CE 399—it behaved just as it should have as it passed through the men's bodies. Also note that 630 and 670 m s^-1 are equivalent to 2070 and 2200 feet per second, respectively, which are very close to the entrance velocity of 1904 feet per second estimated by the Warren Commission for the bullet striking Kennedy's back/neck.

Thus the "pristine bullet" was neither pristine nor unusual in any way.

Thanks to David Sullivan of PSC482G for scanning these images.

Back to list of handouts