Editing Single-bullet theory (section)

==Theorized path of the bullet CE 399==
[[File:WC Vol18 CE903 SBT alignement.jpg|[[Arlen Specter]] reproducing the assumed alignment of the single-bullet theory.|thumb]]
[[File:Sbt critics.jpg|thumb|Trajectory of CE 399 according to some critics, such as [[Robert Groden]] and Harrison Livingston; their book ''High Treason'' features a similar diagram; trajectories such as this one gave rise to the term "magic bullet".]]
[[File:Sbt2.jpg|thumb|Trajectory according to some modern theorists; note the relative positions of seats.]]
The following description assumes that bullet CE 399 hit high, at the sixth cervical vertebra rather than the third thoracic vertebra: The 6.5 millimeter, 161 grain, round nose military style [[full metal jacket bullet]], which was manufactured by the Western Cartridge Company and later stored nearly whole in the U.S. National Archives, was first theorized by the Warren Commission to have:

* ballistically arced very slightly while traveling {{convert|189|ft|m|abbr=on}} in a downward net angle of 19 degrees (allowing for the 3 degrees downward slope of Elm Street), after an initial [[Bullet bow shockwave|supersonic rifle exit]] muzzle velocity of {{convert|1,850|to|2,000|ft/s|m/s}}, then entered President Kennedy's rear suit coat at about {{convert|1,700|ft/s|m/s}},
* impacted, then entered President Kennedy {{convert|2|in|mm}} to the right of his spine, creating a wound documented size of 4 millimeters by 7 millimeters in the rear of his upper back with a red-brown to black area of skin surrounding the wound, forming what is called an [[abrasion collar]]. This abrasion collar was caused by the bullet's scraping the margins of the skin on penetration and is characteristic of a gunshot wound of entrance. This abrasion collar was photographically documented to be larger at the lower margin half of the wound, which is strong evidence that the bullet's long-axis orientation at the instant of penetration was slightly upward in relation to the plane of the skin immediately surrounding the wound; however, the skin of Kennedy's upper back slopes inward, and the Croft photo (taken at Zapruder frame 162, shortly before Kennedy was hit) shows the President slumped forward. This would suggest that a shooting position above and to the rear of Kennedy was possible

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Magic bullet.png|President Kennedy (left) and Governor Connally (right)|thumb]] -->
* damaged the President's first thoracic vertebra.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol1/html/HSCA_Vol1_0102a.htm |title=History Matters Archive - HSCA Hearings - Volume I, pg |publisher=Historymatters.com |access-date=August 3, 2010}}</ref> (There is debate whether the bullet itself struck the vertebra and caused this damage, or whether a pressure cavity wave created by the bullet's passage was responsible),
* passed through his neck. Warren Exhibit CE 386<ref>{{cite web|title=Schematic drawing made at Bethesda Naval Hospital|url=https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh16/pdf/WH16_CE_386.pdf |access-date=August 2, 2018 }}</ref> reported contusion (bruise) of the apex of the right [[lung]] in the region where it rises above the [[clavicle]], and noted that, although the apex of the right lung and the [[parietal pleura]]l membrane over it had been bruised, they were not penetrated. This is consistent with a bullet passing through the neck, immediately over the top tip of the right lung (the pressure wave causing bruising to both pleural membrane and apex of lung), but without penetrating the thoracic cavity, or the lung beneath.
* after passing through the neck, exited President Kennedy's throat, at the centerline below the President's [[Adam's apple]]. Within three hours of the assassination, this neck frontal wound was described in an afternoon press conference by the Parkland trauma room #1 emergency physician, [[Malcolm Perry (physician)|Doctor Malcolm Perry]], after he attended to the frontal throat wound, as being an "entrance wound". Doctor Perry stated the neck frontal wound "appeared to be" an entrance wound three times during his press conference. However, medical researchers have found that ER doctors frequently make mistakes with regard to entrance and exit wounds, and both Perry and Dr. Carrico, the other attending ER doctor, later testified at the Warren hearing that with a full jacketed bullet the wound in the front of the throat could have been either an entrance or exit wound; the Parkland ER doctors also never examined the wound in the back and could make no comparisons with it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-3.html#neck |title=p. 89 |publisher=Archives.gov |access-date=August 3, 2010}}</ref> Within nineteen hours of his press conference statement (but after the autopsy had already been completed), Doctor Perry also described via telephone to Doctor Humes, one of the three U.S. Navy [[Bethesda Naval Hospital|Bethesda Hospital]] military autopsists, that the neck front wound was originally only "3 to 5 millimeters" in circular width before doctor Perry attended to the front throat wound (Humes documented Perry's "3 to 5 millimeters" wound size by writing it down during the phone conversation),
* passed through both sides of his shirt collar-front in alignment with the collar button buttoned, about {{convert|7|-|8|inch|cm}} below the center top collar button and collar button hole, in line with the throat wound, and with the threads in both bullet-slits forced outward, showing this to be an exit wound,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-3.html#neck |title=p. 92 |publisher=Archives.gov |access-date=August 3, 2010}}</ref>
* nicked President Kennedy's tie-knot on its upper left side. Upon clearing the tie-knot the bullet had slowed to about {{convert|1,500|ft/s|m/s}} and had started to tumble,
* traveled the {{convert|25.5|in|mm}} between President Kennedy and Governor Connally,
* impacted and entered Connally's back just below and behind his right armpit creating an 8 millimeter by 15 millimeter elliptical wound, indicating that the bullet was fired from an acute angle to the entrance wound point, or that the bullet was tumbling, having hit something on its earlier way (presumably Kennedy); according to Connally, the impact of the bullet was very forceful. In terms of the physics of this impact, this means that the bullet imparted part of its momentum to Connally's body and therefore the bullet's momentum changed (in speed or direction or both) upon entering his body;
* completely destroyed {{convert|127|mm|in}} of Connally's fifth right rib bone as it smashed through his chest interior at a documented 10-degree anatomically downward angle (post-operative x-rays document that some of the metal fragments remained in Connally's wrist for life and were buried with him many years later. There were no fragments seen in any chest x-rays),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh4/html/WC_Vol4_0057a.htm |title=Shaw: WC 4 H 105 |publisher=History-matters.com |access-date=August 3, 2010}}</ref>
* exited slightly below his right nipple, creating a 50 millimeter, sucking-air, blowout chest wound,
* passed through Connally's shirt and suit coat front, exiting roughly central on the coat's right side, just under the lowest point of the right lapel,
* slowed to {{convert|900|ft/s|m/s}} ([[speed of sound|subsonic]]), and entered through Connally's right upper (outside) wrist, but missed his suit coat sleeve. It penetrated the doubled French cuff shirt sleeve at the wrist area but did not penetrate the cuff on exit (in 2003 Nellie Connally described in her book "From Love Field" that Connally's right hand solid-gold "Mexican peso" cufflink was struck with a bullet, and the cufflink was completely shot off during the attack. This is not evident from the physical appearance of the shirt which bears no mark, tear or hole at the cufflink area. Connally's cufflink was apparently never found&nbsp;— thus never entered&nbsp;— into the assassination evidence),
* broken his right radius wrist bone at its widest point, depositing metal fragments (post-operative x-rays document that some of the metal fragments are still buried with him, as mentioned above),
* exited the palm (inner) side of Connally's wrist,
* slowed to {{convert|400|ft/s|m/s}} and entered the front side of his left thigh, creating a documented 10-millimeter nearly round wound,
* buried itself shallowly into Connally's left thigh muscles,
* then fallen out at Parkland Hospital, perhaps when Connally was undressed,
* landed on Connally's gurney,
* been discovered by hospital engineer Darrell C. Tomlinson after it rolled into view after Connally's gurney was bumped.<ref name="Warrencommission01"/><ref>The Warren Commission Report states on page 81: "Although Tomlinson was not certain whether the bullet came from the Connally stretcher or the adjacent one, the Commission has concluded that the bullet came from the Governor's stretcher."</ref>

Regarding the bullet that he remembered impacting his back, Connally stated, "...the most curious discovery of all took place when they rolled me off the stretcher and onto the examining table. A metal object fell to the floor, with a click no louder than a wedding band. The nurse picked it up and slipped it into her pocket. It was the bullet from my body, the one that passed through my back, chest, and wrist, and worked itself loose from my thigh." Connally does not say how he determined this object to have been a bullet, rather than his missing gold cufflink.

The Warren Commission's "single bullet," according to all documentation:

* had no thread striations (fine lines etched onto a copper encased bullet tip and/or bullet side casing by clothing threads when the bullet first penetrates clothing threads),
* was marked with no blood,
* was marked with no human tissue,
* had no pieces of clothing attached,
* had lost 1.5% of its original average weight,
* had a composition that was consistent with the composition of the metal fragments recovered from Connally (see section on [[#Neutron activation analysis of bullet fragments|neutron activation analysis]]).

This "single bullet," which was full metal jacketed and specifically designed to pass through the human body, was deformed and not in a pristine state as some detractors claim. Though a side view seems to show no visible damage, a view from the end of the bullet shows a significant flattening which occurred when, according to the theory, the bullet struck Connally's wrist, butt end first. The [[metallurgical]] composition of the bullet fragments in the wrist was compared to the composition of the samples taken from the base of CE 399.

Several of the same type 6.5 millimeter test bullets were test-fired by the Warren Commission investigators. The test bullet that most matched the slight side flattening and nearly pristine, still rounded impact tip of CE 399 was a bullet that had only been fired into a long tube containing a thick layer of cotton. Later tests show that such bullets survive intact when fired into solid wood and multiple layers of skin and ballistic gel, as well.

CE 399 is stored out of the public's view in the [[National Archives and Records Administration]], though numerous pictures of the bullet are available on the NARA website.

Ballistics experts have performed test shots through animal flesh and bones with cloth covering. Under the assumption of an adjusted relative position of President Kennedy and Governor Connally within the car, some, but not all, of the Warren Commission ballistics experts considered it possible that the same bullet that passed through the President's neck may have caused all of the governor's wounds.