Single Bullet Theory - Discovery Channel's Reenactment of Bullet CE 399's Path

Discovery Channel's Reenactment of Bullet CE 399's Path

A Discovery Channel special, Unsolved History: JFK — Beyond the Magic Bullet, attempted to replicate as well as possible the conditions of that day. The participants set up blocks of ballistics gel with a substance similar to human bone inside. These studies showed that it was possible to produce largely undeformed bullets, if they were slowed by a passage through a tissue-like substance before striking bone.

Next, two mannequin figures made of ballistic anatomical substances (animal skin, gelatin, and interior bone-like cast) were set up in the exact relative position of JFK and Connally. A marksman fired the same rifle model found in the Book Depository from a distance equal to that of the sixth floor of the Book Depository building, using a round from the same batch of Western Cartridge Company 6.5x52 mm ammunition purchased with the surplus Carcano weapon in early 1963. The path of their single bullet (followed by high speed photography) duplicated, almost exactly, the wounds suffered by the victims that day, the only difference being that the bullet did not quite have enough energy to penetrate the "thigh" substance in front of the Connally figure, because it struck an extra bone in the "rib" model (i.e., it fractured 2 ribs in the model vs. one rib in Connally). It was also slightly more deformed than CE 399, possibly for the same reason. However, this bullet came close to duplicating all wounds in both men with a single shot, with a bullet having little deformation.