Discovery of Bullet at Parkland Hospital
A nearly whole bullet was found on the stretcher used to transport Governor Connally at Parkland Hospital after the assassination. After Governor Connally was moved from the stretcher to an operating table on the second floor, hospital senior engineer Darrell C. Tomlinson moved the empty stretcher to the ground floor corridor, where it bumped against a wall and a bullet rolled out. While Tomlinson was unsure if the bullet came from Connally’s stretcher or an adjacent unconnected one, the Commission concluded it came from Connally’s stretcher, as evidence ruled out President Kennedy’s stretcher as a source: Kennedy remained on his stretcher from arrival until his body was placed in a casket in the same emergency room, and the stretcher was later moved to a different trauma room.
Description of Rifle
The bolt-action, clip-fed rifle found on the Depository’s sixth floor is marked “MADE ITALY,” “CAL. 6.5,” “1940,” and serial number C2766, making it the only known rifle of its type with that serial number. FBI experts identified it as a 6.5-millimeter model 91/38 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, confirming the caliber by fitting a matching cartridge and measuring a sulfur cast of the barrel interior with a micrometer; it appeared outwardly like a 7.35-millimeter rifle but had been rebarreled to 6.5mm. The rifle is 40.2 inches long, weighs 8 pounds, and has a minimum broken-down length of 34.8 inches (the length of the wooden stock). It is fitted with an inexpensive four-power telescopic sight stamped “Optics Ordnance Inc./Hollywood California” and “Made in Japan,” and a non-standard leather sling that appears to be a musical instrument, carrying case, or camera bag strap.
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