Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Tests Simulating President Kennedy’s Head Wounds

Ten shots were fired at reconstructed skulls (inert skulls filled with 20 percent gelatin and coated with additional gelatin to simulate soft tissue, draped with simulated hair) from a distance of 270 feet using the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle and Western bullets. Onsite tests later determined the President was struck from a distance of 265.3 feet. One skull was struck 2.9 centimeters to the right and almost horizontal to the occipital protuberance—virtually the precise point of entry described by the autopsy surgeons. The bullet blew out the right side of the reconstructed skull in a manner very similar to President Kennedy’s head wounds. Two fragments from this test bullet closely resembled two fragments found in the front seat of the Presidential limousine (Commission Exhibits Nos. 567 and 569), with a group of small lead particles also similar to those recovered from under the left jump seat and from the President’s head. Dr. Olivier concluded that the Western bullet fired from the Mannlicher-Carcano at 270 feet would produce the same type of wound found on the President’s head. Although he had previously doubted such a stable bullet could cause a massive head wound, the tests showed that the skull bones were sufficient to deform the end of the bullet, causing it to expend great energy and blow out the side of the skull. The tests confirmed that the President’s head wound was not caused by a dumdum bullet, that the fragments found on and under the front seat most probably came from the bullet that struck the President’s head, and that damage to Governor Connally’s wrist could not have resulted from a fragment of the head shot bullet.