Søren Roest Korsgaard
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I am in no way a JFK assassination researcher or expert, but over the years I have observed many scholars highlighting Warren Commission Exhibit 399 (CE399) as hard evidence that the official story is impossible. While researching an entirely different subject, I came across two important videos buried by millions of others. To preserve the evidence, I contacted the author and wrote up this short summary.
CE399 is, of course, a copper-jacketed lead-core rifle bullet reportedly fired by Lee Harvey Oswald. The official story is that the bullet passed through multiple layers of clothing, skin, muscle, and bone, yet sustained no major deformations when it was found on Governor John Connally’s hospital stretcher (Fig. 1). As the bullet was expected to have been severely deformed, i.e., mushrooming, critics cite its condition as key evidence of conspiracy.
Figure 1: CE399, the so-called “magic bullet.”
Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, a distinguished pathologist, testified before the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) in 1978. He argued that the official story was physically impossible and elaborated that “no bullet could have caused all these wounds, not only 399, but no other bullet that we know about or any fragment of any bullet that we know about in this case” [1]. He further challenged any expert—forensic pathologist, ballistics specialist, or investigator—to produce even one matching example:
I have repeatedly… implored, beseeched, urged, in writing, orally, privately, collectively, my colleagues; to come up with one bullet, that has done this. I am not talking about 50 percent of the time plus one, 5 percent or 1 percent—just one bullet that have done this [1].
Forty-six years of debate and thousands of books later, Steve Dicus, a Tennessee-based experimentalist, accepted the challenge. To make the comparison as realistic as possible, he purchased a $200 vintage Mannlicher-Carcano rifle—virtually identical to Oswald’s. He also obtained ammunition similar or identical to what Oswald reportedly used.
In his backyard, he fired a round at a series of simulants designed to replicate the resistance met by CE399. This included boneless beef and pork stuffed into a plastic jug, a jug full of water, a piece of 2×4 lumber, a bag of cedar chips, and a piece of metal (a TV hanger attached to the 2×4). Much to his surprise, the bullet passed through all of the targets and lodged itself roughly a foot deep into the ground. Remarkably, it remained in excellent condition, leading Dicus to conclude that it was “proof of concept” [2-3].
Figure 2: Bullet recovered by Steve Dicus after passing through meat, water, dirt, wood, and metal (photographs supplied by Dicus to this author). Download the images in full resolution here and here.
Critics, who disagree with the simulants used by Dicus, could replicate the experiment using expensive full-body simulants made from ballistic gelatin. It is quite absurd that thousands of books have been written about the assassination, citing the so-called magic bullet ad infinitum as evidence for conspiracy, yet they have largely avoided the most important aspect of science: experiments. Unless evidence to the contrary resurfaces, I conclude that the chief argument for conspiracy has been refuted. Of course, refuting the magic bullet theory doesn’t rule out a conspiracy. To disprove a concerted effort requires examining all the major arguments, which I have no intention of doing.
References
[1]. HSCA, Hearings, vol. 1, 332–373 (testimony of Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, September 7, 1978).
[2]. JFK- 6.5 Carcano…..Pristine Bullet? 1 [accessed October 2025].
[3]. JFK – Carcano Impossible Shot? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz8eVaeGSeA [accessed October 2025].