Firearms identification

The Firearms discipline examines and compares bullets, cartridge cases, and shotgun shells to determine if they were fired from a particular firearm.  This work is part of the forensic discipline known as Firearms Identification. Scientists examine firearms to determine if the weapon functions properly and obliterated serial numbers can be restored. The science of Firearms Identification is not ballistics, which is the study of projectiles such as bullets in motion. The Tippit bullets were examined by three different experts.

What firearms examiners look for

In order to match a bullet to a particular firearm the examiner looks for two criteria using comparison microscopy:  class characteristics and individual characteristics.

Class characteristics are the rifling specifications of the barrel from which the bullet was fired. These include caliber, number of lands and grooves, direction of twist of the lands and grooves, and widths of the lands and grooves.  

If an evidence bullet and test bullets fired from a suspect firearm have the same class characteristics, the firearm examiner can conclude that the evidence bullet could have been fired from the suspect firearm.

Individual characteristics are marks unique to that particular firearm barrel.  In a barrel, the individual characteristics are produced by the random imperfections and irregularities of the tool or tools used to produce the lands and grooves, and by use, corrosion, or damage.  

If an evidence bullet has the same class characteristics and matching individual characteristics as test bullets fired from a suspect firearm, the firearm examiner can conclude that the bullet was fired from the suspect firearm.

https://ncdoj.gov/crime-lab/firearms-and-tool-mark/

Withholding the evidence

Officer Tippit was shot four times. One of the bullets was removed from his body for evidence at the request of the Dallas Police. This was done at Methodist Hospital after all attempts to resuscitate him had failed and he was pronounced dead. The bullet was given to Dallas Police Officer R.A. Davenport.

The remaining three bullets were removed from the body at Tippit’s autopsy by Dr. Earl Rose, the Coroner of Dallas County.

When they were ordered to turn all evidence in the case against Oswald to the FBI, the Dallas Police sent only the one bullet ( CE 602 ) that had been removed from Officer Tippit’s body at Methodist Hospital. FBI agent Cortlandt Cunningham testified that the Bureau was told by police that, “this was the only bullet that was recovered, or that they had”. ( 3 H 474 )

This, of course, was a lie. The police had possession of three other bullets.

CE 602, was sent to the Bureau twice. The first time it was sent with the other evidence on the evening of the 22nd. It was sent back to Dallas with that evidence. It was sent a second time on November 27th, under the order that all evidence in the case be turned over to the Bureau.

Police “can’t recall” Tippit bullets

On March 13, 1964 the FBI interviewed Dr. Rose and found out there were four bullet wounds in Tippit and that he had removed three bullets. When queried about the three bullets, the Dallas Police claimed to have no record of them and even Capt. Fritz, “could not recall these slugs”.

The FBI did not receive the remaining three bullets ( CE 603, 604 and 605 ) until March 16, 1964, almost four months after the murder of Officer Tippit. ( ibid. )

Neither Officer Davenport nor Dr. Earl Rose were ever called to testify by the Commission and neither ever identified the bullets in evidence as the bullets removed from Officer Tippit’s body.

If the Tippit murder was closed with the arrest of Oswald why would the Dallas Police retain possession of three of the bullets and tell the FBI that CE 602 was the only bullet recovered ? Were they still looking for the Tippit killer ?

The FBI examination

When the FBI examined the alleged murder weapon, CE 143, they found that the handgun had been rechambered to fire .38 special bullets. But the weapon had not been rebarreled, so the smaller .38 special rounds would in effect “wobble” as they exited the barrel. This wobble caused an erratic marking of individual characteristics that made it impossible to say if the bullet came from that gun to the exclusion of all others.

The FBI’s expert on firearms, Cortlandt Cunningham, was asked repeatedly if the bullets came from that gun. Each time he stood steadfast in his opinion.

Mr. EISENBERG. Now, were you able to determine whether those bullets have been fired in this weapon?
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. No; I was not.
( 3 H 475 ) 

Mr. RHYNE. And with respect to the bullets that were found in the body of Officer Tippit, you testified that you could not be positive that they were fired by this weapon, Exhibit 143.
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. I could not identify those bullets as having been fired from that gun.
( 3 H 482 )          

Mr. RHYNE. Based on your experience in your study of these bullets, do you have an opinion as to whether or not they were fired by this gun?    
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. No, sir; I cannot determine that.    

“Not sufficient similarities to effect an identififcation”

Mr. RHYNE. You have no opinion at all?    
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. The only thing I can testify to, is they COULD have, on the basis of the rifling characteristics–they could have been. However, NO CONCLUSION COULD BE REACHED FROM AN ACTUAL COMPARISON OF THESE BULLETS WITH TEST BULLETS OBTAINED FROM THAT GUN.    

Mr. RHYNE. Even though there are a lot of similar markings.    
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. There are not; no, sir. There are not a lot of similar markings. They are similar. The rifling characteristics, are the same, or similar. But, in the individual characteristic marks, there are not a lot of similarities. THERE ARE NOT SUFFICIENT SIMILARITIES TO EFFECT AN IDENTIFICATION.    

Representative BOGGS. Stating Mr. Rhyne’s question negatively, THESE BULLETS COULD HAVE BEEN FIRED BY ANOTHER WEAPON ?    
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. THAT IS CORRECT. Either this weapon or ANOTHER WEAPON THAT HAS THE SAME RIFLING CHARACTERISTICS.    
( 3 H 483 )

The Commission gets the opinion it wanted

Not satisfied with the answer they got from the FBI and hellbent to prove Oswald guilty, the Commission reached out to one of its hacks, Joseph Nicol, the Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation for the State of Illinois. Nichol examined the four bullets removed from Tippit’s body and concluded that although he could not identify three of the bullets as having come from that handgun, the fourth, Commision Exhibit 603, he matched as having come from the “Oswald” handgun to the exclusion of all others.

This, of course, contradicted what the FBI found.

Commission Exhibit 625 is the comparison of the two bullets. CE 603 on the left with a test bullet fired from the handgun on the right. 

When one examines it with the naked eye, one can tell that there is one gaping mark that matches, but not much more than that. It seems to support the FBI expert Cunningham’s opinion that “there are not a lot of similarities.”

The HSCA confrims the FBI’S original finding

In 1978, the House Select Committee on Assassinations revisited the Firearms Identification issue with the Tippit bullets. Their expert was a member of their firearms panel, Monty C. Lutz. Lutz was a member of the Wisconsin Regional Crime Laboratory and examined the Tippit bullets, including CE 603, with bullets test fired from the handgun.

Mr. EDGAR. Regarding CE-143, Oswald’s revolver, do your test-fired bullets match, microscopically, with CE-602, 603, 604, and 605?
Mr. LUTZ. Are these the bullets that were recovered from Officer Tippit?
Mr. EDGAR. These were the bullets that were recovered from the body of Officer Tippit.
Mr. LUTZ. Our microscopic examination and comparison of these bullets FAILED TO POSITIVELY IDENTIFY THIS REVOLVER AS THE ONE THAT FIRED THOSE BULLETS.
( 1 HSCA 486 )

The Committee then stated several times that the bullets removed from Tippit’s body could not be positively identified as having come from the CE 142 revolver.

“As for the evidence in the Tippit shooting, THE BULLETS REMOVED FROM THE OFFICER’S BODY COULD NOT BE LINKED TO OSWALD’S REVOLVER”.
( 1 HSCA 443 )

” Regarding the evidence from the Tippit shooting, THE BULLETS REMOVED FROM THE OFFICER’S BODY  COULD NOT BE POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED WITH OSWALD’S REVOLVER.”  
( 7 HSCA 357 )

“….The panel was unable to conclude that the Tippit bullets were fired from the CE 143 revolver.” ( 7 HSCA 381 )

The HSCA’s conclusion not only fully supported the FBI’s original finding that the bullets could NOT be matched to the “Oswald” handgun ( CE 143 ), it completely blows away the phony finding of Joseph Nicol.

And it is vindication for Cortlandt Cunningham who correctly stood his ground.