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I was in the 4th grade, and will never forget that day. The worst effect of JFK's death was that we got LBJ as president..... and the military escalation in VN, plus the "Great Society's" federally institutionalized welfare system.

Did anyone see that week long series on the History Channel about the assassination and the following weeks?? I found it very interesting. At one time I was a conspiracy theory believer, but now I think LHO was a dedicated communist who was the lone triggerman, although he may have been indirectly influenced by Castro.

The shot that killed JFK didn't require an extraordinary amount of skill. A few years ago a documentary was made of an Australian research team that replicated the conditions of the assassination, and the shooter easily made the mortal shot. They used a Carcano M91/38 short rifle and 160 grain roundnose 6.5mm ammo just like LHO. The Aussies set up two mannikins (JFK and Gov Connelly) in a reproduction of the Lincoln Convertible interior, and the "car" was set up to travel on a track at motorcade speed. The shooter was in a boom elevated at the same height as the book depository window. IIRC, the maximum engagement range in the assassination was less than 80 yards.

According to the Zabruder tape, LHO had 8 or 9 seconds to make three shots. Keep in mind that the clock starts when the first shot (the base of the neck JFK wound) is fired. In other words, LHO had 8 or 9 seconds to fire round number two (the miss ), and the third shot (the mortal wound). That's 4 to 4.5 seconds for him to work the bolt and re-acquire his target. I have a number of Carcanos that I shoot, and you don't have to be a super-sniper to get three well aimed shots off in that time span. The 6.5x52mm is a very pleasant round to shoot....my 13 year old son shoots my Carcano TS carbines without flinching. In my experience the only reliability factor when shooting the Carcano is the sheet metal Mannlicher clip. If the clip in the gun is good, the gun is going to function as it was designed to do. Uninformed "experts" with an axe to grind against the Carcano family of rifles and carbines have really muddied the waters in the JFK conspiracy world.

The ammo LHO used was not 20 year old Italian war surplus, it was recently made Winchester ammo from a CIA contract. In the mid-late 1950s the CIA was supporting Albanian anti-communists fighting the Hoxna regime, and the Albanians had Carcanos left by the Italians in 1943. When the insurgency failed, the CIA reneged on the contract and Winchester sold the ammo on the civilian market.

I too have had reservations over the role played by Jack Ruby. The recent History Channel series has changed my point of view somewhat. They had interviews with people that knew Ruby well, and they all concurred that he was irrational, over-emotional, and not too smart. Some conspiracy proponents have tied him to organized crime (the Marcello and Trafficante crime families), but the reality is that Ruby was too much of a loudmouth goof to be seriously trusted by the Mob. In other words he was a low level pimp, not the kind of guy you'd trust to keep his mouth shut after killing the president's assassin. It seems that Ruby thought he was going to earn the acclaim of the American people for killing LHO.

IMHO LHO was a communist loose cannon who operated as a lone wolf killer. If there was any conspiracy, it was with Castro. Castro was planning a sabotage attack on NYC around the same time that JFK was killed. For almost three years JFK and RFK were trying to whack Castro and militarily undermine his regime so I guess Castro had motives. As far as conspiracy theories go, I think many sincere people are influenced by the Oliver Stone movie JFK, which is good film making but very insidious in it's dishonest message. Jim Garrison....what a nutcase.

edit. Curt, there is no difference in function between your M41 Carcano rifle and the M91/38 short rifle (fusile corto). The bolts, receivers, and magazine/trigger assemblies are totally interchangeable (even the 7.35mm M38 short rifles). The main difference is the shorter 21 inch barrel and the fixed rear sight of the short rifle. I have a M38 short rifle and favor it over my M41 because it is quicker handling and actually shoots to POA at 100 meters.