(Testimony of Robert A. Frazier)
Mr. Eisenberg.
from the fact that the cartridge was found in the chamber? In your experience, does one automatically reload whether or not one intends to fire, or is there a special significance in the fact that the cartridge had been chambered?
Mr. Frazier.
I would say no, there would be no inference which I could, draw based on human behavior as to why someone would or would not reload a cartridge. Normally, if you were in my experience shooting at some object, and it was no longer necessary to shoot, you would not reload.
You may or may not reload. It would be a normal thing to automatically reload. But not necessarily in every instance.
Mr. Mccloy.
Do you have any information of your own knowledge as to whether this cartridge was in the chamber or not at the time the rifle was found?
Mr. Frazier.
Only as furnished to me it was submitted as having been removed from the rifle by the Dallas Police Department.
Mr. Mccloy.
As having been removed from the chamber?
Mr. Frazier.
From the chamber of the rifle.
Mr. Mccloy.
But you did not remove it yourself?
Mr. Frazier.
No, sir.
Mr. Eisenberg.
Did you make a test to determine the pattern of the cartridge-case ejection of Commission Exhibit 139
Mr. Frazier.
Yes, sir; I made two studies in connection with the ejection pattern--one to determine distance and one to determine the angle at which the cartridge cases leave the ejection port.
Mr. Eisenberg.
And did you summarize your examination by diagrams?
Mr. Frazier.
Yes; I did.
Mr. Eisenberg.
Could you show us those diagrams?
Mr. Frazier.
In this diagram.
Mr. Eisenberg.
Excuse me just a second, Mr. Frazier. Were these diagrams prepared by you?
Mr. Frazier.
Yes; they were not the actual physical diagrams, but the figures on the diagrams were furnished by me to the draftsman.
Mr. Eisenberg.
Mr. Chairman, may I introduce these diagrams as Commission Exhibits Nos. 546 and 547?
Mr. Mccloy.
They may be admitted.
(The documents referred to were marked Commission Exhibits Nos. 546 and 547, and were received in evidence.)
Mr. Eisenberg.
Could you give us the results of your tests by using these diagrams, Mr. Frazier?
Mr. Frazier.
Yes, sir.
In this test, Commission Exhibit 546, the diagram illustrates the positions on the floor at which cartridge cases landed after being extracted and ejected from the rifle, Commission's Exhibit 139. In the top portion of Exhibit 546, the barrel was held depressed at a 45-degree angle, and in the lower half of the exhibit it shows the pattern with the barrel held in a horizontal position. Each spot marked with a figure on the diagram shows where one cartridge case landed in both instances, and each one is marked with the distance and the angle to which the cartridge case was ejected.
With the barrel held in the depressed condition, all of the cartridge cases landed within an 85-inch circle located 80 degrees to the right front of the rifle. That may be confusing. It was 80 degrees to the right from the line of sight of the rifle and at a distance of 86 inches from the ejection port.
Now, this circle will not necessarily encompass all cartridge cases ejected from the rifle, since the ejection is determined, not only by the angle of the weapon, but more by the force with which the bolt is operated. A very light force on the bolt can cause the cartridge case to tip gently out and fall at your feet. However, under normal conditions of reloading in a fairly rapid manner, we found the cartridge cases to land in this circle.
The same situation is true of the test made with the muzzle in the horizontal condition.
All of the cartridge cases landed within a 47-inch circle, which was located at right angles to the ejection port, or 90 degrees from the line of sight, and at a distance 80 inches from the ejection port.
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