Why the first shot missed

[Charles Collins]

Marina only said he was dry firing the weapon, not that he was pointing it at cars.

From page 1004 (of my Kindle version) of “Reclaiming History” by Vincent Bugliosi:

One evening at the end of August Marina returned from a twilight stroll with June and found Lee on their screened-in side porch, kneeling on one knee, aiming his rifle into the street and working the bolt—dry firing. 1365.

Footnote 1365. ​1 H 21–22, WCT Marina N. Oswald; McMillan, Marina and Lee, pp.451–452; CE 1154, 22 H 190.

I don’t remember if someone else wrote that there were actually passing cars in the street in New Orleans in 1963, or if I just assumed that. Either way, Marina did say that he spent a lot of time doing this on the darkened porch. If anyone wants to think that he didn’t aim at any passing cars during that time, that is their prerogative. But I have a differing opinion.

[Gerry Down]

From page 1004 (of my Kindle version) of “Reclaiming History” by Vincent Bugliosi:

One evening at the end of August Marina returned from a twilight stroll with June and found Lee on their screened-in side porch, kneeling on one knee, aiming his rifle into the street and working the bolt—dry firing. 1365.

Footnote 1365. ​1 H 21–22, WCT Marina N. Oswald; McMillan, Marina and Lee, pp.451–452; CE 1154, 22 H 190.

I don’t remember if someone else wrote that there were actually passing cars in the street in New Orleans in 1963, or if I just assumed that. Either way, Marina did say that he spent a lot of time doing this on the darkened porch. If anyone wants to think that he didn’t aim at any passing cars during that time, that is their prerogative. But I have a differing opinion.

Interesting.

Though from that porch, which is recessed back off the house, I'm not sure how long he'd be able to track each car as it passed in the street.

It would make an interesting experiment to see how many seconds would he have to track each car before his view of each car became obstructed by the corners of the houses to his left and right on his side of the street.

I'd imagine cars would be traveling slow enough on that street.

[Charles Collins]

Interesting.

Though from that porch, which is recessed back off the house, I'm not sure how long he'd be able to track each car as it passed in the street.

It would make an interesting experiment to see how many seconds would he have to track each car before his view of each car became obstructed by the corners of the houses to his left and right on his side of the street.

I'd imagine cars would be traveling slow enough on that street.

Yes, the field of view was limited and the speed of the cars would be varied. So the available time to track the cars would be varied also. I think that this would be a challenge that LHO would like. It would be similar to the challenge of skeet or trap shooting. Testing and practicing of LHO’s very fast reflexes (described by Robert Oswald) comes to mind for this challenge. He would have to react quickly to acquire the moving target in his sights and pull the trigger (dry firing) before the car left the field of view. I don’t see how he could have anticipated that this practice would come in handy on 11/22/63. But it sure seems to me that it did.

[John Iacoletti]

From page 1004 (of my Kindle version) of “Reclaiming History” by Vincent Bugliosi:

One evening at the end of August Marina returned from a twilight stroll with June and found Lee on their screened-in side porch, kneeling on one knee, aiming his rifle into the street and working the bolt—dry firing. 1365.

Footnote 1365. ​1 H 21–22, WCT Marina N. Oswald; McMillan, Marina and Lee, pp.451–452; CE 1154, 22 H 190.

This is why you should always check primary sources. 22H190 says nothing about Oswald doing this. And Marina’s testimony says nothing about dry firing.

Mrs. OSWALD. No. I know for sure that he didn't. But I know that we had a kind of a porch with a---screened-in porch, and I know that sometimes evenings after dark he would sit there with his rifle. I don't know what he did with it. I came there by chance once and saw him just sitting there with his rifle. I thought he is merely sitting there and resting. Of course I didn't like these kind of little jokes.
. . .
Mr. RANKIN. You have described your husband's practicing on the hack porch at New Orleans with the telescopic scope and the rifle, saying he did that very regularly there.
Did you ever see him working the bolt, that action that opens the rifle, where you can put a shell in and push it back- during those times?
Mrs. OSWALD. I did not see it, because it was dark, and I would be in the room at that time.
But I did hear the noise from it from time to time not often.

[Charles Collins]

This is why you should always check primary sources. 22H190 says nothing about Oswald doing this. And Marina’s testimony says nothing about dry firing.

Mrs. OSWALD. No. I know for sure that he didn't. But I know that we had a kind of a porch with a---screened-in porch, and I know that sometimes evenings after dark he would sit there with his rifle. I don't know what he did with it. I came there by chance once and saw him just sitting there with his rifle. I thought he is merely sitting there and resting. Of course I didn't like these kind of little jokes.
. . .
Mr. RANKIN. You have described your husband's practicing on the hack porch at New Orleans with the telescopic scope and the rifle, saying he did that very regularly there.
Did you ever see him working the bolt, that action that opens the rifle, where you can put a shell in and push it back- during those times?
Mrs. OSWALD. I did not see it, because it was dark, and I would be in the room at that time.
But I did hear the noise from it from time to time not often.

This is why you should always check primary sources. 22H190 says nothing about Oswald doing this. And Marina’s testimony says nothing about dry firing.

You should always check the primary claim. My statement says nothing about Marina testifying to this. And, you very conveniently left out Bugliosi’s other listed source (“Marina and Lee”) indicated in his footnote.

[John Iacoletti]

This is why you should always check primary sources. 22H190 says nothing about Oswald doing this. And Marina’s testimony says nothing about dry firing.

You should always check the primary claim. My statement says nothing about Marina testifying to this. And, you very conveniently left out Bugliosi’s other listed source (“Marina and Lee”) indicated in his footnote.

It’s Bugliosi’s claim, and he cited Marina’s testimony. And no, “Marina and Lee” says nothing about dry firing either.

[John Iacoletti]

[Charles Collins]

It’s Bugliosi’s claim, and he cited Marina’s testimony. And no, “Marina and Lee” says nothing about dry firing either.

It doesn’t matter who’s claim it is. My claim only says that LHO reportedly did this. If you don’t like that Bugliosi reported it. That’s your freaking problem.