Who Killed J.D. Tippit?

[Walt Cakebread]

Gerald Hill’s lame excuse notwithstanding, a veteran police officer could have easily distinguished an automatic shell and a revolver shell by looking at it.

Very true.... But Hill was no Einstein .....   He may have seen the word "special" and assumed that meant "automatic."

[Bill Brown]

Why would a veteran police officer report on something he hadn’t seen?

What is so difficult about this?  He was aware that shells were found at the scene.  That almost always means they were automatically ejected from the weapon as each round was fired.  He reported accordingly.

What's the purpose of this?  Are you trying to argue that the shells were automatics?

[John Iacoletti]

What it means is that Hill was either grossly incompetent, or Benavides showed him three automatic shells in a cigarette wrapper.

[Bill Brown]

What it means is that Hill was either grossly incompetent, or Benavides showed him three automatic shells in a cigarette wrapper.

Well... Benavides turned the shells over to Poe, not Hill.  So.... what now?  Hill can't be incompetent?  He admitted as much.

[Mitch Todd]

"The .38 S&W is slightly larger diameter than .38 special."

The .38 special cartridge is LONGER..... NOT larger in diameter than the old .38 cartridge.   The projectile diameter for the old .38 was .359", ( the projectile for the .38 Special  is .357") and the case length was 0.78". So the chamber in the cylinder had to be bored  .375"deeper to accommodate the longer .38 special.

Wholly Geez, Walt! Go back and re-read what I wrote.

That is, re-read what I wrote and what you quoted.

That is, re-read what I wrote and what you quoted and put in italics

That is, re-read what I wrote and what you quoted and put in italics and then in boldface just to be sure.

That is, re-read the sentence "The .38 S&W is slightly larger diameter than .38 special."

Note that it says that .38 S&W is slightly larger in diameter than .38 special.

Note that I said nothing about which cartridge was longer, only the .38 S&W is larger in diameter than .38 special.

[Mitch Todd]

Gerald Hill’s lame excuse notwithstanding, a veteran police officer could have easily distinguished an automatic shell and a revolver shell by looking at it.

There are plenty of revolvers that fire "automatic" cartridges, and plenty of semiautos that fire "revolver" cartridges. The Smith and Wesson model 52 was a contemporary automatic pistol that was chambered in .38 special. They were surprisingly popular back in the day, especially among target shooters. Colt made a version of the 1911 Gold Cup that was chambered in .38 special. There were a number of others as well, IIRC.

[John Iacoletti]

Well... Benavides turned the shells over to Poe, not Hill.  So.... what now?  Hill can't be incompetent?  He admitted as much.

Well, he had to come up with some lame excuse for the discrepancy. But he did say that Poe showed him the shells.

[Bill Brown]

Well, he had to come up with some lame excuse for the discrepancy. But he did say that Poe showed him the shells.

Are you arguing in favor of the shells being automatics?