CE 139 rifle, Life BYP rifle, and Lt Day at TSBD rifle comparison

by John Butler

Jim Hargrove provided this fine photo for Educational Forum viewers as an example of the differences between the rifle as seen in the Warren Commission’s rifle photo, CE 139, and the rifle seen in LIFE magazine's Backyard Photo, CE 133-A.

If you look at these two photos closely you will begin to notice a number of differences between the two rifles.  Chief amongst these is the size of the scope.  The size is different indicating the scopes are not the same, hence the rifles are not the same.  The following photo adds the Mannlicher Carcano found at the TSBD and is held in this photo by Lt. Day of the Identification Bureau of the Dallas Police.

A rough estimate of the size differences can be seen by using the red vertical lines.  The Life BYP scope is smaller.  The size difference is noticeable and cannot be attributed to any significant differences in the orientation or size of the photos.  A simple screen measurement provides the information that the BYP scope is 12 mm shorter than the WC scope.  Odds are that a more sophisticated analysis will result in a similar conclusion.

One could stop with the analysis of these photos based on the legal principle of reasonable doubt, falsum in uno, falsum in omibus--false in one, false in everything.  This principle applies to the Life BYP photo showing an alleged Lee Harvey Oswald holding the assassin’s rifle.  It is a false image created by a conspiracy to frame the person known as Lee Harvey Oswald as the future assassin of President Kennedy. Framing Harvey Oswald, killed at the Dallas Police Station and generally known as Lee Harvey Oswald, implies that there was a conspiracy in place to kill the president before the assassination on Nov. 22, 1963.

Another easily noticeable feature of these photos is that the rifle scopes are different in the three photos.  The rifle and scope appearing the most different is the Lt. Day at the TSBD rifle photo.  This is better illustrated by an image taken from Chris Bristow from the Educational Forum which has greater clarity than the WC rifle shown above.

One can conclude from this brief look at the 3 rifle photos that the size of the scopes is different and their appearance is different which says the three rifles portrayed are different from each other in regards to the scopes.

Another thing that is easily seen in these photos is the tilt of the scope.  In the WC rifle scope and the TSBD scope the tilt is roughly the same.  The BYP scope’s tilt is different.  Once again it is an outlier in the comparison of the three scopes.

One can see in this photo above that the curve of the butt stock is different in the Life BYP photo than that seen in the other photos.  This may simply be a product of perceived shadows in different versions of CE 133-A.  Or, it could be a real difference.  You can decide on this issue for yourself.

As you can see the left-hand photo, Life’s BYP, has a very light shadow angling off from the rear of the stock.  This gives the curved appearance to the butt stock.  The right-hand photo is different and shows a darker shadow angling off from the butt stock.  This was first seen by Sandy Larsen, a respected Kennedy researcher, and that gave him cause to doubt the curved aspect of the stock.  The right-hand photo calls into question the validity of the curved butt stock in the BYP photo.

The right-hand photo adds to the falseness of the Life BYP by introducing another conflicting shadow in a photo that has many conflicting shadow directions.

The last thing to look at is an enlarged crop of the scope and bolt area in the Life photo of the Oswald figure.  That offers a few other peculiarities of note.

No. 1 has several, red horizontal lines that indicate something is wrong with the levelness of the scope.  It suggests that the scope maybe a cut and paste addition to the rifle.  This notion is further strengthened by idea that the scope is shorter than the WC rifle scope.

No. 2 concerns the bolt handle as seen in the Life Backyard Photo CE 133-A.  This handle is not only weird, but it may be a one of a kind.  It looks like a downward extension has added to the handle by painting one there.  The challenge to those who disbelieve is to find another bolt handle that looks like that.

No.’s 3 through 5 have to do with the abnormal appearance of the Oswald figure’s hand.  What  an actual hand looks like holding a rifle is illustrated by Lt. J. C. Day:

   
Notice how Day’s left hand at the right side of this photo has the knuckles at the top of the hand in a row.  We do not see this with No. 5 on the Oswald figures knuckles.  It is impossible for there to be shadows or spaces between those knuckles.  Those two outside fingers do not align with the rest of the hand.

No. 6 has a shadow that doesn’t look right for the photo but is a shadow under the forearm of the Oswald figure and is normal and moving in the same direction as the shadow of the butt stock on the figure’s trousers.