JFK: Shot by Frangible Ammunition

Let us start off in a review.  In November the REELZ channel ran a documentary that was a compilation of 2 books (Fatal Error by Bonner Menninger and JFK: The Smoking gun by Colin McLarin) that took a theory presented by "Ballistics Expert"  Howard Donahue who was on a test team of shooters in the 80s on trying to prove or dis-porove that Oswald was the lone gun man.  By the way he was the only one to duplicate the shots Oswald took on his second attempt.

His theory states that Secret Service Agent George Hickey was sitting on the folded down roof of the trail car that was following behind Kennedy's limo, and after Oswald shot Kennedy in the back of the neck the car sped up to follow Kennedy's limo SSA Hickey then fell back and fired an AR-15 which then shot Kennedy in the back of the head and killed him.  (See my post already disproving this dated Dec. 16, 2013 SSA hickey killed JFK...... I don't think so.)  Also in this theory it states that George Hickey had Frangible ammunition in the rifle that he killed Kennedy with.  That is why the round broke apart after entering President Kennedy's skull.  This is where my post today will continue examining the Frangible ammunition theory.

If you do not know what Frangible ammunition is, in a nut shell here is the explanation:

From notes and attendance to various schools I have learned the following:

This round was invented utilizing porcelain for the bullet part of the cartridge.  This round was a short range training round to be utilized in "Close Quarter Combat", "SWAT" Operations, and Military Operations on Urban Terrain live fire training.  The reason for the porcelain was to prevent ricochets, and also when it hit a steel target it would then crumble into powder.  Where as the A071 M-193 5.56 x 45 mm round of the day would splatter when hitting a steel target.  Thus possibly injuring shooters.

Above to the left is A071 M-193 5.56 for the M-16A1 with 1x12 barrel and to the right is 

A059 M-855(Currently used) with steel penetrator and used in M-16a2 and M-4 weapons with 1x7 twist barrels

At first this porcelain round was working wonders as far as training went.  It did not harm the Steel targets, it was easier on shooting houses, and these could be used forever.  However a training accident involving a soldier being hit occurred. When the hit individual was taken to the hospital the bullet did not show up on the x-ray and basically the surgeon had to poke and hope to find the round.  To fix this copper was added to the porcelain mix.  With this further instances of accidental shootings the bullets showed up like Neon on X-rays.

To the left is a 9x19mm Frangible round and to the right is a 5.56x45mm round

With that all said and done I will get to the show.  The narrator of the show, Bonner Menninger, and Colin McLarin all stated the Frangible ammunition theory.  This really bothered me for a number of reasons.  First off the Nomenclature for Frangible 5.56mm ammunition in the military is:  AA40 Ctg 5.56mm Short Range Training Frangible.  The reason I know this is from my previous life.  As far as I am concerned and have knowledge of from 1990 to 2003 the military didn't have any go to war frangible ammunition.  If you were shooting someone you were doing it with A071 M193 or A059 M-855 or a variant there of.  So my question here why would the Secret Service use a Short Range Training Round?  The Max effective range for the frangible 5.56 that I have from personal notes is 200 meters which is about half of that of regular rounds.  Another thing that bothered me is the shattering of the round.  First off Frangible usually does not shatter unless it hits steel.  I have seen Frange go through 4x4s 2x6s etc and come out whole.  This could be achieved by so many other ways and will take these on in a later post.  One of these I will cover now and that is the Dum Dum round.  It is a flattened round with an X cut in the head.  It was utilized at the Attica Prison riots and a few other police incursions in the 60s.  Also this round was banned for military use in the Geneva and Hague conventions.

The frangible theory really bothered me.  For some reason it just kept gnawing at me and I kept wondering if in fact Frangible ammo could have even been around at that time.  For some reason a date in the 70s kept popping into my head for when it was first offered.  I then dug up some notes that I had and they showed 1972.    I looked it up on the internet and a few references showed 1974.  Either way this is 9 and 11 years after JFKs assassination that frangible ammunition came to be.

I will conclude this post with the following Synopsis.  This is the second fact that I have taken from JFK: The Smoking Gun, and I am not a professional reporter or investigator but for the second time I have blown a presented fact out of the water.  I think people need to check their facts before getting the check for their book.

(This is an FYI and has nothing to do with this post other than to educate.)  Pictured here is a latter design of Frangible ammunition which has better range due to the metal jacket over the frangible bullet.  This is what is referred to as "The New Green" ammo and has a max effective range in the area between 300-400 meters.  I have not tested it for accuracy or even shot it yet.  I have 200 rounds which I will be testing for accuracy later and posting.