Mr. Eisenberg. For the record, this is the rifle which was found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building on November 22.
Can you describe this rifle by name and caliber?
Mr. Frazier. It is a caliber 6.5 Italian military rifle, commonly referred to in the United States as a 6.5 mm. Mannlicher-Carcano.
It is a bolt-action clip-fed military rifle.
Do you wish a general physical description of the weapon at this time?
Mr. Eisenberg. Well, no; not at this time.
Can you explain the American equivalent to the 6.5 mm. caliber?
Mr. Frazier. That is the same as .25 caliber. Such weapons in the United States as the .25-20 Winchester, .25-35, the .250 Savage, and the .257 Roberts, are all of the same barrel diameter, or approximately the same barrel diameter. So a decimal figure of .257 inch is the equivalent of 6.5 mm.
Mr. Eisenberg. And can you explain what the caliber is a measure of?
Mr. Frazier. The caliber is the measure of the distance across the raised portions or the lands in the barrel. The groove diameter, or the spirals cut in the barrel to form the rifling, will be slightly larger—in this case between 7/1000ths and 8/1000ths of an inch larger than the actual bore diameter.