Mr. Eisenberg. Now, if you had aimed at the center of the President's head, and given a 3-inch lead, again eliminating other errors, where would you have hit, if you hit accurately?
Mr. Frazier. It would be 3 inches below the center of his head—from the top—it would be not the actual center from the back, but the center would be located high. The bullet would strike at possibly the base of the skull.
Mr. Eisenberg. Now, suppose you had given no lead at all and aimed at that target and aimed accurately. Where would the bullet have hit?
Mr. Frazier. It would hit the base of the neck—approximately 6 inches below the center of the head.
Mr. Eisenberg. Mr. Frazier, would you have tried to give a lead at all, if you had been in that position?
Mr. Frazier. At that range, at that distance, 175 to 265 feet, with this rifle and that telescopic sight, I would not have allowed any lead—I would not have made any correction for lead merely to hit a target of that size.
Mr. McCloy. May I ask a question?
In your experimentation, in your firing of those shots that you have testified to a little while back, when you fired the first shot, was the shot in the chamber, or did you have to push it into the chamber by use of the bolt?
Mr. Frazier. This was fired with a loaded chamber, and timed from the time of this first shot until the last shot.
Mr. McCloy. Did you shoot offhand or did you shoot with a rest?