The shots were at 175, 240, and 270 feet[1]. It had a 4x scope[2].

[1] https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh17/h...

[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20110724214814/http://www.aarcli...

In metric: 53.34m, 73.15m, 82.29m.

All sub-100 meter shots, easily achievable with a scoped rifle with 4x magnification and a bit of practice.

TIL what “point blank” actually means.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-blank_range

Same; I always thought it essentially just meant "shot at such a close range that you can't miss". (Though I expect most people do actually use it that way, even if it's incorrect.)

Ha, I had always assumed it meant something on the order of inches.

Finally something useful to be gained from this whole thread. That was a TIL for me as well.

For the record, a "marine sharpshooter" is an almost meaningless term. Virtually any physically healthy person is capable of meeting this bar with an hour or two of practice. It sounds way more impressive than it is. Oswald was in no way a highly skilled shooter. In fact, he had extremely basic firearms skills.

He won awards for marksmanship. I agree it isn't a hard skill to learn, but it's still takes some effort.

Seriously, one has to be a total bolo to not get an award for marksmanship. Everyone walks through the training and if orders are followed and one is not a total klutz, the award is Marksman "on a marksman/sharpshooter/expert scale."

During his Marine Corps service in December 1956, Oswald scored a rating of sharpshooter (twice achieving 48 and 49 out of 50 shots during rapid fire at a stationary target 200 yards [183 m] away using a standard issue M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle), although in May 1959, he qualified as a marksman (a lower classification than that of sharpshooter). [0]

0. https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/John_F._Kennedy_assassination...

While he was at San Diego, Oswald was trained in the use of the M-1 rifle. His practice scores were not very good, but when his company fired for record on December 21, he scored 212, 2 points above the score necessary to qualify as a "sharpshooter" on a marksman/sharpshooter/expert scale. He did not do nearly as well when he fired for record again shortly before he left the Marines. He practiced also with a riot gun and a .45-caliber pistol when he was in the Marines but no scores were recorded. [1]

1. https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-repo...

It was not an "award for marksmanship" by any definition and it requires far less effort than learning to drive a car or ride a bicycle. What's the point in being obtuse here?

Hitting a moving target is really hard.