W. VA Sniper Update

"CHARLESTON, W.Va.--Investigators said Thursday that ballistics tests showed all three victims in a series of sniper-style slayings at area convenience stores were killed by the same weapon.
Charleston Police Chief Jerry Pauley said the victims were shot in the head or neck by a .22-caliber rifle.
''It does positively link the three bullets together. They all three came from the same weapon,'' he said. ''Now that we know it came from the same weapon, we've got a direction to go in.'' "

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-shoot22.html

If only they had a database of 22 ballistic fingerprints...or a registry of those with 22 rifles to cross-reference....

we had cameras on every street corner, DNA indices for each person, and little satellite trackers,.....

I suspect quite a few snipers are smart enough not to use a weapon traceable to them.

Want to know who may own a 22 lr gun? Try looking at the voter rolls.

22LRs are notorious for deforming the bullets when loading and firing them because the bullets are almost pure lead. In other words, you can deform a .22 bullet by rubbing it with your fingernail. Certainly striking bone would deform it beyond recognition, as is likely when hitting somebody in the head.

Now, it's possible that they linked them by using MSA to the same batch of lead, but given that bullet runs tend to be in the millions if not 10s of millions, and that the ammo loaded with them tends to go out in batches (for example, 500,000 rounds to a single Wal-mart), well...

Now, it's possible that they linked them by using MSA to the same batch of lead, but given that bullet runs tend to be in the millions if not 10s of millions, and that the ammo loaded with them tends to go out in batches (for example, 500,000 rounds to a single Wal-mart), well...

The FBI lab has come under criticism for their program of "using chemical analysis of bullet lead to match bullets to the gun they were fired from and even to the ammunition box they came from."

"It seems that contrary to what FBI agents have testified to in court the past few decades, bullets that appear chemically identical can come from different batches of lead. "

"FBI experts have testified repeatedly in court that each time lead is melted and cast, its composition changes just enough to create a unique chemical signature for each batch.....Recent scientific studies have concluded that this premise is wrong."

"....the researchers said, bullets created from the same block of lead can appear unrelated and bullets produced years apart can appear virtually identical. "

http://www.talkleft.com/archives/002149.html

It's a well known fact that lead 22 rimfire bullets are among the most difficult bullets to get a ballistic match from. The problem is that the soft lead composition of the bullet deforms so readily on impact that it greatly distorts the markings left by the barrel on the bullet. As far as I know the only thing harder to get a ballistic match from would be shot pellets fired from a smoothbore shotgun.

have zero knowledge on the viability of "ballistic finger printing", and common rifle calibers.

Do you have any clue how many different caliber rifles and pistols shoot a .22 caliber bullet?

22 LR
22 WMR
218 Bee
221 Fireball
22 Benchrest
22 Hornet
222 Rem
222 Rem Mag
220 Swift
22-250 Rem
223 Rem
223 Ackley Improved
225 Win
22 PPC

Even if ballistic fingerprinting did work, who would be stupid enough to use a gun with the "fingerprint" on file?
They would simply distort the barrel enough to alter the "print", and go right on committing the criminal act they're going to commit regardless of what we do.

If it was a 223,thay would be flashing AR-15 all over the news.

You are right about ballistic fingerprinting,is does not work.

with a stainless tornado brush and shazam, new fingerprint!

that there was no way to trace these bullets...

hate to break it to you...but there is no way to trace these bullets.

Sorry to break your bubble.

THAT's how they know they all came from the same gun....

what...nevermind So, they have a pile of used brass. How are they going to use that to find the killer?

and I hear it every damn day...as this news story shows...

oh, wait a minute. You ARE!

It's not ME sniveling and whining in this thread...it's the RKBA crowd.

no way to trace them today either!!!

and the GOP...

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Do shoot off a flare if you ever get near an actual fact.

I need the light so I don't step in that pile of horseshit.

like the lady with the Palmolive...you're soaking in it.....

Gotta be thousands.

If they are really .22 cal. then (not .223 etc.), other than saying they came from the same gun, there's probably not much they will be able to tell.

If they do have the brass, it might be easier to tie them to a specific gun based on firing pin marks. But the lead in a .22 deforms so much, even with only soft tissue damage, that signature rifling marks are almost always seriously damaged.

That explains in part, along with the ability to effectively silence the gun, why the .22 has become the hit mans weapon of choice for organized crime.

Agreed on a previous post, thousands sold every year by Wally World alone and other retailers adding to the count. Some models for under $75. A Marlin semi auto, with a 6X scope for under $100 (cheap scope)

Based on what they have said so far this is a long way from an "assault" rifle. It's a damn squirrel gun and sounds like a copycat or wannabe.

In the meantime I'll take all the descriptions with a real grain of salt after everyone in DC was looking for a middle aged white male gun nut in a white van for two months.

Don

If only they had a database of 22 ballistic fingerprints...or a registry of those with 22 rifles to cross-reference....

So then they could solve just as many crimes as New York and Maryland have with their ballistic "fingerprint database" program.

ZERO! NONE! ZIPPO! ZILCH!