knowing what gun fired the shot

[packnrat]

on the tube the cops say the gun that fired the shot..by make and model

Is this possable.?

I thought only the cal


.

[pingpong]

Between the casing and bullet, I'm sure ballistic forensics can figure out which type of gun it came from.

[Fjold]

If it has unusual rifling in the barrel maybe. Combinations like left hand twist, twist rate, number of grooves, ratchet rifling, in particular calibers may be able to narrow it down.

[Riodog]

Depends upon the specific crime lab BUT yes they can tell you just about everything except for the serial number. (that might nbe in the future).
Rio

[Booshanky]

Yeah, how exactly do they figure that out? If they only have a bullet, no casing, is it possible to tie that down to a certain gun?

What about guns that use polygonal rifling rather than the norm, like Glocks and HK's?

[JHC]

What if the bullet came from a rifle that had started life as a different caliber but had been rebarreled in something else (Yugo M48 sporterized into .308)? Might throw them for a loop.

[Mike's Custom]

Generally no. I watched one show where the woman CI looked at the bullet and told make model and cal. Certain guns can be determined by the size and number of lands and grooves. They may be specific to certian models but generally it will take some time. Just like on CSI Miami they get DNA results back in minutes. Or they search the national database for finger prints and find the owner in seconds. Just doens't happen that way.

This above misinformation is why we have so many stupid guns laws. People watch TV and see a full auto shoot thousands of rounds when it has a 20 round mag and would be empty in about 2 seconds. "Well knowbody needs a gun like that"... and I have heard people say that. Then you explain to them that the gun they just saw shoots full auto at a rate of 900 rounds per minute and that 20 round mag would be empty in about 1.5 seconds.

I did see on "Life" detective Cruise had his gun over to the LT and before he did so he removed the mag and ejected the round in the chamber and hten looked inside before he handed it over. Now that is what the shows should show to the public. And they should stop calling semi autos "automatics".

[SJgunguy24]

Ever wonder why most brand new guns come with spent shells? Some states require that 1 spent case and bullet go into the state's database. Yes it's very easy to tell what kind of gun fired the bullet. Guns leave "finger prints" on the bullets and casings. With all of the criminal cases that have been run through the F.B.I. and various L.E.A. around the country they have a wealth of info to cross check.

As for changing calibers or barrels...........why would anyone do that?


Did you know the F.B.I. has a database for just about every style and type of shoe and boot sole that is sold in North America.

[user5412]

Change the barrel, ejector, and give the firing pin hole area a good scrub with wool, and wha-la, you have a "new" gun.

Those programs where they sent a fired bullet and shell have proved useless in identifying a gun. Only a small percentage of crimes are solved using the database. In fact, in some states they want to get rid of it because it has proved useless and enormously expensive.

[Seesm]

Change the barrel, ejector, and give the firing pin hole area a good scrub with wool, and wha-la, you have a "new" gun.

Those programs where they sent a fired bullet and shell have proved useless in identifying a gun. Only a small percentage of crimes are solved using the database. In fact, in some states they want to get rid of it because it has proved useless and enormously expensive.

Here here.... SO ...seriously is the spent shell in my .40 Springfields case really in some data base?

Hhhmm I thought it was just a factory "test" shot?

...Yes no maybe?

[CSDGuy]

Change the barrel, ejector, and give the firing pin hole area a good scrub with wool, and wha-la, you have a "new" gun.

Those programs where they sent a fired bullet and shell have proved useless in identifying a gun. Only a small percentage of crimes are solved using the database. In fact, in some states they want to get rid of it because it has proved useless and enormously expensive.

My understanding of the ballistic fingerprinting programs in the other (2) states that have it, is that it has helped solve only 1 crime... and that could/would have been solved without that specific evidence generated by the ballistic fingerprinting program anyway. I think it was/is the Maryland State Police that wants to get rid of the program...

[trinydex]

What if the bullet came from a rifle that had started life as a different caliber but had been rebarreled in something else (Yugo M48 sporterized into .308)? Might throw them for a loop.

i would guess this ends up making it easier to identify the gun though.... such a combination would be more rare than some off the shelf configuration.

[CSDGuy]

Knowing certain details about a bullet and casing may lead an investigator towards a certain type of firearm, and possibly a specific brand/model of firearm. Beyond that, they'd be doing the normal stuff they'd have to do anyway, so if they ever find the weapon, they'd be able to compare from that...

[Axewound]

its extremely hard, they usually put that shell casing or recovered bullet into NIBIS.

they never say we have a "match" but rather they have similar charactersitics

[BaronW]

I imagine they can say if a given gun is the source of a given projectile and casing. Working back from bullet to gun I can only see them saying "this rifling profile is consistent with a glock polygonally-rifled barrel" or what have you.