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Ballistic Fingerprint ??

Redtail
Would cutting 2 or 3 inches off the muzzle end of a gun barrel change the ballistic fingerprint enough to render it unrecognizable as compared to previously fired bullets?
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • countryfarmer
    Possibly but it would also screw up the accuracy unless you have the tooling to recrown the muzzle right.
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  • machine gun moran
    Fired bullets are matched to the gun by class characteristics and then by unique characteristics. The class characteristics are groove and land proportions, twist rates, and the like, and will only narrow the suspect firearm into a 'class', or guns that were made the same way. Which gun in that class of guns becomes further suspect, depends on the individual characteristics in the rifling. These are produced by micro-chips or other verdigris in the rifling forming equipment, and by bore wear, and even by cleaning. The individual characteristics will continue to change with continued use of the gun or repeated cleanings, with only the class characteristics remaining constant. To be sure of making a good match, the suspect gun must be examined before it has been shot much more, or even cleaned much more. A suspect gun which has seen considerable firing or cleaning will see a change in bore characteristics that will increasingly reduce the match from certain to probable to only possible, destroying that aspect of evidentiary value.

    Fired cartridge case will have unique impressions left on them by the firing pins, extractors, ejectors, breech faces, and even by magazines, so even cleaning a gun barrel with sand, or having the gun completely rebarreled, won't prevent identification. Every part of the gun that contacted any part of the ammunition will have to be re-machined.

    This is all textbook, and is available from any Law Enforcement college.

    The abilities of firearms and tool examiners to match things is the reason why the Mob started using 'drop guns' way back when.

    I believe the only need for eliminating a gun's 'matchability' to a bullet or a cartridge case, is to conceal its use in a crime in a civil society where it could become trial evidence. Everyone should be aware, however, that 'the long arm of the Law' gained that name for a reason, and Cops can prove things even where a suspected firearm has been turned into a puddle with an acetylene torch. To ignore this is the one sure way to get one's anal sphincter subjected to the ravages of prison. Be[8D].
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  • Redtail
    In other words,you don't know either.
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  • JohnStimson
    If there were no characteristics in those last two or three inches that was leaving distinctive markings and /or the crown for what ever reason had been leaving a distinctive mark, then the answer would be no unless you did something with the new crown that caused a distinctive marking to be engraved on the bullet that was different from the original crown.
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  • joel_black
    I was actually impressed by his answer and I taught a college level crimalistics lab course.
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  • cwi555
    quote:Originally posted by Redtail
    In other words,you don't know either.


    He does in fact know. His post made that crystal clear. I believe you have mist the significance of the answer.
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  • machine gun moran
    Perhaps Redtail already has an anal sphincter problem. There was sure something that he didn't like about the answer.[:D]
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  • Redtail
    I found about two inches of a stainless steel revolver barrel in a remote area near a gravel road that is frequented by hoodlums.There have been a couple safes from robberies and one dead body found there in the last 20 years plus one rape victom left for dead that lived to help convict her assailant.
    I ask about the ballistic thing because I couldn't figure another reason for the piece to be there.
    M.G.M's reply,though impressive didn't answer my question.He mentioned shooting and cleaning but not cutting.
    Thank you,JohnStimson for not beating around the bush.
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  • nmyers
    I can think of another reason for a mope to cut a couple inches off of a revolver barrel: When you jam a gun with a 6" barrel into the waistband of your trousers, it HURTS when you try to sit down.

    Neal
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  • joel_black
    Redtail,
    Given where you found it, I strongly urge you to turn it in to the State Police. To answer your original question, the tiny bits of metal that probably intrude into the new muzzle area can add new striations to a bullet and can be used to confuse a jury, but the cut off section can easily be matched to the remaining barrel and Mikrosil can be used to match it to a bullet fired before the amputation.
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