Multiple Barrels, Fired Shell Casing

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  • MrWhiteRabbit

    Firefighter Gone Awry
    Sep 23, 2007
    1,122
    Maybe I've been watching too many CSI shows, but this idea came to mind...

    Let's say someone buys a Glock chambered in .40. Glock barrels are interchangeable, so what would happen if they later buy a 9mm barrel, use it in a crime, dispose of the 9mm barrel, and put the .40 barrel back in?

    They wouldn't necessarily be a suspect (because the .40 caliber is on the state record books, and of course they don't even own a 9mm). If someone searches their house, they'd find the .40 that was on the books, but who would go the extra mile to search for a standalone barrel? I don't even think that secondary barrels for pistols are regulated, are they?

    Too much time off for the holidays = too much CSI = too many questions. :)
     

    MrWhiteRabbit

    Firefighter Gone Awry
    Sep 23, 2007
    1,122
    Mods please delete my reference to "fired shell casing" in the title and this message.

    The fingers are faster than the brain at times.
     

    Numidian

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    Jul 25, 2007
    5,337
    Shrewsbury, PA
    Well...sounds like you figured out the perfect murder weapon... Go try it out and see :sarcasm:

    They prosecute on a lot more then just ballistic "fingerprinting"...

    Not to mention you better be buying all of your 9mm stuff private party, otherwise it would show up on the books somewhere if someone looked hard enough.
     

    novus collectus

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    May 1, 2005
    17,358
    Bowie
    This was a plot of a 1973 Colombo episode I saw as a kid. It was a caliber conversion barrel insert some guy used in a handgun, but he did not hide the caliber converion barrel insert good enough and Columbo found it hidden in a lamp in his office where he kept his gun collection.
     

    Qbeam

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 16, 2008
    6,074
    Georgia
    Well, if they have the shell casing, maybe they would get a match from the firing pin mark on the 9mm, and put 2 and 2 together, and run a credit card or shipping check at the OEM and Aftermarket barrel manufactures, they may have "circumstantial" evidence. Whether it would hold up in court, and whether they could do the match (the firing pin mark on most common firearms would be so close, that it would be hard to justify).

    Are the casing markings that different? I can understand barrel/bullet ballistic matching, but casings? The whole casing issue seems futile because of the differences in brass/steel/aluminum would not lend itself to make a consistent mark. Never bought a pistol in Maryland, and haven't seen the logic in the casing law.

    This would all be academic if it was a used pistol, or brought in when the person moved to Maryland.:innocent0
     

    alucard0822

    For great Justice
    Oct 29, 2007
    17,643
    PA
    Most criminals don't even bother, the gun is almost never purchased legally, and in many cases was imported illegally, so tracking the serial number wouldn't help, and that is assuming they used a gun in the first place, and not a knife, bat, pipe, hammer, fists, or most any other weapon. The gun is also not likely to be recovered, and there is a good likelyhood that simple wear makes the fired casing database useless. About all that can be done is matching a fired bullet to a recovered gun, and having the slim chance the serial number can be traced to someone who didn't have it stolen years ago. There is a reason why there has only been a single conviction "assisted" by the multi million dollar shell casing database, and even in that case, the police already had evidence linking the suspect to the crime.
     

    MrWhiteRabbit

    Firefighter Gone Awry
    Sep 23, 2007
    1,122
    Ignoring the fired shell casing business of MD and the firing pin printing... I'm just surprised nobody's tried this yet.

    I'm in the process of building up an AR lower and debating which barrel to choose. Combine that with some ads (and recent posts) about replaceable barrels in handguns and I realized how easy it would be to buy, use, and discard a barrel like this in a crime.

    Granted, MD's gone overboard on the regulated firearm business, but if I were a state and had to regulate a part of a firearm, it would be something that left markings on the evidence.

    No firing pin is going to be *that* unique, and I doubt the barrel would be much more unique... but both are a far cry more significant in post-shooting identification than a stripped (but regulated!) lower!

    -----------------

    And that brings me to the questions...

    1) Does anyone know why MD chose to regulate stripped lowers? So many other parts of firearms would be more identifiable IMHO.

    2) Is there a specific part of a handgun that's regulated? It's obviously not the barrel or the trigger since I think they are sold as OTC parts... If one were to build/manufacture a handgun, which piece would be regulated?
     

    alucard0822

    For great Justice
    Oct 29, 2007
    17,643
    PA
    Ignoring the fired shell casing business of MD and the firing pin printing... I'm just surprised nobody's tried this yet.

    I'm in the process of building up an AR lower and debating which barrel to choose. Combine that with some ads (and recent posts) about replaceable barrels in handguns and I realized how easy it would be to buy, use, and discard a barrel like this in a crime.

    Granted, MD's gone overboard on the regulated firearm business, but if I were a state and had to regulate a part of a firearm, it would be something that left markings on the evidence.

    No firing pin is going to be *that* unique, and I doubt the barrel would be much more unique... but both are a far cry more significant in post-shooting identification than a stripped (but regulated!) lower!

    -----------------

    And that brings me to the questions...

    1) Does anyone know why MD chose to regulate stripped lowers? So many other parts of firearms would be more identifiable IMHO.

    2) Is there a specific part of a handgun that's regulated? It's obviously not the barrel or the trigger since I think they are sold as OTC parts... If one were to build/manufacture a handgun, which piece would be regulated?

    The "firearm" is simply the part that has the serial number on it. Lower reciever on an AR, Barrel/upper reciever on a MKIII, frame on a Glock, FCG on a sig 250, this is a Federal regulation, not just MD.

    And we don't know if someone tried it, perhaps it worked and that is why we haven't heard about it;)

    Of course then there would be the whole issue of punishing the 80 million gun owners who wear out barrels or break firing pins by making them go through the whole paperwork mess to match parts to the serial number in hopes that someone doesn't own a file, making the registration of parts useless again. And of course that is to make a single case or two easier to solve, compared to the millions of violent crimes that don't involve firearms at all. Most suspects are caught for simple reasons, witnesses, relationship to the victim, confessing to others, and so on, contrary to what CSI would have you belive, the vast majority of crimes are solved without much of the fancy forensic stuff seen on TV, but by old fashioned detective work, and criminals who can't keep their mouth shut.
     

    Half-cocked

    Senior Meatbag
    Mar 14, 2006
    23,937
    There has, to my knowledge, been only ONE single case in Maryland where the fired shell casing was used to support a conviction. And in that case, it was merely supporting evidence; it didn't lead the police to the suspect, instead investigators pulled the casing from their collection after they already knew whose gun was involved.

    The fired shell casing "repository" idea is the brainchild of idiots who've watched too much "CSI", and a waste of millions of dollars of Maryland taxpayer's money.
     

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