Did The Vegas Shooter Use A Fully Automatic Weapon?

hot air ^ | 10-2-17

[doug from upland]

Opinion is divided this morning on Twitter among people who, unlike me, know more than the most basic basics about firearms. It’s not a matter of mere curiosity; as you (should) know, fully automatic weapons have been illegal in the U.S. for decades, which is why even mass shooters hellbent on murder unto death never use them. If Stephen Paddock used a machine gun, how on earth did he get it?

[Jamestown1630]

Thanks for your thoughts and advice.

I mentioned hotel safes, because someone on one of these threads mentioned gun shows in Vegas as a legitimate reason for having long guns in one of these hotels - in which case, you’re already known as a gun owner to anyone who’s paying attention.

(If you knew my neighborhood, you’d laugh at the idea of a home gun safe providing any security ;-)

Best,
JT

[hinckley buzzard]

Larry Elder just reported that LV police identified the weapon as a "bump stock rifle."

[Thud]

The audio clearly depicts automatic fire from a caliber well under 7.62mm. I suspected from first hearing the audio that the fire was from at least two modified 5.56mm AR's. It turns out that those were mounted on tripods. See:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/10/02/las-vegas-shooting/722191001/

[Thud]

He had two weapons modified for full auto, both mounted on tripods.

[clamper1797]

I have one ... they don’t work that good ... took mine off

[laplata]

Thanks. Now I hear he had 15 guns in the room and another 20 at home. Total about 35.

[Thud]

Given that the Las Vegas police did not break into the perp’s room until 72 minutes after he began firing, I suspect many to most of the fatalities simply bled out pending rescue.

[DCBryan1]

He had two weapons modified for full auto, both mounted on tripods.

....and 90% of media/internet commandos don't know the difference between monopod, bipod, and tripod.

[Neidermeyer]

I have to admit that if he injured over 500 and killed over 50, you would think the barrel would be a blob of molten steel, though.
**************
That was my thought too... he likely used multiple rifles and perhaps wrapped the barrels in wet towels to wick away some of the heat.

[MileHi]

He had two weapons modified for full auto, both mounted on tripods.

Where'd you get that from?

[schurmann]

“...No manufactured fully auto weapon has a variable rate such as the one produced in the videos I have seen. ...” [Jarhead9297, post 26]

“..I concur. You can clearly hear the rate of fire slow then speed up in a choppy manner in the later shots. ...” [precisionshootist, post 98]

Neither comment bespeaks a wide enough range of experience.

Rate of fire of a full auto arm is not fixed, but depends greatly on bullet mass and shape, propellant type and amount, ambient temperature, amount and type of lubrication applied, amount of fouling already present, chamber wear state, general wear state of moving parts and magazines. At least.

One day’s spectating at a machine gun shoot will provide ample evidence to the ears that full auto arms of all types can speed up or slow down in the course of just one burst. Doesn’t matter who manufactured them.

I’d suspect full-auto arms of good make, made from quality materials, relatively unworn, properly cleaned and lubricated, firing high-quality ammunition, won’t vary much in firing rate on a given day. That’s what Jarhead9297 has probably experienced.

[Thud]

Source listed in my No. 243

[MileHi]

Thanks. We’ll see what they show us on the record.

[The Pack Knight]

Not only that, but strict gun control certainly hasn’t stopped mass casualty attacks in places like Britain and France. For someone with those intentions, building an improvised bomb or renting a truck is much easier, cheaper, and more difficult to detect than buying a machine gun. That would be true even without our current laws on automatic weapons.

This is what is so silly about Brokaw calling our side “emotional,” when his arguments are based on nothing but emotion and his distaste for “adapted military weapons” (whatever those are). They argue for gun control measures like an “assault weapons” ban or “universal” background checks without a shred of proof that those measures would save a single life.

[Hot Tabasco]

Find out what shotgun that is and let us all know...we could either dispel the myth of an easy conversion, or see if it's the type of thing that's technically possible but is going to land you in a heap of trouble.

Talked to him yesterday, he says it's a Saiga shotgun

[editor-surveyor]

.
One of the weapons photographed had the selector flipper, thus was full auto is some respect, either triplets or full auto.
.

[Lazamataz]

I own a Saiga. He’s full of shit about ‘turning a screw and it’s automatic’. Tell him Laz is calling him out as a bullshitter.

[Lazamataz]

And then tell him I’m gonna find him and kick his ass.

[Hot Tabasco]

I’m gonna find him and kick his ass.

Make sure you get the $5 he owes me........