AK-101 -5.56X45 (.223), Long barrel, folding stock
AK-102 -5.56X45 (.223), Short barrel, folding stock
Posted on 10/16/2002 11:21:33 AM PDT by TC Rider
Ballistic Fingerprinting will be a joke soon, or why the Moose can't admit the shooter has a AK-74
Chief Moose and others involved with the investigation into the sniper shootings can't lend any credence to the witness who claims he saw a AK-74, because it would point out the ineptness of all of the ballistic testing to date.
After Moose, the ATF and others trotted out all of the Mini-14's and AR-15 variants that used .223 ammo, they know they are in trouble if it turns out to be a AK-74.
While the tests that show all of the rounds to have been fired from the same weapon may be accurate, they produced the wrong weapon.
Additionally, Kathleen Kennedy-Townsend, the VPC, Sarah Brady, Governor Glendingaling and others calling for ballistic fingerprinting will have to eat a lot of crow.
The problem for them is, that while all the US made weapons and the AK-74 fire a nearly identical .223 diameter projectile, or bullet, the actual complete round is slightly different in length and uses a different brass casing.
Does anyone else recall some of the early reports that the sniper was using some kind of special 'military' bullet? Chances are the sniper is using Wolf or some surplus Russian ammo.
I knew when they produced the .223 casing from the schoolyard shooting they were in trouble. It looked like it had laid in the woods for ages, or was a steel casing from Russian ammo . If it turns out the sniper is using a AK-74, that cartridge can't have come from it. It is actually possible to fire AR-15 ammo in the AK-74, but not recommended. The case is a tad longer, does not completely seat in a AK-74 chamber and will make a very tell-tale bulge in the base of the case, provided it doesn't explode out of the ejection port. So if the US AR-15 casing had been fired, the geniuses at ATF should have picked up on the tell-tale bulge at the base, where the round does not fully seat.
What the shooter is probably firing is 5.45X39 Russian hollow point ammo.
I've noticed that in the last day or two, a lot of the calls for ballistic fingerprinting are focusing more on bullets and less on casings. I suspect the powers that be, know that they are now dealing with a AK-74 and haven't quite figured out how to cover their asses.
Bottom line, even if nationwide ballistic fingerprinting had been in place for all firearms in America, it would not have helped in the least in this case. It might have led to the arrest and harassment of some poor SOB who had hunted in that area 12 years ago, provided the technology was good enough to trace the casing back to his own hunting rifle.
My guess is that they showed witnesses a "catalog" of military style rifles and asked them to pick out the one they saw. They picked AK-47/AK-74, and it must be 74 consistent with the bullet size.
What's the chances a Muslim or Muslim-American training in Afghanistan might do his training with an AK variant, I wonder?
Simpler would have the higher probability. Unless the government decides to start actually telling the public the truth about anything, all we're supposed to do is speculate, and wait our turn.
An AK-74 fires a 5.45mm bullet:
Same idea as the Mini-14 and the Mini-30. Mini-30 in stainless will be ny next rifle.
Good question. Yes it does.
From a matter of finding the sniper, let's quit harrassing owners of Ar-15s and start checking out owners of AK-74s.
My larger political point is..
The gun grabbers are making the case, and the media is parroting it with a megaphone, that if we only had ballistic fingerprints of every weapon in America, the sniper would be in jail by now.
If the weapon is an AK-74, it shows that 'ballistic fingerprinting' failed to identify not only the correct weapon, but also failed to ID the correct ammo.
It shows from the schoolyard shooting that they either incorrectly ID'd the brass, or found some old brass that they passed off as newly fired. (Discarded brass is common in woods where hunters have hunted for years. I find it all the time on walks in the woods.)
In this particular case, if it is old brass, with 'ballistic fingerprinting' they could have falsely charged some old farmer with this horrible crime.
Admittedly, the differences are very subtle, but they are telling us that even more subtle differences, microscopic marks, will lead them to the correct owner.
Don't forget the 'plastic' guns. (like a Glock would pass airport security)
Exactly my thought.
AK-101 -5.56X45 (.223), Long barrel, folding stock
AK-102 -5.56X45 (.223), Short barrel, folding stock
Russert: Are you trying to build a rapport with the sniper?
Moose: We will release no rapport on the sniper until its ready.
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