[TC Rider]

Disclaimer: I've been around firearms all of my life and done a wee bit of reloading, but am by no means an expert on all of this. I would be interested in replies from those who really know what they are talking about.

A lot of my info is from the web. What prompted me to look this up was something a drill instructor told me 30 years ago. He told us how devious the chi-coms were, because they designed weapons that could fire our ammo, but their's wouldn't work in ours.

If this info has already been posted, I apologize for the vanity.

[Joe Brower]

[Atlas Sneezed]

Bang

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

I met a pretty cool guy from Argentina who actually had a great recipe for crow. If it turns out there is to be a feast, I could give them his number.

[rface]

I have heard the AK 74 line before, but I haven't seen any stories published stating this. Do you know of any articles?

[babygene]

What the heck is an AK74? Is he trying to say AK47?

[Focault's Pendulum]

Excellent analysis. I just learned more from your commentary than I would have from listening to a month of talking heads.

Thanks for the education.

[meadsjn]

Another simple possibility is that the shooters are loading either 5.54 or .223 slugs into a 7.62x39 casing as a sabot (just as it would work for a .308 or .30-06). This way several different shooters using AK/SKS-47 rifles would be producing ballistically identical slugs (with no rifling grooves).

[Sender]

There have been AK's in .223, such as the Romanian SAR-3.

[Alberta's Child]

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.

Chief Moose would do well to sit some of his officers down with this "witness" and ask him how he could identify an AK-74 from 40 yards away at 9:30 PM in October.

[billhilly]

" 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."

Does it matter whever it is one or the ovver?

[tacticalogic]

Something I've been wondering - if you could capture a round that's been fired from one gun (in a water tank, for instance), reload it, and fire it from another gun, would you end up with a pattern that didn't match either one?

[lsee]

Okay, I heard a radio talk-show host discussing this issue this morning. One of his callers said that the only AK-74's he's ever heard of that use 223 were out of Egypt or Russia. He concluded it was probably the kind the terrorist(s) trained with and would have been smuggled into the country.

Super links at bottom for all kinds of gun info

[longtermmemmory]

There is an article on worldnetdaily that says the actual firearm could be a pistol chambered to fire the exact same round. In other words, the mainstream media and is as clueless as always.

[Jaxter]

I've been looking all over the web trying to find that stock picture of Osama with his AK-74 leaning up against the wall beside him. If this turns out to be the rifle used in the snipings, it could be huge.

[BADROTOFINGER]

This is exactly why FR is the best site on the web, the best site in the world. Excellent article TC...JFK

[browardchad]

The reddish-brown or orange color of the plastic magazine does not lend itself to camouflage.

Is this true for every AK-74?

[Grut]

...they know they are in trouble if it turns out to be a AK-74.

That's with the 20% or so of the public that knows anything about guns. The other 80% (and 100% of the media) will simply say "so what? It's still an assault rifle" and press on without breaking step.

[1L]

Question: does the lack of shell casings at the scenes (except for one) eliminate the possibility of the sniper using a semi-auto weapon? It's been years since I shot a Mini-14, but my recollection is that the spent shells went various places, and if I wanted to shoot and run, I sure wouldn't want to stand around and look for spent shells. Of course, I could be discounting a shell retriever, provided there is one. Comments?

[InvisibleChurch]

how can anyone have an ak74 if they are illegal?

[JHrules]

If this sniper is properly trained in his field either domestically or from a terrorist organization would he be so dumb as to leave a shell of his own? It makes more sence to me that he left a shell unrelated to his own rifle to throw off the inept investigators. He left a note and a fake shell as a tease, he is playing a cat and mouse game. He thinks he is way smarter then the police or his targets and to show it he gave them some shell he probably picked up at a range he was practicing at. As far as the AK-74 vs AK-47 dicussion, AK-47 is not antique, it has been the base for 100's of european AR's for the last 20 years. Turkey, Romania, China, and other counties manufacture new .223 cal{5.56mm)AK-47's every year. The reason this guy probably uses 223 rather then 308 is that 223 fired from high velocity rounds obtains severe defacement upon impact with a target and is therefore very hard to trace ballistically. The 308 round, being longer and heavier, remains more intact and can be traced very effectively.