Posted on 08/15/2003 10:13:40 PM PDT by stlnative
If someone is shooting at you from a distance with a rifle, what difference would it make if you are alone or with someone?
Perhaps hoping that one person can return fire after the first guy hit (or at least be an eye-witness)?
Or just cutting in half the odds that you will be shot first?
Nope. Check the specs on Military Ammo. The term "Ball" will appear on the ammo boxes whether it's a Single base tubular or a Double base Spherical. Tubular is the military's term. I usually use the term extruded. I'm using "Cartridges of the World" for my reference.
You're right. Ball powders came in around 1933. I have references from the 1890s and 1915 that say ball refers to a std cartridge with a standard projectile. There can be more than one std projectile though. FMJ rounds are also sometimes referred to as "ball" (meaning "standard") ammunition by the military.
What I said about the powders came from a historical disscussion of the technology of powders prior to, during and after WWII. It was written by someone in the industry at the time. His info about why the box was marked ball was wrong. Sorry about that.
By Juliet Terry
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Reuters) - Law enforcement authorities pursuing a possible serial sniper in West Virginia are being helped by investigators from last year's Washington-area sniper case, police said on Monday.
"We have the agents that worked that particular case. They're on board with us and giving us some good advice that we're following," Kanawha County Sheriff Dave Tucker told reporters at a Charleston press conference.
Three separate nighttime shootings in West Virginia since Aug. 10 have evoked disturbing memories of the Washington sniper killings that left 10 people dead and three wounded before the two accused of the spree were caught last autumn.
On Monday, Tucker spoke with Acting Police Chief William O'Toole of Maryland's Montgomery County Police Department, which led the Washington sniper investigation. A Montgomery County police spokesman said O'Toole gave Tucker advice on investigation tactics and media relations.
West Virginia's shooting victims -- two men and a woman -- were gunned down last week while visiting convenience stores in the Charleston area. Early ballistics tests suggest they were shot once in the head or neck by a small-caliber rifle fired from at least 50 yards away.
Tucker said a special task force of local, state and federal investigators was looking for a dark pick-up truck, possibly a blue or maroon-colored Ford F-150, which may have been seen at two crime scenes with a heavy-set white man behind the wheel.
He has refused to describe the investigation as a Washington "copy-cat" or a "serial-sniper" case. "I can't put a name on it. I wouldn't dare try to put a name on it," he said on Monday.
SHOT WHILE PUMPING GAS
The first victim, George Carrier Jr., 34, was shot in the head and killed on Aug. 10 while using a pay phone outside a Go-Mart convenience store and gas station in Charleston.
On Thursday night, Jeanie Patton, 31, of Campbell's Creek, West Virginia, just outside Charleston, was shot in the head and killed at about 10:20 p.m. while pumping gas at a Speedway service station.
Ninety minutes later, Okey Meadows, 26, was shot in the neck and killed while buying milk at a Go-Mart store 10 miles from Charleston in the rural community of Cedar Grove.
Police have stepped up patrols and begun pulling over motorists in dark pickup trucks. Tucker said the task force, which includes agents from the FBI and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, has turned up 100 leads.
"The leads that we've got are very solid," the sheriff added. "We're steadily working on this case, and we will solve this case."
Authorities have also tried to use local media to nudge the killer out of hiding. "We've told this individual to get in contact with us. Let's talk. Let's find out what the problem is," Tucker said.
Meanwhile, police are encouraging people to be cautious and not travel alone, especially after dark.
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