Deputy Says .50 Sniper Rifle Found Near Olympic Venue 'a serviceable weapon'

Utah Standard-Examiner Newspaper ^ | February 3, 2002 | Matthew Flitton

[codebreaker]

The condition of the .50 caliber gun found 5 miles from the Soldier Hollow Olympic Venue is under debate.

Governor Mike Leavitt said Saturday he was told the weapon had no link to the Winter Olympics.

"It was rusted and did not appear to be operable," Leavitt said.

That information contradicted the observations of Wasatch County Deputy Rick Benson, who took possession of the weapon from a hunter who found it January 26 while hunting coyotes in the hills above Wallsburg.

"It doesn't look brand new, but it looks to me like a servicable weapon, " he said.

The hunter who wished to remain anonymous, also said the gun had papers dating back to 1992, indicating it was not an old weapon.

The gun often used by military and police as a sniper rifle becuase of its power, is currently being tested in the state crime lab.

[codebreaker]

Found with tracers and armor piercing bullets.

Nothing to see here, move along..

[Mulder]

Bang.

[real saxophonist]

Papers?

[razorback-bert]

Rolling papers?

[codebreaker]

The local gun dealer is puzzled at why the ammo and the sniper rifle was stored in a weather proof container on the side of a hill.

Gotta love the 'Religion of Peace,' betcha there are more 'packages' up in them hills.

[Myrddin]

Found with tracers and armor piercing bullets.

Most owners of .50 cal rifles use good quality ball ammo for long range target shooting. Tracers and AP rounds are not typical. Private owners that have forked out $3,000 to $10,000 don't leave a rifle around to rust either. Something doesn't pass the smell test in this story.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

just another isolated incident

[Sir Gawain]

Sounds like a plant so they can outlaw .50 cals now.

[Alas]

who took possession of the weapon from a hunter who found it January 26 while hunting coyotes in the hills above Wallsburg.

This is a hunter with a screw loose, a fifty story building wit a two story elevator. He found a fifty and turned it over to the police? Gotta be nuts.

[codebreaker]

Sounds like the Utah officials are circling the wagons already for a ' no evidence of terrorist action at this time' explanation at the Soldier Hollow venue.

[Jane G]

This one stinks to high Heaven of a straw-man plant! If it were someone's cache, it certainly would not have papers with it. And I certainly don't see a private individual leaving out a $3000 to $7000 dollar weapon to rust. Really smells bad. Doc

[real saxophonist]

Rifle, Ammo found near games venue

[Lazamataz]

Lets see. It's old. Rusted. Complete with paperwork.

Yep, gotta outlaw them thar terrorist rifles.

[FreePaul]

Found with tracers and armor piercing bullets.

I heard that the bullet tips were painted different colors. Doesn't that make it a paint ball gun? I wish that once the people who report these things could gather and report enough information for us to understand what happened. The gun could have some rust on it and still be servicable. It could be a non functioning ball of rust.

The statement that it has "papers dating back to 1992" doesn't mean anything unless the papers can somehow establish the rifle's age or how long it has been where it was found. We could probably assume that it hasn't been there longer than nine years. Unless of course someone took the papers out there later and put them with the gun. Someone somewhere will come to a conclusion about this but I doubt that they will share that with the public.

[codebreaker]

bump

[VOA]

Sounds like a plant so they can outlaw .50 cals now.

I know it's cynical...but wouldn't put this sort of thing past NBC "Exploding Truck Gas Tanks" News.
This sort of thing would give the press plenty of stuff to fill their pages/airtime/webpages
with talk about radical white male/Mormon gun-nut extremists in the tradition
of John M. Browning.

No matter how awful/boring the NBC coverage of the games will be.

No telling how this will turn out...but expect Utah/Mormons/Political Conservatives
to get tarred on this one by the press spin-cycle.

[codebreaker]

The ammo is military surplus.

[codebreaker]

NBC wants no negative publicity, they want all Amercian flags all the time.

I would expect the gun grabbing nuts at CBS or ABC to snap this up first if there is not a universal news blackout on the story.

[The Bolt]

Reminds me of an article in Insight magazine regarding the possible framing of an pro lifer accused of shooting a pro death abortionist. Looked an awful lot like weapon was planted after the fact. Buried in the ground, no less.

[arm958]

I'll bet this has nothing to do with the Olympics. People in Utah love their guns. It was probably stashed there by some survivalist anticipating all hell breaking loose some day. Reports that the weapon had apparently been there a while and had degraded somewhat make it unlikely that this is terrorist related.

Shame on the guy who stashed it for not using better storage techniques though, if he let it rust. Even in a weatherproof container, liberal greasing and silica gel are essential for long term firearms storage.