Posted on 09/20/2013 12:23:37 PM PDT by rellimpank
Those behind a late-night attack at a southwest Chicago park in which 13 people were wounded, including a 3-year-old, used an assault-style weapon to spray the crowd with bullets, making it "a miracle" no one was killed, the city's police superintendent said Friday.
Ballistics evidence shows that those behind Thursday night's attack used a 7.62 mm rifle fed by a high-capacity magazine, police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters. That type of weapon, he said, belongs on a "battlefield, not on the street or a corner or a park in the Back of the Yards," the neighborhood where the shooting took place.
"It's a miracle in this instance that there have been no fatalities based upon the lethality of the weapon used at the scene," McCarthy said, calling on lawmakers to restrict the sale of such weapons and choke off the flow of illegal guns into the city.
The attack happened shortly after 10 p.m. while the Cornell Square Park was still crowded with people watching a basketball game and enjoying a warm late summer night.
Investigators believe several people took part in the attack but weren't sure yet how many fired shots. McCarthy said that based on witness interviews, it appears the attack was gang-related and that several victims are gang members.
"Even if it's gang-related, even if we have the most hardened criminals who becomes the victim of gun violence, that individual is the father, brother, sister sometimes parent of somebody else," McCarthy said. "So murder is not a one-victim crime."
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is an Assault-style rifle?
Could any rifle be used to ‘assault’ someone?
For that matter, couldn’t any type of object that could be used as weapon ‘assault’ someone?
It’s all about the style.
What if the gun was styled in a 3 piece suit?
"It's all about styyyyle!"
Yup.
Good eye.
For plinking and “I don’t care, so long as it’s close” shooting all that stuff is fine.
I have 1,000 rounds of Sciroco and was at the range a few weeks back. A guy came up and told me “You know those tipped bullets? You shouldn’t use them in your gun”.
“Oh?” I responded “Why”.
“They create too much pressure and could damage the barrel or blow it up” he says.
So, I laugh and tell him “that’s true of a Garand but, this is a Springfield M1A. You can put anything you want in this thing. I didn’t even realize I was using Sciroco’s until you pointed it and those damn things are expensive”.
So he wanted to know why I was using them.
“Dunno. Must be the 1st thing I grabbed and really I should have grabbed from a different case” I tell him.
“So this’ll be an expensive day” he says.
“Yeah, I’m not gonna worry about it too much. With over 10,000 rounds in that caliber alone I won’t miss it too much”.
Nice ammo.
30-40 Krag?
Yes, and a sporterized one. The magazine is definitive.
“a 7.62 mm rifle fed by a high-capacity magazine”
I though those were outlawed in Chicago. If so, then I find it extremely difficult to believe that anyone in Chicago would own one because that would be breaking the law and the people who own them are committing a crime by possessing them. The police really should not allow such breaking of the law.
Oh, wait! If the police can’t stop tons of meth, crack and heroin flooding the streets of Chicago, I guess they can’t stop a few illegal guns either, huh? Who woulda thunk it! Hey, I bet only CRIMINALS have guns in Chicago and law-abiding citizens are disarmed and at the mercy of the criminals!
Maybe some more laws would be a good idea, you know, so we could add those to the laws the cops and courts are already unable to enforce!
There is more to be gleaned. The rifling pattern (lands, grooves, twist direction) are also discernible. Enough to identify a manufacturer and model in some cases. The finest scratch pattern matches require a bullet fired from the actual barrel in fairly close temporal proximity to the bullet recovered from the scene under investigation. Caliber, weight and style are also useful inputs.
I have the same attitude toward my .38SPL/.357mag firearms. A collection of different bullet styles can be loaded appropriately for the firearm I'll be using. I always liked the West Coast Bullet 148 gr DEWC for center fire target competition. Nice, clean holes in the paper. Very tight groups.
They were very good rifles. Well made. I am told the brass did not last that well because of the shape. Brass is scarce now.
A lot of hunters used them, but I have never owned one. Saw several.
My 94 year old FIL gave me his which had been given to him by his grandfather.
The bolt action is like butter. Ammo is usually only available (prior to the current madness) around deer season.
Even though it’s a mid 2K FPS muzzle velocity rifle from the 1890’s, it still fills the freezer.
My favorite rifle is my model 94 Winchester 30-30. Certainly not a high velocity rifle. But they still take a lot of game, are easy to find ammo for, easy to reload, sweet shooting. And if you cast lead bullets and don’t push the load past 2000 fps you can reload it for $.12-15 cents per round. That is cost performance.
If I have something big to take down the model 71 Winchester 348 will do the job. I recently bought some Hornady Leverevolution bullets for it. Have not loaded any of them yet. Was even able to find some new Winchester brass for it. That one is a thumper, range & knockdown.
What do you think of a .357 lever rifle for home defense and possibly taking game in sparse times?
And think about it. Look at the terminal energy figures for the old Krag and the AR type rifles. At 200 yards, the Krag is accurate and has better terminal energy than .223 ammo.
Speed & mass thing.
I have never shot a .357 rifle. I have a lever action only friend that I think owns one. I could ask him about it. There are several pistol cartridges that some of the Lever actions rifles are chambered for. Some going way back. It simplified ammo and reloading.
I think it would be fine for both purposes. But I don’t see much advantage over the standard 30-30. Hornady makes a 160 gr FTX Leverevolution bullet for the 30-30 that extends the useful range a lot and has better ballistics (due to shape).
For up close protection, it makes zero difference.
I like the Krag because it has a very demanding iron sight layout vs. the modern sights.
You had to have your s*!# together to hit a Chinese Boxer with this gun.
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