[philman_36]

...what was believed to be a .45-caliber pistol.
What I find rather humerous is that the shells, shell casings and the pistol itself should detail what caliber the pistol was and the best that is given in the "news article" is a guess. Most every pistol I've seen tells you exactly what caliber it is. It is engraved into the body of the pistol. I havn't seen too many new pistols so that practice may have changed.

[wooly_mammoth]

No, it's pretty easy to spot a 45. Kinda obvious. Gee what could this be? Is it a 44 desert eagle? Duh.

I'm really surprised by the vehemence and persistence of the obvious fed shills on this thread: poohpooh, _jim and fred25 (i would add that all were assigned their present positions under clinton). I've never heard of this Cooper dude but I think it would be worthwhile for everyone to look into what happened carefully. It sounds like the old geezer got ambushed and murdered by thugs masquerading as civilians.