Inside the FBI Reference Firearms Collection of 7,000 Guns

[C'mon man!]

I remember seeing the collection/library on a tour of the Hoover building when I was kid in the late 80s. They pulled out a cane gun and some others to show us. Not sure if they still show it on a tour, but I would love to take my sons some day.

My BIL, Pittsburgh homicide, laughed when I asked him if they could actually do the stuff you see on CSI.

 

[BDR1]

gun forensics is largely hollywood bull**** ive come to find

They gotta convict somebody don’t they

 

[chucklenut]

Hmm... said the FBI Firearms Forensic Examiner?

A Primer on the Procedures and Validity of Firearm and Toolmark Identification

yes

justifies microstamping and more aggressive laws that dont .

 

[whiskerz]

What I wonder is how do they differentiate one pistol from the rest as manufacturing becomes more consistent and the prolific numbers of a model are all made almost exactly the same. One example, Glock 19. How can they tell your Glock 19 shot that recovered slug over my Glock 19? And what about polygonal rifling? How does that mark a bullet?

They can not. is the answer which is why "ballistic fingerprinting" fell out of favor with the liberals. In testing done in a few places guns within about 10 or so numbers from each other leave about the same marks on the projectiles and spent cases. A big test was done using the California state patrol.