Why don't criminals who get rid of guns rasp the inside barrel rifling? Have they already tried this?

Question

Is this a foolproof way to cancel any association of a gun to a crime?...assuming any serial #s or whatever they call them in gun lingo is removed. Can you perhaps get caught by using the composition of the metal shavings found at, lets say, at the perps house? I'm into Forensics and Sherlock Holmes and like thinking of this stuff.

Second question, imagine you found a rifle that might have been used in a crime. I don't know the avg. length of a barrel, so i'll say its 18 inches.If the crook filed up the first 2 inches to mess-up the rifleing patterns, can you saw off the 2 inch tip, and still give you the pattern? Or will that not work because the bullet is needed to pass through the complete length...making that evidence unuseful?

Is there a cop here that can answer this? Of course there are easier methods to get rid of evidence, but this is a lot more fun and a is a question of forensics...No "Why don't you order from Dominos instead of making a pizza" answers allowed if you can help it please. thanks :P

Treat this like a "partial print match". After the gun is used, they think of, not boring it, just sticking a file in and messing up the front. They dont intend to use it EVER AGAIN...so they dont care about accuracy.

The CSI guys get it and test fire for pattern matching and have an idea of bypassing the ruined 2 inch section by cutting it off. They hope the COMPLETE pattern will match on the test slug by having it travel the 16 out of 18 inches. If it does match 100%, can a defense laywer have this evidence thrown out?
If the pattern was missing 1 or 2 marks down the length of the bullet (partial match) that might have been made only when the bullet goes through the last 2 inch length of the barrel before the alteration with the rasp or file, can you still use this "partial match" and win? If so is there a allowable percent? (I dont know how it works with partial fingerprints)

I assume on my part that rifling is not 100% consistant throughout the entire barrel, like if there were random nicks or defects...not sure if that is reality, or if barrel rifling are usually 100% flaw free in even supper crappy brand rilfes.

Answer 1

Goood question. For practical purposes trying to bore out a rifle might be WAY to much work. And besides, wouldn't the fact that the rifling was damaged be evidence itself?

Personally, I wonder if you just bent the barrel really bad (which might be easier to do than boring the inside) then the CSI wouldn't ever be able to shoot a round through, and probably trying to shoot it trough after bending it back might be too dangerous or alter the marks anyway???

Answer 2

The marks on a bullet from the riflings are called lands and grooves, as well as pin markings from the firing pin and other metal things that came in contact with the bullet. IT would be easier to just throw away the weapon after using it in a crime rather than try & mess up the riflings (what if you missed some part?). The riflings are there to give the bullet projectory and distance--so you would probably render any sort of aim useless. Look at this web for some great pictures & info on Lands & grooves: www.firearmsid.com/A_bulletIDrifling2.htm

Answer 3

The rifling inside the barrel is only one way a positive ID can be made on a weapon. Extractor marks and the firing pin, among other things, also make marks. Chemical tests can also be used to make a match. The best bet would be to completely destroy the weapon.

Answer 4

Your going to get quite a few evaluations right here --- Heres mine...... I continually pass away a good coating of oil interior the barrell whilst i'm accomplished cleansing it....... Then run a patch via it beforehand I take it out shooting.......... in the experience that your a police officer, risk-free practices very own or use the gun hid carry then after cleansing i could run a gently oiled patch via it...... i would not decide for an overabundance of oil interior the barrel if i'm going to need the gun in an emergency -------- I personaly take my weapons out to shoot approximately each 3 weeks so I save them nicely oiled between makes use of....

Answer 5

cant damage the rifle barrel without ruining the accuracy.