Gun used to kill prosecutor is focus of massive search

The Seattle Times ^ | Thursday, July 17, 2003 | Steve Miletich

[jim_trent]

Good point. I don't know what they are trying to say either, but I chalk it up to a reporter who have never fired a gun before and wouldn't have a clue about what they were saying during the briefing. If you check Shotgun News or any number of similar sources, you should be able to find the replacement barrels I was talking about.

[Ford Fairlane]

I've seen the barrels

I have bought several from Federal for Walther PP's that had worn out barrels - they keep making them for more & more models every year

[Glenn]

I guess the new rule is if a girl is raped and the suspect is seen running into a suburban neighborhood to escape, all males from maybe 20 square block area should be hauled into jail and have their DNA taken to see if there is match with the rape suspect?

Already been done in Great Britain. They are ahead of the curve, I guess.

[Atlas Sneezed]

"But the task has been complicated because dealers are not required to keep sales records for gun parts."

I'm sure they would love to change THAT!

[Atlas Sneezed]

"Most people have voluntarily surrendered their pistols, a source said, but a few have been brought before a grand jury in Seattle and required to surrender their weapons."

This is sickening. (Especially that most were compliant sheep.)

[em2vn]

Federal had no choice in the matter. A subpoena leaves no wiggle room. You damn sure don't destroy your customer list if you are trying to build your business through re-purchases.

[Crusader21stCentury]

Any one who buys anything from Federal has been warned.
Do so at your own peril.
Better yet don't buy from them at all.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Why don't they just announce this on the local news in every state so the perp can just dispose of the weapon, if it hasn't been disposed of already....."

Ditto that thought. I would be that the Makarov barrel was long ago reduced to metal filings, and the firearm equipped with another barrel (or the whole gun reduced to a pile of melted metal).

[Gritty]

The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI have made the Wales case a top priority and are offering a $1 million reward for information.

They never made this much of a fuss when Vince Foster was murdered committed zoo-ee-zyde! In fact, they were happy to let the Keystone Kops Park Police handle the job then wait a year or two before they got around to even try and find the bullet, much less postitively identify the gun or even find the missing photos.

I guess it depends where ones' priorities lie. After all, Wales is a gun-grabbing Federal Attorney, not a Federal Attorney getting cold feet from his complicity in high crimes and misdemeanors.

[jocon307]

"zoo-ee-zyde"

LOL, I'm stealing this for my own use, I hope you don't mind!

[archy]

Ditto that thought. I would be that the Makarov barrel was long ago reduced to metal filings, and the firearm equipped with another barrel (or the whole gun reduced to a pile of melted metal).

As are at least some of those the FBI has demanded be surrendered to them.

[archy]

I've seen the barrels

I have bought several from Federal for Walther PP's that had worn out barrels - they keep making them for more & more models every year

And they're made of stainless steel, making them a natural choice for those planning to use corrosive-primed foreign military surplus ammo in their guns, or for those whose barrels have already suffered from the effects of the use of such ammunition without immediate and complete maintenance.

-archy-/-

[Double Tap]

Someone clue me in here. How would Federal Arms, or any barrel maker, know who bought the barrels? They aren't serialized, you don't have to register them and to my knowledge and experience, no form of ID is required to buy one. In fact, I've bought several barrels at gun shows for Glocks and 1911's and there is no way in hell they could be traced to me, so how is this happening?

[archy]

Wales, however, was shot with .380-caliber bullets fired through the slightly larger 9-mm replacement barrel.

I understand that 9mm makarov used to be hard to get.

Not at any time in the last 5 years, though Makarov ammo may not be locally as available in some areas. And it still isn't loaded by some ammunition manufacturers; if you want some specialty ammo, you may need to go to another caliber, and .380 is an easy rearrangement with a PM/ Makarov.

I dont understand the above statement, however, if they are looking for someone who bought a replacement .380 barrel, as the .380 is a smaller diameter

My bet is that the shooter used a .380 with his silencer in order to allow the use of a slim-diameter .22 or .32 silencer with its baffles bored out to allow the use of .355" diameter .380 bullets, but was concerned about the possibility of a baffle strike with a larger .363" diameter 9x18mm Makarov bullet. The use of the rebored smaller-diameter but longer .22suppressors with a PM is an old dodge, also used with Walther PP and PPK pistols, which like the Makarov have sights mounted fairly close to the pistol's bore centerline. Using a .22 suppressor with the baffles reamed or drilled as closely to the bullet's diameter as possible allows the pistol's factory sights to be used, and keeping the reboring as close to the bullet diameter as possible maintains as much of the silencer's efficiency as possible, already degraded somewhat by the larger-diameter opening for the bullet's passage. Thus it's also helpful that effective .22 silencers are also often a bit longer as well, offering multiple baffles to help reduce the sound.

Since the shooter managed multiple hits on Wales, shooting through a closed window, it's most probable that he was using sights. And unless he had a Soviet-issue suppressed weapon fitted with higher auxilliary sights [as pictured in post #2 above] it's probable that he found the availability of the FAC barrels already threaded for a .22 suppressor [typically ½"x28 or ½"x36-pitch threads] to be a helpful convenience. And the availability of a .380 hollowpoint load in the .380 chambering rather than the most common 9mm Makarov full metal jacketed bullet may have been an added benefit.

He could have ordered a FAC barrel in .380 had he so desired; that he did not suggests a reason other than expecting there'd be no markings left on the bullet.

-archy-/-

[archy]

Someone clue me in here. How would Federal Arms, or any barrel maker, know who bought the barrels? They aren't serialized, you don't have to register them and to my knowledge and experience, no form of ID is required to buy one. In fact, I've bought several barrels at gun shows for Glocks and 1911's and there is no way in hell they could be traced to me, so how is this happening?

UPS and postal or shipping records would be my guess, with bank traces of checks, postal money orders or credit card purchases another possibility. Probably both.

There've also been at least three secondary market sellers of FAC barrels; so far I've not heard of any indications of the FBI enquiring into their customer records, so it may well be that the FBI has just overlooked them...or is waiting to see what kind of percentage of compliance they get from their fishing expedition at FAC.

It's possible, too that they're useing the *donated* Makarovs with replacement barrels to develop a database of ballistic profiles from the modified weapons. That'd save them the expense and bother of doing so with purchased or confiscated weapons already on hand, and might allow them to determine the nation of manufacture of the Makarov used in the Wales hit, narrowing their search by around 25%, since the production of PM pistols has been undertaken primarily in Russia/the Soviet Union, China, the former East Germany and Bulgaria, with a few rare test sample lots possibly made in Czechoslovokia.<p. -archy-/-

[archy]

"Most people have voluntarily surrendered their pistols, a source said, but a few have been brought before a grand jury in Seattle and required to surrender their weapons."

This is sickening. (Especially that most were compliant sheep.)

Don't believe everything you read, especially when it comes by way of the FIBbers. And note that there most certainly have been those who've said *Hell, no* as per the pic in post #31.

[Double Tap]

That is probably right. My point was though, that most of these barrels are probably being sold through dealers to individuals on the internet or at gun shows. Now a sale on the internet would be tracable through email address and method of payment, plus shipping address. Guns shows however, would be a dead end, especially if the end user pays cash.

So in the end, the FBI is probably just harrassing innocent people with no real hope of hooking anything on this fishing expedition.

[archy]

So in the end, the FBI is probably just harrassing innocent people with no real hope of hooking anything on this fishing expedition.

Or they're building a fallback plan: should the case they're trying to build against the pilot fail [sorta reminds you of Hatfill in the anthrax case and Richard Jewel in the Atlanta Olympic bombing, doesn't it?] they'll have a menu of other *persons of interest* to pick from until they find one with a background they can build a frame around, especially if they pick one with a minimal ability to obtain and support an effective legal defense.

From a public relations standpoint, framing such a scapegoat appears a lot better course for them than looking at other FBI agents maintaining a relationship with Wales wife before he was killed.... Don't embarass the Bureau!

-archy-/-