doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT, nickel plating on .22lr ammo. Help. New info.

Hello All,

Please bear with me.

In January 2013 a senior couple was attacked in the middle of the night by leftist terrorists at their farm in the south. The perpetrators set fire to their farmhouse and they both died in the fire.

During the police operative some minutes after the fact but late nevertheless, a known local agitator with a long rap sheet for terrorist activities was found wounded a mile away from the burnt house. He is the only perpetrator in custody. His wound came from a .22lr bullet consistent with the firearm that the deceased farm owner had, a Browning pistol. It has been established by the prosecution that the farm owner managed to shoot at the terrorists with this gun before being burnt.

The defense of the terrorist in custody is questioning that the bullet that wounded the perpetrator came from the Browning pistol based on the lack of nickel in the perpetrators thorax wound.

I would dearly appreciate expert opinions and hopefully scientific data concerning this. I will share this with the prosecution. The trial is about to begin.

(I have not used the word "alleged" because I honestly think it does not apply here).

Best regards,

JC

P.S.:comments concerning the inadequacy of the gun used for defense are not necessary.jc

JayCee:
This is a terrible situation. However; this thread will probably be moved to another area.
Why would leftist terrorists attack and kill an old couple who lived on a farm?
I am also going to state I don't understand your question. 22 bullets are usually either plain lead or coated with a copper jacket. Do you mean copper rather than nickel?
Jim

I don't see what the "lack of nickle", copper, brass or any other metal coating in a bullet wound would prove.

I would expect a farmer to have a mixture of .22 ammo possibly even loaded in his pistola.

Here we have what's called circumstantial evidence....

Hello Jim,

The defense "expert" based who knows on what says there should have been nickel residue from the bullet in the wound (?).

JC

If you've got the bullet, and you've got the gun, any good forensics lab should be able to tell if the bullet was fired from the gun.

Best,
Ted

Hi Ted,

I do not have enough information, but considering a .22 normally gets pretty beat
up, most probably there isn't enough ballistics information, i.e. marks from the barrel, left. Otherwise it would be slam-dunk.

JC

JC,
Any ballistic expert with a comparison microscope (or whatever these instruments are properly called) can match a fired bullet to a barrel.
With kind regards,
Jani

That expert if full of crap (FOC). Is he trying to say that the bullet was not fired from the Browning because it did not have any nickle on the bullet from the nickle steel barrel? Since lead is far softer than the nickle steel the lead gets deposited on the bore not the bullet wearing out the steel barrel. We call it lead fouling.

Most .22 bullets are plain lead or washed with copper or copper jacked in a very thin layer of copper. Perhaps some where they make .22 bullets with nickle plating but I have not seen any. Some cases have been plated with nickle but that is on the outside of the case, not the inside which comes into contact with the bullet. Again where is he claiming the nickle to be coming from? Out of the steel, off the case exterior or from a unheard of nickle plated bullet? The Lone Ranger used a silver bullet not a nickle bullet. FOC

Doesn't the prosecution get expert witnesses down there? I have been an expert witness, and it often comes down to which "expert(s)" comes across as the most credible. Hope they don't try to make a scapegoat of of the poor farmer in this instance.

Rifling marks from the pistol should match the bullet. Nickel won,t even enter the equation and I think the Defence is just clutching at straws and trying to cast an element of doubt. Whatever you think of him that's his job. However, the expert witness will be required to give his evidence under oath and prove his qualifications to be an 'expert' witness. Sadly, soft .22 bullets can often get badly deformed; especially if they hit bone and the fact that the pistol was probable subject to great heat in the fire it may be difficult to make a match. The Prosecution expert may however be able to say what make of pistol was used but not whether that was the actual one.

One thing to consider is the possibility of fibres from clothing that the bullet passed through being embedded in the wound. Show that they match what he was wearing at the time and the position matching the wound and that would be good circumstantial evidence to indicate the recent nature of the wound. I guess he is trying to make is defence in that it was an earlier wound and not connected with the incident.

Any idea of the defence storyline? Lagopus..... (Ex-Detective).