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Rifles - From Russia with (love, no) distrust and traceability


malkiserow
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I was chatting with a Russian hunter last night who said at home in Russia, when a civilian buys a new or second hand rifle, you have to hand it to the police along with 3 unfired rounds of ammunition for a reference of the rifle barrel marks on the bullet linked to your name/licence. They fire all 3 and keep them before handing your rifle back.

 

Seems they have, or fear, a closer link from licensed hunters and sportsmen to crime than we do.

 

I suspect this approach would be an utter waste of time here and an unnecessary cost.

 

Anyone heard of this approach in any other countries?

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Having seen some of the Vodka fuelled vids from Russia then I can see that a ballistic test could be the most reliable witness.

 

On a serious note, I can see how it would work. In our system they'd find the bullet then have to search for a rifle with matching ballistics. With their system they've got a record of the ballistics and owner even if the firearm is disposed of after an incident.

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In Northern Ireland all handguns are ballistically tested on purchase and on change of ownership, a record is then kept of the results. This happens for all handguns, police included. They had looked at doing rifles in a similar fashion but due to volume it wasn't feasible.

One problem I can see with lots of semi auto hand guns it would seem pointless as it is so simple to change barrels on something like a colt 1911 job done in about 30 seconds and new barrels are quite cheap to buy perhaps not in the uk but most other countries that would still leave the firing pin but that could also be changed if one wanted to.

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If a dealer or smith changes a barrel then FEB must be notified and they will request the gun for retesting.

 

If someone gets around this then it will be picked up on if the firearm is resold, the previous owner will then face questions.

 

Also it's not just the rifling marks on the bullet that are examined but also the extractor marks on the case and the firing pin mark on the primer.

 

I was originally skeptical, but when shown cases of historical murders that were attributed to a certain tested firearn I can now see the logic.

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The Irish system seems more belt and braces but its still weeing in the wind. If its only done at the initial sale its completely pointless, as has already been said, its simple enough to swap out a barrel and even if barrels are regulated like they are here, you can change the lands and groves on a rifle with a judicial application of elbow grease. I don't know of a single country where extractors are licensed so they could easily be replaced.

 

Hell, if you were that way inclined, you could buy another barrel and extractor, swap out them out to do the dastardly deed, and then replace the originals afterwards. Then simple destory the other barrel and extractor. Hey presto, no way of knowing whats been done with that gun.

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Everytime a firearm changes hands it's tested, my own handgun had been tested on numerous occasions. UK customs do actually tend to notice firearms parts coming through the post,they were caught out when the IRA were found to have been posting parts here from Florida.

Whilst no system is foolproof it's a good thing to throw in the face of the antis.

Edited by Pastiebap
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