Shooter (starring mark wahlberg) question

[Nyles]

In the (superior, but also set in the early 90s) book, Swagger uses a Remington 700 .308 and the assassin used a Model 70 Bull Gun that's been rebarelled to .318 with a .10" paper patch. It makes alot more sense in that context. Incidentally in the book it's also heavily implied the same assassin used the same method to shoot Kennedy with .268 Carcano bullets patched to (I think) a .280 bore)

I supposed for the sake of argument in the movie they could have used a high pressure plastic sabot like a Savage 10ML muzzle loader (.452 pistol bullet in a .50 barrel propelled by smokeless shotgun powder) and had it make more sense, plus use some 2010s technology.

[commando552]

Originally Posted by Nyles

In the (superior, but also set in the early 90s) book, Swagger uses a Remington 700 .308 and the assassin used a Model 70 Bull Gun that's been rebarelled to .318 with a .10" paper patch. It makes alot more sense in that context. Incidentally in the book it's also heavily implied the same assassin used the same method to shoot Kennedy with .268 Carcano bullets patched to (I think) a .280 bore)

I supposed for the sake of argument in the movie they could have used a high pressure plastic sabot like a Savage 10ML muzzle loader (.452 pistol bullet in a .50 barrel propelled by smokeless shotgun powder) and had it make more sense, plus use some 2010s technology.

The problem with the whole patch idea though is that if the bullet was recovered and ballistics were done on it, it would be immediately apparent that it was inside a patch or sabot due to the nature of the markings left by the inside of the barrel, rendering the whole point of using the same bullet as the person you are trying to frame pointless.

[SPEMack618]

Unless the Ram-Dyne guys also had an inside man in the New Orleans PD crime lab. Highly plausible given the fact that they had a SAC on the payroll in the novel.

[commando552]

Originally Posted by SPEMack618

Unless the Ram-Dyne guys also had an inside man in the New Orleans PD crime lab. Highly plausible given the fact that they had a SAC on the payroll in the novel.

If they had, then why bother firing the correct caliber bullet at all if you are just going to fake the ballistics report anyway.

[SPEMack618]

Plausible deniability I suppose. And makes the case against Gunny Swagger that much more airtight.

[commando552]

If you had someone in the lab to game the results, you would just shoot them with a regular .308 and lie abut the ballistics though, there would be no need for the patching bollocks. In this situation using a patched bullet gains you nothing. The only possible reason you might do it would to be to create inconclusive ballistics that would not match any gun, but like I say you would be able to tell the bullet had been wrapped in a patch so hence not from the suspects gun.

I haven't read the book so I might be missing the point, what was the actual stated reason he did the patching, to make the bullet untraceable or what? A much better way of framing someone would be to use a highly expanding or frangible round so that no ballistics could be done on the bullet itself, and simply leave some shot brass from the person you want to frame's rifle. Ballistics examiners would be very lucky to get an individual match on a gun from the bullet anyway (normally they can only get it down to the make and model if that), but the markings on the used brass are much more likely to give a definite match, so this is where the "framing" should focus.

[SPEMack618]

Yeah, the point was the bullet that was patched and then fired by the bad fellow in the book was originally fired by Gunny Swagger and then refired at the Arch-Bishop.