Tommygunn
Member
jollyroger said:Not to disparage the good prosecutor, but you CAN get latent prints off a gun. The determining factor is the surface: a polished surface will hold a latent print, while a parkerized surface or rough-texured metal or plastic will not. I've gotten usable latents off a S&W 4506 slide, a beretta 950, several bryco's, etc.: fuming with super glue and sometimes just using powder and lifts. Even if the gun is parkerized, the mags are often smooth steel and will hold a print.
True but what makes polished surfaces on guns so hard is that it is real easy to smear the body oils around and mess the print up. I've tried it. If you deliberatly place your finger on the surface and remove it straight away you leave a beautiful print that will scream your identity, but start handling the gun in any realistic way and you get smudges almost immediatly.