micro stamps and related questions

[dakotasin]

i read w/ much dismay about boston/massachusetts wanting smart guns, or tracking for ammo sales and related nonsense such as this.

it makes me wonder, what the short term future is for guns - especially handguns. will there be a gun company that behaves similiarly to the way s&w (pre saf-t-hammer) did when the great gun grab of the late 90's started? by that i mean, voluntarily putting micro-stamp garbage on a gun (or something like it)...

is it just a matter of time before we can no longer buy new guns that don't have those features?

just feeling a little pessimistic today, i guess... i haven't bought factory ammo for a gun in years, and last night i tried to buy a box of 40's at wal-mart, (for a gun i anticipate buying next time i get to the big city) and i couldn't even get to the ammo - so i got tired of waiting for somebody to 'come help me', so i went over the counter, got what i wanted, and then had to produce proof of my age before buying the stuff... of course, i had my 2 daughters w/ me (6 and 2), so having to produce i.d. just baffled me.

so... what's your take on the future of ammo tracking and the micro stamping silliness?

 

[saddenedcitizen]

Like 'ballistic fingerprinting'

This simply will not work.
Aside from revolvers ( no ejected casings ) or picking up (or throwing down ) spent brass to be used as planted evidence,
or replacing/grinding/making firing pins, this idea is silly.
First - how many characters in the 'serial #' ??
Well, let's use 100 million so you have a 6 character serial number.
To put 6 READABLE characters on even a large rifle primer is going to be difficult at best. And we all know, 6 'ain't' gonna be enough !! ( .22 rimfires are REALLY gonna be fun !)
Ever wonder why your bank acct.or almost ANY acct # has a gazillion digits ?? 15 digits ( no alpha characters ) would give every man, woman & child in this country 40 MILLION unique numbers (!!) or every man, woman child on the PLANET 170,000 unique numbers !!
But lets stick with 6.
Put simply, the cases on primers (which can be removed/replaced etc.) are not hard enough to take the imprint accurately time after time after time.
One or more of these idiots has seen where diamonds are laser engraved and started thinking - 'Gee, we could do that with GUNS !!' Sorry Bucko - won't work.
I often wonder why people who apparently have ZERO common sense and evidently know NOTHING and have never done ANYTHING with their hands are running government !!!
This is simply another 'feel good' idea that is as worthless as its many predecessors.
But it, I'm sure, will be tried, cost a bundle and accomplish NOTHING.
Ask Baltimore (?) about their vaunted $3 million 'ballistic fingerprinting' scheme. Last I heard, it had not solved a single crime but the 'officials' still call it a valuable 'tool' ( denial and self delusion raised almost to an art form !!)
The other problem is the 'back end' of this issue'
'K - you got a casing from a crime scene and you can verify the number and it was from a gun owned by
J.Smith at 1234 Any Ave. Somewhere U.S.A.

But OOPS
1) he doesnt live there anymore - now what ?
2) says gun was stolen - if true, now what ?
3) denies ANY knowledge - never owned a gun in his life, must
be some OTHER J.Smith - maybe true or not - now what ?
4) sold gun - doesn't remember to whom or when exactly - now what ?
on and on.
An idiotic idea but time & money will be spent on it to no good end.

 

[Firethorn]

Well, besides tripling the cost of a firing pin and still being vulnerable to a touch of a file, rasp, or even sandpaper.

You wouldn't want to put standard numbers on it. Like how they encode data for going over a modem, you'd want to use some sort of encoding scheme. The best method I can think of wouldn't use the pin, but the breechface. More room, harder component to replace. Unlike the side, shouldn't encourage sticking.

 

[gezzer]

Politico's have been watch'in to much CSI.