AFTE 2003 Monday

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2/13/2001

www.afte.org > Training Seminar > 2003 Monday

AFTE 2003 - Monday May 26

Technical Program | Business Meeting | After-hour activities

Technical Program

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

Lt. Lampe (seen below), Commanding Officer Firearms and Toolmark Unit, provided a opening statement welcoming members to Philadelphia.

In attendance:

24 first-time attendees and new members
17 international members
9 past-presidents

Members of the Philadelphia Police Firearm and Toolmark Unit were introduced to attendees.

NEW AMMUNITION

George Kass, Forensic Ammunition Service, Okemos, MI #9; #9;

Notes: Unusual year for ammunition. Not a flood of new ammunition. George provided a handout to members that included a number of new headstamp/cartridges. Handout to be posted soon.

Three or four manufacturers in the US that make only brass.

Star line/Jamison/others do not make ammunition as such. Numerous small companies buy brass from them.

Three new calibers of PMC ammunition. The 7x64 is made in South Africa under contract for PMC.

Examiners should be careful in using terms such as "manufactured by" and should probably state "marketed by" in reference to ammunition examinations.

Federal ammunition is now also made in Anoka, Minnesota.

17 Hornady Magnum. CCI makes the ammo for Remington, Hornady, and CCI in Lewiston, ID.

George Kass is the chairman of the TA committee and has a number of ammunition/headstamp databases.

INTRATEC'S FACETED FIRING PIN

Heather R. Thomas, Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences, Dallas, Texas

Cartridge cases fired in most Intratec 9mm "paramilitary" style pistols are reported to produce angled, or faceted, firing pin impressions. This research shows that the faceting is a product of safety/operating handle contact with the tip of the firing pin. Firing pin impressions made at intervals of repeated contact show that the microscopic characteristics of the firing pin will change.

Notes: Heather researched the relationship between the firing pin and the safety operating handle. She was attempting to establish whether the safety being engaged with firing pin in the ready-to-fire position would cause faceting of the tip of the firing pin.

She obtained several sets of aftermarket firing pins and safety operating handles. All were Rockwell hardness tested.

Tests after 10 "hits" showed that the safety operating button started to change the nose of the firing pin. After 500 hits the original profile of the firing pin had changed. The nose of the firing pin had become "faceted". Rotation of the firing pin causes the faceted look.

Examiners should use caution when examining INTRATEC firearms. No engagement of the safety operating handle should be attempted until standards are developed.

ATF NATIONAL FIREARMS EXAMINER ACADEMY OVERVIEW

Glen T. Beach, ATF Forensic Science Lab-Washington, 6000 Ammendale Rd., Ammendale, MD 20705

The overview will detail the NFEA Class 2002 accomplishments, as well as announcing the graduates from the Academy. It will also cover statistics of the first four (4) training classes, as far as states represented, students still involved in the firearms and toolmark field with their original agencies as well as those students who have moved to other laboratories. The overview will also touch on the current Class 2003 training agenda, and future classes. The NFEA Class 2002 student selected to represent the Academy at this years' AFTE will also be introduced.

EFFECTS OF VARYING POWDER CHARGES ON THE BREECH FACE MARKS OF CARTRIDGE CASES

Shawn G. Malikowski, Oregon State Police Crime Laboratory, 3620 Gateway St., Springfield, OR 97477

One of the main tasks of a firearm and toolmark examiner is to identify fired cartridge cases to a particular firearm. This experiment was conducted to determine if ammunition could be hand-loaded with increased charges, thus increasing pressures, to enhance breech face marks. Or, whether the ammunition could be downloaded while still retaining sufficient breech face marks in the event the weapon was damaged or the bullets would deform in a water recovery trap. The analysis of fired cartridge cases indicate that individual characteristics can be enhanced with increased pressures brought on by higher powder charges, but these increases in detail may not be enough to influence an identification.

FIRED CARTRIDGE CASE COMPARISONS: 9MM AND .40 CALIBER GLOCK VS. SMITH AND WESSON SIGMA SERIES PISTOLS

Nancy D. McCombs, California State Department of Justice, Fresno, 6014 N. Cedar, Fresno, CA 93710

In 1994 and 1995, Smith and Wesson introduced the Model SW40F and SW9F Sigma Series pistols which exhibit similar class characteristics on fired cartridge cases to those fired in Glock pistols. Consequently, the firearm examiner can no longer list the Glock pistol as the sole suspect firearm when considering the class characteristics of fired cartridge cases.

Due to the infrequent number of Sigma Series pistols in circulation, earlier comparisons of fired cartridge cases from the two types of pistols were limited. In this study, similarities and differences in class characteristics were compared between cartridge cases fired from a considerable number of 9mm and 40 caliber Glock and Smith and Wesson Sigma Series pistols.

RECALL/SAFETY WARNING LIST UPDATE

Dominic Denio, FBI Laboratory
A new recall/safety warning list was provided to attendee's.

GLOCK SAFETY ISSUE WITH AFTER-MARKET PARTS

Kendall T. Jaeger, Forensics & Firearms Unit, Metro-Nashville Police Department, Nashville, TN

AFTE BUSINESS MEETING

The business meeting started with the election of new officers.

The following board members were elected by the members:

President: Ann Davis

1st Vice President: Ron Marrs

2nd Vice President: Dominic Denio

Member-at-large: Carlo Rosati

Secretary: Terry Eaton

Other bylaws changes propose passed as follows

All changes related to the modification of the tenure of the Technical Advisors passed.

Adhoc committees, Website and Research & Development were converted to Standing Committees

Board of Admissions time to process membership applications was increased from 90 days to 180 days.

Bylaws change proposals 1-4 that related to the Nominating Committee were voted on by members and of these the following proposals were carried by a vote of members:

PROPOSAL. # 4: Specifies the role of the Nominating Committee with regard to its relationship to the Board of Directors by adding the following two paragraphs:

The Nominating Committee works as an independent body and its deliberations are privileged

The slate of officers proposed to the membership by the Nominating Committee is not subject to approval by the Board of Directors.

All other proposed bylaws changes were defeated by the membership.

After-Hour Activities

The after-hour's activities included a barbeque dinner followed by an evening of karaoke singing by members.

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