-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- To: cypherpunks@toad.com, sandfort@crl.com Date: Sun Aug 04 13:07:42 1996

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

C'punks,

On Sun, 4 Aug 1996, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM asked:

...

Is there truth to the rumor that poking a file inside the barrel will alter the marks on future test firings?

I don't know the answer to this one, but my best guess is, A) yes, but not enough to alter the test firing, and B) whether or not it did, it would be strong evidence of an attempt to screw up such a test. There are few (no?) legitimate reasons to harm one's gun thusly.

I have heard, but have not evidence for, is that with use, these characteristic markings change. As a result, putting 200-300 rounds through a gun at the range is enough to alter its identifiable barrel markings sufficiently to defeat forensic matching. Don't know, just heard, but it sounds reasonable.

Considering the relative strengths/hardnesses of the metals involved (high-grade steel for barrel, lead and/or copper for projectile), I'd suspect that it would take more than 200-300 rounds to have any significant impact on the barrel rifling. This, of course, is for 'normal' weapons and ammo; using diamond projectiles in a saturday night special voids all warranties, express or implied :-) my ha'penny's worth. Dave Merriman PS - Been using Pronto Secure beta software the last couple of days for email. It's not Eudora, but *very* convenient for signing/encrypting. A couple of bugs/gotchas, but nothing I'd expect to see in for-sale version. I'm actually mildly impressed with how smoothly and transparently it works with PGP on a DOS/Win95 system. PGP Email welcome and encouraged. Visit my web site at http://www.shellback.com/p/merriman for my PGP key and fingerprint -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMgQwKsVrTvyYOzAZAQGacAP+L8CfV6aFmuAsJYTM5ttHqWu6B49vL2cx Ejnxwp2bRcM7winGALg+LQwwqjx1eNd1gKLsjrIRdh4oQgCBobfdEMU2poJvceTD shfPhvZqDWQQgZf0B1OkqzporGprdKM6V/rEbguzDMGt1SaUX585dZaYq5/CtyOO b+NFH+WSemc= =VWgA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----