As cops, wouldn't they know that the bullets from their service revolvers could be matched via ballistics? Why not kill the criminals with a "safe" gun, then frame another dead criminal or even plant it in Palancio's place?
shareYes this was stupid. They should have used other guns so that way it wouldn't leave them as suspects. Or they could have used .38 special rounds being that a .357 magnum revolver can fire .38 specials with no problem.
shareOr they could have used .38 special rounds being that a .357 magnum revolver can fire .38 specials with no problem.
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Big problem--bullets are matched by comparing the rifling marks imparted by the lands and grooves of the barrel they were fired from, which are unique like fingerprints.
A .38 special bullet is the same diameter as the .357 magnum, it just has a shorter case holding less powder than a .357 magnum. That's why you can fire .38 specials from .357 magnums, but not the other way around. A .38 special is NOT "38 caliber," meaning 38/100 of an inch in diameter. It's actually .357, just like a .357 magnum.
The rifling marks would show that two slugs were fired from the same barrel, even if one came out of a .38 special case. They were both fired from the same barrel. A box of 200 grain .38 specials and a box of 200 grain .357 magnums would be loaded with identical bullets--just the cases of .357 would be a little longer, hold a little more powder, and would leave the barrel at a higher velocity. Same barrel, bullets would match.
Also, the casings (one a 38 special, one a .357 magnum, both fired from the same gun) would also have identical firing pin and breech face impressions, which are also unique. Either a bullet or a fired casing can be matched to the gun that fired them and exlcude all other guns. Not a factor in the movie, just a ballistics factoid.
Back to the movie, it's a plot hole. Maybe they though they were above suspicion, but they were leaving irrefutable evidence in every corpse that could be traced to their service weapons.
Well since Briggs was in on it he would switch the bullet casings. He as adamant about getting that shell casing from Callahan....
ANd in the beginning he told Callahan that the ballistics turned up nothing...so he was tampering with evidence.
That's the part that always bothered me. Every time a cop has to fire even one round he/she has reports out the a-hole to fill out. If you're short say, six- eight bullets you'll have hell to pay. Firing your weapon is the last thing a cop wants to do...
shareAnd no matter how good your silencer is. A revolver has gaps between the cylinder and the forcing cone. It would still make a huge noise.
What they couldn't get a Walther PPK with a silencer and stash that inside the motorcycle cops jacket?
But I guess the movie was called...MAGNUM FORCE.
(And yes, I love my .357 Magnum revolver!)
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they explaine the reasoning in the first murder. The cops were firing hollow points from close range as this range it is almost assured the bullet will spread enough to destroy the bullet. The other thing is that all the bullets could be matched to the same crime it didn't matter. The point of having young traffic cops is that no one would suspect them, and even if there was suspicion the bullets were fired from a standard service revolver. All cops carrying them have basically the same rifling. So all you would know is that two bullets were fired from the same type of gun, one of the most popular models at the time.
shareIt's also about context. In 1973 the only common semi auto would be a 1911, maybe a Beretta M1951, PPK or Browning Hi-Power. Before polymer pistols were invented, you didn't see many semi-autos.
Most cops and criminals used revolvers. Shooting using .38 Special or even .357 Magnum would not be a stretch. You'd think if Davis was an Ex-Airborne Ranger, you'd think he'd have a 1911 with a silencer for the Guzman attack.
Firing .45 ACP would certainly confuse things if they were looking for more than 1 type of weapon.
But once again the title of the movie is "Magnum Force".
"Before polymer pistols were invented, you didn't see many semi-autos."
What?????????? This was the NINETEEN-seventies, not the eighteen-seventies! There were semi-autos galore!
I'm not talking .22LR, .25, or .32 here. You wanted to make sure the other guy was down for the count.
There was no Bren Ten's or anything in 1973. Even 9mm wasn't an everyday thing. 1911's were probably becoming more common. I'm sure there were lots of types of revolvers in various calibre even .41 Magnum.
There was lots of cheap Saturday Night Specials. In 1973 I bet you'd find far more revolvers than semi-auto pistols.
Law enforcement use of 9mm semi auto pistols wasn't particularly rare in 1973, although revolvers would remain the more common law enforcement duty pistol until the '80s. The 9mm S&W Model 39 semi-auto pistol was introduced in 1955. A version was used by the Navy Seals and, starting in the '60s, law enforcement agencies including the Illinois State Police. Then came the 9mm S&W Model 59, introduced in 1971 to give the military and law enforcement a semi-auto service pistol with a double stack magazine. West coast agencies were among the first to make the transition to semi autos. My agency in SoCal issued first generation Model 59's starting in the '70's. Although Smith had the semi-auto LE market mostly to themselves in those days, 9mm Berettas also began to enter the LE market in the '70s. Polymer pistols such as the Glock didn't start making significant inroads with police agencies until the '90s.
shareA quality firearm, like a Smith and Wesson or a Colt Python, is manufactured with very fine tolerances (i.e. extremely small gap between the cylinder and the frame). Fitted with a silencer/suppressor, the resulting sound (depending on the calber of the round fired - probably a .38 rather than a .357) would be akin to that of a cap gun - still audible, but muffled, distorted and disguised enough to make the silencer useful. (It certainly wouldn't make a "huge noise".)
shareWell you don't think these cops were doing paperwork on their murderous shootings, do you?
They weren't.
It was a secret.
Paperwork problem avoided.
Now, this is a signature gun, and that is an optical palm reader.share
They were probably feeling confident that their superior (and Harry's), Briggs, would be able to cover their tracks, so they did not take such elaborate precautions. After all, they were even brazen enough to try and recruit Harry when he started to investigate them. Only after this failed did they try to kill him.
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."
Another possibility hinges on the confrontation they had with Harry in the parking garage. It was clear from Davis's recruiting speech to Callahan that they didn't want to remain entirely in the shadows. They chose high profile criminals so that their "actions would be understood" by the public. It wasn't obvious whether they wished to communicate that a rogue law enforcement element was behind the vigilantism, but they obviously wanted to send a message to all criminals, as well as the law-abiding, that menaces to the peace could count the weeks they have left to live on one hand. My point, then, is that they may have used their service revolvers purposefully, not out of stupidity or a secret desire to get caught, but rather to send a terrifyingly implicit message that the police (or some government agency) were prepared to operate outside the boundaries of the law to clean up the city. They were employing terrorist tactics in the psychological realm as well. If you think about it, how were criminals to know that it wasn't other criminals bumping each other off? And, of course, they were expecting Briggs to protect them if any investigations got too close.
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