Calling CSI-Experts

[Jamie Young]

I stumbled upon this in a park near Philadelphia, and snapped some photos of it and thought I'd post it as a CSI examination.


CSI-Examination


1)Are these dents from a Firearm?

2)If so, what caused them?

3)If it's not a firearm that caused the dents, what could have?

4)Would a basketball backboard stop a firearm from penetrating it?

I have more pictures, but I think this first one gives you soemething to discuss first.

Any questions you want to ask?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[JD]

Without a close up of the "dents" it's hard to tell, what is the material that the back stop is made of?

It could be firearm related, some of the groups look to good to be from a sling shot and ball bearings, but it could be a paintball gun firing ball bearing (if you shoot with nitrus, you can get some pretty high velocity ball bearing shots....I read a book on it...yeah that's it, I read a book on it)

I'd be willing to bet its bullet impacts, pending on caliber, that back stop could have been enough.

Atleast now we know where the "homies" go for target practice.

[Jamie Young]

The backboard is metal.

[Chooie]

I'd guess 00 lead shot.

[TN_Mike]

I'd guess 00 lead shot.

Yep....I have seen buck shot (not 00 Buck mind you but smaller shot) not make it through road signs so that backstop would stop the buck shot easily.

[rocky]

possible 22 groups or buckshot.

[pgrass101]

Not Buck shot becuase the groups have different number of dents. I would guess small caliber pistol (.22 or .25) or rifle. Groups are to tight for a sling shot (I've never been that good with a slingshot and I've killed birds and squirrels with them).

[pistola]

Bullet beaked woodpecker for sure.

[Ten_Ring]

.22 cal. handgun

[CopperKnight]

I dunno. Pretty nice groups for some hoodlums with a small caliber gun. Not something you would normally find in such case. Maybe large caliber shot from two different gauge shotguns? Or that top group was two shots? Some of the "flyers" are probably small cal dents.

[ExSoldier]

I'm a CSI fanatic, so I'll take a ummmmm "shot" at this. lol If you'll gaze at the nice groupings, you will see that several of them have a slightly oval shape indicating to me the shot did come from an angle. There are dimples on the reverse side of board and I don't think that a pellet would have sufficient density and velocity to give the size of the dimple nor leave the smear that some or most display. The nice tight grouping would take considerable time for a good shot with a "normal" handgun to form.

It is a shotgun pattern in my humble opinion, possibly from one of those new Taurus 45 fourten revolvers. A 410 with buckshot might have the requisite number of pellets per load and of course if more than one shell was expended at one sitting that would certainly do the trick, which brings up another point, there is some definite rusting displayed so these are not fresh and could have been accomplished over a period of time. There is also some mud spatter which could have come from a basketball hitting that spot that had previously rolled in the mud. Might not be related to the patterns. Some of the dimples, especially the small trio at about the 0900 position with a flyer at Six O'Clock that appears to be smaller and less defined than the others so IT might be a "stand alone" mark all it's own.

I'd like a closer examination of the reverse side of the board and to see if the dimples on the reverse mirror the location and if the dimples are indeed convex as they would have to be if they were made by projectiles being fired from the front of the board.

MAYBE the patterns on the front and rear are distinct unto themselves. One fired from one side of the board and the others from the reverse with no "dimple" marks making it all the way thru the metal from either side. OTOH perhaps a closer examination of the surface of the board would tell us more. GRISSOM...what do YOU think?

[Ten_Ring]

A 410 with buckshot might have the requisite number of pellets per load

Only (3) 000 buck pellets per shell

[ExSoldier]

Only (3) 000 buck pellets per shell

So if it was the revolver then two shots per pattern because I counted six dimples at least in one of the groups. Are they 000 size? What caliber is 000? .36?

[Ten_Ring]

yep, three 000 per shell and correct .3600 cal.

[TSquare]

That is a 22 or 25 handgun. The angle is showing fired upwards therefor creating a "dimple" effect as mentioned and the bullet not penetrating. I would guess that it was fired from around 25 to 30 feet. Even some small cheap 22 and 25 pistols can create a great pattern even for a common street thug. I grew up in the rural areas of Oklahoma and shot stop signs all the time with my 22 pistol and with shorts or cb ammunition they would not penetrate at that distance. Taurus P22 or Beretta 22 / 25 would most likely be your firearm that caused that since those are very popular with the gang scene.