Good points Sam,

Sounds like pretty serious stuff you majored in at school!

Mainly this was a hypothetical question, not so much directed at actually doing it, but just to see if a guy could do it and be successful.

Personally I don't have the knowledge, equipment, or desire to shove something down the chamber that I have tampered with and hope for the best. I just wondered if it could be done with good results and with no real consequences.

Sounds like in general its not a great idea, which is good enough for me.

While thinking of crazy things that have been done to factory ammo I just remembered the shooting of President Reagan.

Didn't John Hinckley Jr. put something in the hollow point bullets? IIRC it was supposed to poison the President if the wounds didn't kill him.

As a 12 year old I remember thinking it was a bad idea but now I am curious to know what it was. He probably just messed up the mushrooming effect of the bullet.

Anyone remember this part of the shooting?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_ass ... on_attempt

It always astounds me how many assassination attempts have been made with very small caliber guns.

Sort of like saying, "I want to kill you, but as gently as possible."

Further, if that is what happened, this guy is a horrible shot. He sprayed 6 shots all over the place (hit the wrong people), just imagine the spray and pray if he'd have been shooting something with some recoil.

His super bullets didn't have much effect after all, turns out marksmanship is more important than what you shoot, but then I'm preaching to the choir.

I seem to remember some movie or such where a perp made his own hollow points by drilling, then put a drop of mercury in the pit, and soldered it over. guess it could work. Poison the target, anyway, if the bullet didn't kill it first.

small caliber and a revolver!

Another detail I had forgotten. He fired 6 shots in 3 seconds by the reports, but IIRC it was much faster that 3 seconds. Amazing how that one (crazed) man changed security forever.

IIRC, the revolver held 8 rounds ...


source: wikipedia

The Day of the Jackal, 1973.

Sirhan Sirhan killed Bobby Kennedy with an 8-shot 22 revolver.
John Hinckley Jr. shot Reagan with a 6-shot 22 revolver.

ETA: The maker of Sirhan's revolver, Iver-Johnson, also made the revolver that killed President William McKinley. It was a .32.

(and now that I have gotten myself on every gov't watchlist I'll shut up.)

Ah ... I had forgotten that. I JUST read the RFK link yesterday and it was fresh in my mind.

hey now, remember that "Squeaky" Fromme tried to do in President Gerry Ford with a .45 ACP. she was a tiny thing, (alas the squeaky like a mouse) and nearly pulled it off.

Sara jane Moore who tried just a few days later, had carried a .44 mag to with a few feet of the President a few days before, but was then interviewed and had her pistol confiscated by the secret service one day before she was finally able to get to where she had a shot, and there used a .38 to get one shot off. As she drew her pistol, she bumped a by stander who when he saw the gun dove for her hand and manage to get the gun to discharge into the ground as he tackled her.

Supposedly Hinckly used "Devastator" bullets, designed to explode (not mushroom) inside their target.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/project ... ullets.htm
http://www.hi-vel.com/Catalog__20/Devas ... ition.html

As long as we have drifted this far,Mark Chapman killed John Lennon with a snub nose 38 caliber revolver.

"Squeaky" Fromme had a .45 auto with a full magazine but she didn't realize you needed one in the chamber in order to fire. That was her downfall, she raised and pointed the gun but of course it didn't fire and then she was tackled. I remember reading about that incident in the paper and thought it was a good thing she had no firearms training.

Though I've read that she claimed to have intentionally ejected the chambered round at home before she left, in order to leave the chamber empty. Investigators found a stray round in her bathroom. Her behavior since seems to indicate that she wants to be in prison.