How does rifle cartridge brass end up on the sidewalk in Brooklyn?

April 10, 2009 8:49 AM

How does rifle cartridge brass end up on the sidewalk in Brooklyn?

I was walking up Bedford Ave yesterday and I saw all these spent shell casings on the ground, like this. They all had these little metal clips on them, as you can kind of see in that crappy phonecam pic. What are those clips? I guess the first thing you'd think if you see shell casings on the ground is "someone was shooting at someone" but...these casings were stamped "LC-77" on the bottom, which google reports means they are probably .308 Winchester/NATO 7.62x51 built for the military. I don't think street criminals are in the habit of attacking each other with weapons chambered for .308. I mean, walking around with an M25 sniper rifle has a way of drawing attention to oneself on a crowded thoroughfare. Also, that wouldn't explain the little metal clips.

So...is there some sort of seismographic survey equipment that uses these cartridges to generate an impulse? Is there some sort of super-concrete-penetrating-nailgun that uses these? Was their a street vendor on Bedford selling spent cartridges to make into pens? Did some migratory springtime crustpunk's bullet-belt fall apart while he was waiting for the bus?

posted by jeb to society & culture (13 comments total)

I bet some punk rock kid's belt just fell apart and they left it there on the street.
posted by hoobichu at 8:59 AM on April 10 [1 favorite has favorites]

Yeah, I've noticed that with the nice weather the crusties are back in force, plus .308 is a pretty common caliber for bullet belts.
posted by jeb at 9:06 AM on April 10

If you could smell the cartridge it might be able to tell you if it was fired. Gunpowder residue smells for a long time, especially in a large shell like that. It wouldn't tell you what it was used for but you could then know if it had ever been fired.
posted by JimmyJames at 9:07 AM on April 10

The image of the bullet you linked is a blank. The National Guard trains in the woods near my childhood home, and I used to collect them as a kid. I just pulled them out and photographed them for you. On the left are wadded blanks, on the right are live rounds. Both have (obviously) been shot.

I think hoobichu has it. My collection has been used by punk-y friends as a fashion accessory on many occasions. The explanation is simple: fashion.
posted by fake at 9:11 AM on April 10

Call the cops and ask them. They might be very interested. Thats what they there for. Who really knows what criminals are in the "habit" of doing?
posted by Taurid at 9:13 AM on April 10

It was not "spent, it was never fired. Had it been fired there would not 1)still be a bullet in the case and 2)there would not be the belt feed pieces. That attachment would be part of machine gun ammunition that detaches before the round goes in the chamber of the gun. As said it was probably prop or fashion.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:39 AM on April 10

The clips are for machine gun link, by the way. Those belts of bullets that go into the gun from the side that you usually see Arnie carrying wrapped over his arm.

nthing a broken fashion item as the reason for it being there.
posted by Brockles at 9:53 AM on April 10

Had it been fired there would not 1)still be a bullet in the case

Uhhh...there is no bullet in the case. Maybe that's not clear in the picture as the picture sucks and the neck is kind of mashed. There was no bullet in any of them. They were clearly fired at some point, there's burn marks, firing pin marks in primer.

I think, going with the belt hypothesis, that the belt people put the spent cartridges back in the belt feed pieces.
posted by jeb at 9:59 AM on April 10

Let's consider this question solved though. I initially put the punk rock belt hypothesis in the post as a joke, but you guys all seem to believe its plausible too. It also is corroborated nicely by the return of the crusties to Williamsburg that accompanies each vernal equinox.
posted by jeb at 10:01 AM on April 10

Just to quash the seismic or fastener theories, the seismic surveys usually use a 12 gauge shotgun shell or a slide hammer to generate a wave and the largest powder actuated fastener cartridge is usually a .27, although I think .32 does exist.
posted by electroboy at 10:57 AM on April 10

Uhhh...there is no bullet in the case. Maybe that's not clear in the picture as the picture sucks and the neck is kind of mashed.

They're fired blanks. The 'kinda mashed' look is the crimping done to the neck of the round casing when the blanks are manufactured, which stops too much of the blank wadding and cordite inside from fouling up the barrel of the weapon and the gas parts.

N'thing some punk's belt fell apart.
posted by Happy Dave at 12:15 PM on April 10

Man, I'm not really down with the punk fashion scene but if I was going to wear a cartridge belt I would definitely not want it to be made of blanks. Please. Not exactly too terrifying of a garment, all made of some refuse from entertaining kids down at Wild West City, or tossed off during the making of Saving Private Ryan 2: Oh Crap That Lady Has Another Son. I'm excited by this new method of tracking the seasonal migrations of the crust community. Much as the droppings of the Canadian Goose herald the arrival of Fall, the scattering of .308 casings on the pavement shall signal the return of Spring.
posted by jeb at 12:53 PM on April 10 [1 favorite has favorites]

Man, I'm not really down with the punk fashion scene but if I was going to wear a cartridge belt I would definitely not want it to be made of blanks.

I doubt the wearer knew it was made of blanks. Not a single friend I had growing up who would wear any sort of bullet belt/studded/belt/punk-looking outfit could have pointed out the difference. Some other social scientist can work out the theory on why that is.
posted by JFitzpatrick at 7:12 PM on April 10