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Edited on Thu May-31-07 11:48 PM by happyslug
Small Arms use "Rounds" or "Cartridges" which consist of a "Bullet" (That actually goes out the barrel), "Powder" which when ignited burns providing the expanding gas to push the bullet out of the barrel, a "primer" which when hit by the weapon's hammer or firing pin, starts the ignition, all three elements are contained with a brass case (Also called a "Cartridge).
I go into the design of a round because since the US Civil War there have been two types of Primers. Boxer primers invented by a English Colonel and the Berdan Primer design by an American Colonel. The main difference between the two is the Berdan Primer has an open bottom, the bottom is provided by the brass case. The Boxer is a complete unit. When it comes to re-loading brass cartridge ammunition old Boxer primers can be pushed out of the bottom of the Brass Cartridge with a simple push through the bottom of the Brass case and a new primer loaded by pressing the new primer into the hole left by the old Primer. Berdan primers on the other hand are generally NOT considered re-loadable (There can be re-loaded but that requires somehow Pulling the primer from the base of the Brass case, not the simple push that is all that is need for a Boxer primed round).
Since most of the world do NOT re-load their ammunition, they prefer Berdan primed rounds. Over the production of thousand of rounds the simple fact all you have to do is push the Primer into its slot in the bottom of the Brass case, with the case itself providing the stop for the primer. can save thousands of Dollars in production costs.
On the Other hand the US is one of the few countries where you have a long tradition of re-loading ammunition. To accommodate this US Ammunition manufactures have almost always used Boxer primed ammunition. In the 1960s the CIA had 9mm Ammunition made with non-US markings, so the US can deny supplying the ammunition. The CIA decided to use the most distant country they could, but had to pick a country that used Boxer primers. Thus the Ammunition was marked with Canadian markings.....
Yes, the US and Canada are about the only countries that use Boxer primed ammunition, and neither has any production capability for Berdan primed ammunition (The US military, while making its own ammunition, buys the equipment from the same place Commercial ammunition gets they equipment, and thus all of it is designed for Boxer primers). Did the CIA want to go further than Canada? Yes, but could not unless the CIA was willing to set up a whole new factory for BOTH Brass and Primers (and a new plant to assemble the Brass, Bullets, Primers and Powder into 9mm Rounds).
Now since the 1970s I have run across Norma ammunition (out of Sweden) that was "Boxer primed" for the US Market. Since the fall of the Soviet union a whole lot of Ammunition has entered the US from Korea, the former Soviet Union and other locations that are Berdan primed, but this is for the Civilian Market NOT the military market. This introduction of a lot of cheap ammunition has reduced the demand for re-loadable ammunition, but the demand still exist (Which is why Norma decided to make some up starting in the 1970s) but the sad fact is you can assume ammunition is US made if it is Boxer primed and EVERY intelligence agency worth its salt knows this fact. Thus all the Iranians had to do is tear apart the Rounds (which is NOT hard to do if you just want to look at the Components) and see if the Round is Boxer of Berdan primed.
My First point it is easy to change the lettering and numbering on the bottom of the brass case, all that is are simple pressure indents. To change from Boxer to Berdan primers require not only a new factory for Round manufacturer, but new factories for the Berdan Primers AND the Brass case designed to take Berdan primers. The former is easy, the later is almost impossible without spending 100s of millions of Dollars.
My Second point is that while Serial Numbers can be faked, there are ways to determine where something (such as a Rifle) by HOW it is made. The Berdan vs Boxer primer situation is one of the most fundamental, other things like the US never shipped a certain type of weapon out of its inventory can be another (This applies to things less likely to to be shipped overseas for example communication gear, if these fighters had something more modern than what the US National Guard has it came from the US NOT via some third world country, High Explosives with recent US date of manufacture is another possibility).
The problem can be as simple as something using Metric threads as opposed to SAE thread. An example of this is when England adopted the FN FAL rifle in the 1950s. FN designed the FAL as a battle rifle firing 7.62mm NATO ammunition. The FAL as made by FN and used in most of the world used metric threads. England, when it adopted the FN FAL, converted the threads to English measurements. This conversion to English measurements made the English FALs NOT interchangeable with the Metric FALs. When Argentina took the Falklands in the 1980s both sides used FN FAL rifles. While the 7.62mm NATO Rounds were interchangeable between the two countries FN FAL Rifles, and both countries FN FALs LOOKED the same, the parts, including the removable magazines were NOT do to Argentina's FAL Rifles being METRIC and the English FALs being English. If Britain wanted to ship its FALs overseas in a convert operation it would be easy to find out that these are English thread FALs NOT metric threads FALs and as such are either English, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand or South African in Original. It could NOT be from any other Country that used the FAL (and all the other countries used them is far smaller numbers than the British with the Canadians have made their with the ability to use "Stripper Clips" in addition to interchangeable removable magazines, something most other users of the FN FAL did NOT adopt. Thus just because a weapon is "Old" does not mean you can NOT trace it.
I am speculating as to what is the evidence the Iranians have, but my point is they is NO NEED for a direct Serial Number connection, as long as the evidence shows it is very likely the weapons came from the US. This evidence can be the weapons themselves, the ammunition, the Explosives, the communication gear, or even the boots and uniforms these Fighters were wearing. I do NOT know what is the Evidence (and I will evaluate it if the Iranians release such evidence), but the evidence needed DOES NOT have to be a direct line, as long as it can be shown that the accusation of evidence is enough to show US source for the supplies.
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