forensic evidence question

[Alpo]

Would putting brass in a tumbler remove fingerprints as well as removing grime?

 

I was resizing some brass the other day and I recalled a television episode. A sniper was shooting people on the street, and they found the brass from his first kill. It had fingerprints. The fingerprints belong to a ex-army sniper, so of course they decide that he's the killer.

 

Then his absolutely unbreakable alibi shows that he didn't did it, and they do a little more investigating and discover that he now owns a gun shop and he reloads ammunition for sale in his shop.

 

And the reason his fingerprints were on the case was because he had reloaded the case.

 

So if your killer is hand loading his own ammunition, and he uses rubber gloves to prime it and charge it then put a bullet in it, and put it in the magazine. So after the original resizing there is no way that his fingerprints could be on there. Would the tumbling after the resizing (I don't know about the rest of the world, but I size before tumbling because that way it cleans off the case lube) remove his fingerprints from the case?

 

Or, for that matter, if he wore rubber gloves all the time he touched it, would the tumbling remove any and every other person's prints, so the case would be absolutely pristine when the cops picked it up off the floor?

[Eyesa Horg]

Since tumbling removes carbon and tarnish, I don't think finger prints would stand a chance. 

[Chantry]

What mischief are you planning now?

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

Is ALPO gathering information and details to avoid getting caught???
"Inquiring" minds want to know!

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

9 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

Is ALPO gathering information and details to avoid getting caught???
"Inquiring" minds want to know!

Or wondering if he covered his tracks.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

1 hour ago, Chantry said:

What mischief are you planning now?

Planning to raid the cookie jar.  

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

I don't reload, but I'll go out on a limb here and guess that if he doesn't wear gloves during the reloading process, that any fingerprints will remain on the case because he's not going to place loaded ammunition in a tumbler. Just a guess mind you.

[Subdeacon Joe]

What's in the  tumbler?  Whiskey Sour?  Cosmopolitan?  Iced Coffee?

[Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485]

39 minutes ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

I don't reload, but I'll go out on a limb here and guess that if he doesn't wear gloves during the reloading process, that any fingerprints will remain on the case because he's not going to place loaded ammunition in a tumbler. Just a guess mind you.

Lots of people tumble after reloading to remove sizing lube.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

1 hour ago, Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485 said:

Lots of people tumble after reloading to remove sizing lube.

Then I stand corrected.

[watab kid]

yes i think so , wiping them with a cloth does too 

[Alpo]

I know that wiping with a cloth does, and that's fine if you're only doing a handful of shells.

 

But if you're doing several hundred rounds, that could get old quickly.