Weird question time. I work at a law firm outside of Richmond and our criminal defense attorney asked me, as the resident gun guy, if I could look for any private labs that could compare two rifle cases and tell him if they were fired from the same weapon. The lab would preferably be in Virginia. Anyone have any ideas or leads?  Virginia DFS is out

Good luck to you.  Maybe they can tell you if it was fired from the same type of firearm. My understanding is that ballistic fingerprinting is very unreliable.


http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/08/maryland-ends-ballistic-fingerprinting-database-15-years-5-million-no-crimes-solved/


https://www.gunfacts.info/gun-control-myths/ballistic-finger-printing/#note-89-6

In a California Department of Justice study, 50 fired cases from the Federal Cartridge Corp. were compared. The cartridges had all been fired in the same gun. In microscopic examination by “experts,” 38 percent were missed! When different cartridge makes were added to the mix, still all from the same gun, 62 percent were missed. Obviously, this presents a serious problem with only one fired case or bullet from each gun.

Maybe start with universities in the commonwealth with forensics programs?

I understand WHY DFS is out, but I am not aware of any labs that do it besides them (or other LE labs). I say this as a former detective and a current third year law student.

One option... go ask your insurance guys (or find some) what labs they use for various testing. The only industry that I've seen that does similar testing to criminal stuff is the insurance industry.

ETA - Specifically fire casualty.

Comparison gets especially difficult if the fired case is from reloaded ammo.