Used cartridge

[scorpio746]

Yesterday I finally bought my first handgun for conceal carry. A Glock 42, and I must say, after putting about 50 rounds through it when I purchased it, I love it. However when I got it home and I was looking through the case that it come in, I found two spent cartridges that I assume were shot through my gun at time of manufacturing. Why do I have them and what am I supposed to do with them? Just curious.

Sent from my XT1585 using USA Carry mobile app

 

[bofh]

Yesterday I finally bought my first handgun for conceal carry. A Glock 42, and I must say, after putting about 50 rounds through it when I purchased it, I love it. However when I got it home and I was looking through the case that it come in, I found two spent cartridges that I assume were shot through my gun at time of manufacturing. Why do I have them and what am I supposed to do with them? Just curious.

Sent from my XT1585 using USA Carry mobile app

Those two spent cartridges are a remnant of Ballistic Imaging programs that several states (MD and NY) used to run. The idea is that gun manufacturers supply spent cartridges with new guns and before they are being sold those spent cartridges are being photographed by state law enforcement. The photographs are then put in a database for later matching with spent cartridges found at crime scenes. This way, a firearm can be matched with a spent cartridge without having recovered the firearm at the crime scene. At least, that's the theory. In practice, these Ballistic Imaging programs have not solved a single crime, were outrageously expensive, and eventually disbanded (AmmoLand | Shell-Casing Shell Games).

Remember that when you watch TV shows, like NCIS, or movies. Whenever the forensic scientist says that they matched a shell casing from a crime scene, it is this "technology" they are talking about (which doesn't work).

You can throw them away or reload them, your choice.