CSI vs MagSafe

[BluesBear]

This has got to be one of tyhe dumbest things on CSI yet.

They're investigating a shooting, subject is shot by a MagSafe round.
This guy is explaning the MagSafe to Marg Helgenberger's character since she has never heard of them.

Guy says that even though they are sold commercially very few are purchased so the shooter has to be a Federal Air Marshall.

I expect this sort of flimsy plot trick on CSI Miami, but this has to be the thinnest thread yet on the Vegas version.

 

[winstonsmith]

Some of us aren't as highly knowledgeable as you. Why don't you tell us what the truth behind this is?

 

[Amish_Bill]

I caught that little bit. Ick.

Yes, they were right about Magsafe probably not having very high sales numbers. That's because it's an expensive "premium defense" round. It may or may not be a good example of prefragmented defensive ammo, but it's an expensive round. Because it's so much more expensive that ball or regular HP, most shooters will either never buy any, or buy one small box & keep them forever.

I started to wonder about them using the real name of the round/company. Most times they will not do that for legal reasons. Maybe Magsafe is paying for product placement to get their name out and into the "wannabe" market?

 

[timbo]

I caught this episode, it was ok, but what's the big deal? I can't see anything wrong with the way they represented the ammunition or that it belonged to an air marshal. Then again they were investigating a car bombing when the ammo cooked off, not a shooting. Maybe you misunderstood something?

 

[PrudentGT]

I used to have quite a few blue glasers rattling around, before I got over it and switched to HP's. I've been an air marshall all this time and didn't even know it...

-oh, and I loved the implication that normal, non-exotic rounds would bring down an airliner. Smoooth...

 

[IRONFIST]

My A.G.R.R. (Anti-Gun Rhetoric Radar) system is usually pretty finely tuned and I didn't get warning light from the MagSafe ammo reference. The information probably wasn't that accurate, duh! it's TV, but it didn't seem inflammatory at all. BTW - I must be a sky marshal also, because I run MagSafe ammo in my SP101... but I hate to fly!

 

[BluesBear]

Oh they explained MagSafe correctly. But the assumption that it had to be an Air Marshall was a bit contrite. I doubt that the US Air Marshall Service buys the majority of their production.

But a forensic scientist NOT knowing about MagSafe? It's not exactly a well kept secret.

Those were my points.

 

[Mal H]

I didn't think it wa all that far-fetched BluesBear. The man who made the statement said something to the effect, "your victim is probably an Air Marshall." That led them in the right direction and they searched the FAM data base (which I thought was the phoney part - it shouldn't be widely available) and found that he was indeed an Air Marshall. It was a supposition not a statement of fact, and a reasonable one considering the packing case, the amount of ammo, the pistol recovered, etc.

Emily Proctor's character Calleigh would have known about the MagSafes.

 

[Amish_Bill]

yes... laying the groundwork for the assumption that a "normal" round would bring down a large aircraft. Hrmph.

 

[Mal H]

Right. That's a whole 'nuther story, but fortunately they didn't dwell on that urban legend aspect of the plot.

 

[45R]

Guys Guys!!! Its HOLLYWOOD.

At least they got a really sweeet shot of the bullet and how it works. The did goof the facts though on the bullet vs. airliner.

 

[warddc]

the problem i had

was the way they portrayed to ammo cooking off. ammo that is not contained in a barrel will not develop the pressures needed to do what they displayed. The brass will simply swell some around the bullet and vent the gas. Most likely the brass will go flying per Newtonian physics 'cause the brass is much much lighter than the lead bullet. The bullet will not move.

dave.

 

[IRONFIST]

I have to disagree with you a wee bit warddc. While you are ESSENTIALLY correct that ammo that cooks off won't go flying everywhere with the same power of a cartridge placed in the chamber of a gun, the bullet can eject from the cartridge with some degree of force. I doubt that it could kill, but it can move. I know this from first-hand experience. When I was 10, I tossed a couple of .270 rounds in the fireplace of my home to show off for my cousin. In hardly any time, they cooked off, not with a bang, but with loud pops. As luck would have it, one of the slugs hit the inside of the glass panel of the fireplace door and shattered it. I must say that it broke it with authority, too. Needless to say I got my ??? tanned by my Dad when he got home and saw what I had done and I never did such an idiotic thing again. Ammo that cooks off CAN do damage, trust me and my (then)sore ???!

 

[BluesBear]

I think it was American Rifleman that had an article back in the late 1960s early 1970s that had photos of a gunsho that had burned down. There were photos of large metal shelves that held ammunition. The ammunition was still standing upright even though the boxes had been burned away.

It takes a lot of heat to cook off a round.

wardcc is somewhat correct, if the round is laying on it's side, unsupported then both the bullet and the case will "fly".

If the round is nose down the case will "fly" and if the round is base down then (you guessed it) the bullet will do the "flying".

If a round is hot enough to cook off I don't want that hot brass hitting me.
A round from a PPsh41 down the back of your shirt ain't nice! I don't wanna think how hot the cookoff would be.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Quite frankly, CSI is the thinnest excuse for entertainment I've seen for quite awhile.

I've watched about half a dozen episodes since it's been on, and they have uniformly failed to catch my attention in any way other than to make me A) make fun of the show, the cast, and their abilities and B) my own laziness at not feeling like getting up and putting something good into the DVD, or at the very least changing the channel.

 

[XLMiguel]

My wife likes the show, and I find it 'amusing', it does seem to be fairly rife with junk science and non-existant technology. Although the Magsafe discussion was pretty lame, teh ammo cook-off was what raised my hackles. While I certainly wouldn't want to be standing near-by, it certainly doesn't let go with the vigor displayed on the show.

I guess my biggest objection to the show is that some people get their 'education' in forensices the same way they learn about ifrearms - from TV, with no discrimination between reality and 'entertainment'.

 

[winstonsmith]

A while ago, they picked up a keltec p3a2 (I think) and said it was a beretta cougar. whaaa?

 

[Dr.Rob]

Ah, it's just TV.

As far as magsafes and Air Marshalls, that's news to me. I have a buddy who is an air marshall, he carries Gold Dots (if I recall corectly) in his .357 Sig.