141 year old fingerprints on a shell casing. Impossible?

otrkid70 · May 25, 2015

Delete

Silverseeker · May 25, 2015

fingerprints are very possible, however I'm not sure that it can be lifted with tape. After over 100 years or so, the oils from the fingerprints can alter the corrosion. I've seen this with firearms that haven't been cleaned regularly. I imagine it can happen the same way with brass casings.

As for burned in... I doubt it. Most firearms eject the spent cartridges and they aren't touched when hot.

ivan salis · May 25, 2015

no but super glue "smoking" can set fingerprints * --csi trick -- the super glue fumes stick to the prints ...

coinman123 · May 25, 2015

Could they be your prints

villagenut · May 25, 2015

Could it be a clue to who killed who?

Peyton Manning · May 25, 2015

from the age I would compare them with T_H's prints

Dave Rishar · May 25, 2015

Silverseeker said:
fingerprints are very possible, however I'm not sure that it can be lifted with tape. After over 100 years or so, the oils from the fingerprints can alter the corrosion. I've seen this with firearms that haven't been cleaned regularly. I imagine it can happen the same way with brass casings.

As for burned in... I doubt it. Most firearms eject the spent cartridges and they aren't touched when hot.

This. Additionally, perspiration tends to cause oxidation. This won't really rust a piece of brass, but it will change how it weathers in that area. If you lifted them off with tape though, this probably isn't the case here. (The case here! See what I did there? :laughing7:

)

There is no model that I'm aware of that can account for every situation in every terrain. When a person handles something, discards it, and then it sits there for decades, weird things happen.

pepperj · May 26, 2015

Silverseeker said:
Most firearms eject the spent cartridges and they aren't touched when hot.

I wish I had known that when I tried to pick up some spent casings from a 25 shot run through an Uzi when I was a kid, dropped it like a hot potato! :laughing7:

huntsman53 · May 26, 2015

Finger prints can be left on old Brass shell casings the same as they can be and are often left on many coins! The oils and salts in the body and hands are transferred onto the shell casing by holding it and since finger prints have valleys and ridges, the high points (ridges) of the finger prints leaves a perfect finger print on them. If the finger prints (actually the oils and salts) are not cleaned off within a short time from when they are left, they permeate the metal of the shell casing and are pretty much left on it forever or at least until the metal of the shell casing degrades. It is likely that the finger print impression can be lifted from the shell casing by carefully removing the dust, then placing clear tape over the finger print and pressing the tape tight against the metal. Once the tape is removed, the finger print will likely be imprinted on the tape which can them be attached to a white piece of paper and viewed, photographed and analyzed.

Frank

Tonto · May 26, 2015

Brass casings tarnish easily. There would have been a chemical reaction between chemicals on the fingers of the loader and contact with the brass to "etch" a print onto the case. In modern cases, there is a great deal of controversy as to whether a print on a case can survive being fired considering the heat cause by the explosion. Therein lies the argument between prosecutors and defense attorneys. There is a possibility that your case, even though manufactured in the 1870's, was fired long after that time period. The corrosive properties of black powder are quite extreme, and I think if a shooter handled black powder, or at least other fired cases, he could very likely leave such a print, which is an etching, not an actual print by the time you found it. The only thing that would ruin the etching is an application of another acid that could etch over the original. The 38.40 was a black powder cartridge, .38 caliber, with 40 grains of black powder.