Murder trial: Experts testify Moyers' rifle fires accurately - News Courier
Ronald Davis, a gunsmith and firearms enforcement officer with the Department of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms in West Virginia, testified that the SKS semiautomatic rifle used by Moyers was designed for military use. He said the gun had no mechanical defects and that once the safety was disengaged, the rifle could be fired. In short, if the user pulls the trigger a little — about an eighth of an inch — the gun will not fire but if the user pulls the trigger more, the gun will fire, he said. The user would have to exert 4 to 4. 25-pounds of force to fire the weapon, which Davis said was average for this type of weapon. Derek Headley, a firearms tool mark analyst for the Alabama Department of Forensic Science, testified that he tested the rifle at a closed range in Shelby County and determined the gun fired with normal accuracy. Specifically, he said when he positioned the open-sights gun in a vice and fired several rounds 100 yards into a target of a “small adult,” the gun is “capable” of leaving a 3-to-5 inch grouping on a target or a pattern about the size of a softball. Defense attorney Lucas Beaty asked if Headley could reproduce the same result by adding the “human factor,” such as handholding the rifle and firing at night with no ambient light. Source: www.enewscourier.com
