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SN on Kansas Mass Shooting Suspect's Facebook Glock a Mismatch?
The recent horrific shooting in Kansas has drawn national attention. On the facebook page of the dead suspect ( I will not mention his name here) was this picture of a Glock pistol. It is a bit unusual. If you look closely, and enlarge the picture, you can almost read the entire serial number. The serial number on the slide and the barrel appear to match, but they seem to be mismatched to the frame. The frame seems to be a generation 3; the serial number on the slide and barrel, a generation 1. You can see the accessory rail on the slide, as well as finger grooves.
As best as I can make out, the serial number is BC 2475. The first character is a best guess. It is not very clear; the other five can be seen on the barrel as well as the slide, and are much better defined. Looking on the Internet, it appears that nearly all six character serial numbers are of the first generation. From a discussion of Glock Serial numbers on Glocktalk
AZ – G-17 – December 1986 – 1st Gen. – has Austrian markings
BA – G-17 – December 1986 – 1st Gen. – has Austrian markings
BB – G-17 – December 1986 – 1st Gen. – has Austrian markings
BC – G-17 – December 1986 – 1st Gen. – has Austrian markings
BD – G-17 – December 1986 – 1st Gen. – has Austrian markings
BL – G-17 – July 1988 – 1st Gen. – has Austrian markings
This is speculation, of course. The records that I have seen are no encyclopedic; it is possible that special runs of Glock pistols were done for generation 3 models, with two alphabetic characters to start, followed by four numeric characters. In at least some models, the letter characters are said to follow a code indicating the month and year of manufacture.
I have talked to a Glock trained armorer; he said that mismatched slides and barrels with frames are not unusual. They are pretty interchangeable in models of the same frame size; and it is not unusual for slides and barrels to be placed on frames that do not match.
This close up shows the serial number a bit better. At some point, night sights were installed on this slide.
I suppose that authorities somewhere have done research on this serial number. I cannot be certain of the first character, but there are limited possibilities. We do not know if this pistol was used in the infamous crime, or if it is another. It would be interesting to know if it were stolen, or purchased from legal channels. From dailymail.co.uk:
It has been reported that the mother of the suspect's children has been charged with one count of Sarah Jo Hopkins, 28, of Newton, Kansas, legally purchased an AK-47 type semi-automatic rifle and a Glock Model 22 40-caliber handgun and gave them to Ford, despite knowing he was a convicted felon who was banned from possessing a firearm, an affidavit claims.
It seems likely that the Glock pictured is the one reported to have been purchased from a pawnshop, but without police reports from Hesston, Kansas, we cannot know for sure.
It would be interesting to know if the serial number on the frame matches the serial numbers on the slide and barrel.
I do not have the authority to make official inquiries about the serial number, but there are many who do. I am sure that due diligence will be followed.
If you come across information on this issue, please let us know.
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch
Source: http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2016/03/sn-on-kansas-mass-shooting-suspects.html
