Need help to solve a crime....

[Toad]

Hi,
I need help ID'ing a shotgun used in a crime.  I have a 99.9% on the person, need help with the weapon.  It's a 12 gauge 3" mag and from what I know it appears to be an autoloader.  My question is this....what brand of gun would be the likely candidate to eject a case a measured 30+ feet from where the the shot was fired???  My auto rifles will usually kick it about 10-15 feet, and my  experience with shotguns is mostly with pumps and they don't go that far.
thanks in advance,
Joe "Toad"  :?

[Bob_K]

30+ feet would not be a normal ejection.  This could be from an autoloader with a 2 3/4 chamber that the perp fired a 3" magnum round from.  That would cause very high pressures and operate the action quite aggressively.  An unfired 3" magnum round fits in a 2 3/4 chamber since the chamber measurement is for a fired shell length, ie. with the crimp unfolded.

[LJ Barrero]

I would say the following scenarious happened in that case:

1.  The person making the shot had the gun jammed and he/she help the spent cartridge be trown as far as the hand can trow it.  This could be any shotgun for that matter.  More so a single shot shotgun.

2.  The shooter was actually closer to the spent shell than it was believed to  had been fired from.

3.  Someone else also shot (grassy noll?)

4.  Shooter shot a reloaded cartridge with extra powder in it.

Just my thought.

LJB

[WNY_Whitetailer]

Could the shot shell have hit the ground at 20 feet and bounced and rolled its way to 30 feet?  You didn't mention if this was on asphalt, concrete, dirt, grass, etx...