Gun used in Dallas shooting: SKS?
So says CBS news:
A law enforcement source told CBS News that Johnson had a SKS semi-automatic assault rifle and a handgun, Milton reports. The suspect also wore body armor, the source said.
I’m a bit skeptical of that. I’d say it was some AK variant they misidentified.
Update: A Saiga AK74, according to another source with photos.
July 10th, 2016 at 7:10 pm
That would make more sense
July 10th, 2016 at 10:05 pm
It sure sounded like a 7.62×39 in the videos from Dallas that night. Could it have been a 47 instead of a 74?
July 10th, 2016 at 11:37 pm
A “semi-automatic assault rifle,” was used, eh? Did he travel to the scene of the crime on a four-wheeled bicycle after eating a kosher bacon sandwich?
July 11th, 2016 at 2:51 am
The less curved magazine looks more like a 5.45 mag than a 7.62 mag (the 7.62 x 39 case has more taper to it than either the 5.45 x 39 or the 5.56 NATO, hence the 7.62 (AK-47/AKM) mag is more curved). In a direct side profile it’s easy to tell the difference, but this one leaves me with just a little bit of doubt. Saigas come in all of the aforementioned chamberings, and then some, and so the one in the photo could be either 5.45 or 5.56/.223. You wouldn’t know without pulling the mag and looking at the cartridges, or reading the caliber inscription on the receiver. Externally, the rifle without the magazine in it looks the same either way. Even the barrel outside diameters are the same until you get into the .308 Win/7.62 NATO version, which this one clearly isn’t. Why does it matter anyway?
July 11th, 2016 at 2:59 am
Yeah, I’d figured an AK would be more likely as they’re more available. Back in the 90s I’d have guessed SKS being as they were everywhere and very cheap. Saigas are still a bit less expensive than some AKs if you get them in the Sporter configuration. It’s hard to tell from the crummy photo, but that looks like the Saiga Sporter handguard, yet is has the trigger in the standard position (for a pistol grip). If I has to guess then, it’s a converted Sporter. Someone went to some trouble on it in any case, but with the number of shops selling “custom” AKs it might even have been purchased just like that.
July 11th, 2016 at 7:59 am
The rifle in that photo IS NOT a 5.45X39 AK 74 clone. That magazine is a TAPCO AK47 7.62X39 magazine. AND there is nothing wrong with the stock SKS 1945. If you leave off the BS ” Crapco banana mag” that turns every SKS into a jam-‘O-matic, they are the best semi auto infantry carbine money can buy. I’d much rather run an SKS in stock configuration(with about 30 stripper clips) than I would any AR.
July 11th, 2016 at 8:33 am
I’d like to point out that demonizing the firearm used is interesting, but also misdirection from the more important, and more dangerous, issue of the demonization of political opponents (here the police) to the point of violence towards them.
I don’t think anyone would be any more dead had the shooter used a scoped .30-06 bolt action, or a few pounds of black powder and ball bearings.
July 11th, 2016 at 8:54 am
Hey All,
The caliber, or weapon, doesn’t matter at all…I don’t think to any of us anyway. I am sure the left is thankful it is wasn’t a mini-30.
My main reason for asking in post #2 was to try to figure if reports were starting to be accurate, or if it is still the “silly season” where most turn out to be untrue.
July 11th, 2016 at 11:54 am
I had heard the SKS version of the story a few days ago. Having seen some footage of the shooting, I did not believe it then. The Saiga would have the capacity and rate of fire that the SKS (unmodified) would not.
July 11th, 2016 at 12:06 pm
It wouldn’t be the first time Dallas PD had misidentified a famous rifle; seems at first Oswald used a Mauser.
July 11th, 2016 at 3:40 pm
Ray, looks like the Tapco AK74 mag to me.
Less curved than the AK47 one.
July 11th, 2016 at 4:41 pm
Since we have crap for media, who the fuck knows what he had.
I recall watching Michael Creighton tear the National Press Club a new asshole over their institutional incompetence as they chatted and broke bread together, while smiling. They will not change, unless we insist on it, and we’re too busy getting drunk at country music concerts to do that. We, as a nation, are doomed.
There’s no reason why we can’t have licensed journalists, hell, they insist on that for us gun owners easily enough, don’t they? No reason why we can’t have unlicensed journalists too, no requirement to be licensed to be a journalist, but the consumer should know which one they’re getting, shouldn’t they? No arguing with that, is there, asshole commie journalists?
July 11th, 2016 at 4:44 pm
BTW The idea is optional licensing, certainly not mandatory, which would contradict the First Amendment. You can be professionally licensed, such that you can lose your license for misbehavior, or you can be unlicensed with no standards at all, as currently exists, as you please. Your decision.
July 11th, 2016 at 4:47 pm
BTW Uncle, I make the suggestion that you change “Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.” to “Best damn blog on the Internet.”
Why? Less egotistical and more accurate.
July 11th, 2016 at 6:11 pm
Lolz, look at this shit…
“Dallas shooting rifle: a “curio or relic,” but still deadly”
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dallas-guman-shooting-micah-johnson-sks-rifle/
“Due to this status, which the SKS shares with many other models of Berettas, Colts, Remingtons, Rugers and other firearms that are at least 50 years old, gun dealers said that in some states and jurisdictions the Soviet-era rifle can be purchased online and delivered to your door without securing a permit.”
He mentions you would need a C&R way down at the bottom of the article…which is still a license.
These dumb bastards.
July 11th, 2016 at 7:57 pm
HL, looks like the media/gungrabbers are trying to hit all the buttons on this. Army vet, SKS, AK, AR, C&R licensees, etc.
July 11th, 2016 at 9:14 pm
Rick, I was thinking the same thing; vet, assault rifle, open carry, lone wolf, homegrown, cop killer.
All the check boxes. Some association or use of anti psychotic drugs usually comes out later.