AFAIK, all U.S. makers test fire each gun, at least one shot. Some fire an extra strength proof load from each chamber to be sure the cylinder/barrel won't blow up. Some go further and fire a normal round from each chamber or a magazine of normal rounds.
The "ballistics fingerprint" idea was not new. For nearly a century, police firearms examiners have been comparing markings on crime bullets with markings on test bullets to determine if gun X fired bullet Y. More recently, they have been able to compare the markings on a cartridge case with the tool marks on the breech of the suspect gun, as well as on the firing pin, extractor, ejector, etc.
But in all those cases, the examiner needed the evidence from a crime scene or from a body and a suspect gun to compare it with. The program was supposed to make things easier. In theory, if all guns in a state had their "fingerprints" on record, a crime scene cartridge case would be quickly trace to the gun, the gun traced to the criminal and the case solved in mere seconds.
As others have noted, it didn't work out that way. The inventors of the system (like the new fad, microprinting) carried out demonstrations which, not surprisingly, showed the system working to perfection and sold their inventions to some states at huge profits. In the real world, the system didn't work so well, but the inventors and promoters laughed all the way to the bank, as did bought-and-paid-for legislators.
Jim
The "ballistics fingerprint" idea was not new. For nearly a century, police firearms examiners have been comparing markings on crime bullets with markings on test bullets to determine if gun X fired bullet Y. More recently, they have been able to compare the markings on a cartridge case with the tool marks on the breech of the suspect gun, as well as on the firing pin, extractor, ejector, etc.
But in all those cases, the examiner needed the evidence from a crime scene or from a body and a suspect gun to compare it with. The program was supposed to make things easier. In theory, if all guns in a state had their "fingerprints" on record, a crime scene cartridge case would be quickly trace to the gun, the gun traced to the criminal and the case solved in mere seconds.
As others have noted, it didn't work out that way. The inventors of the system (like the new fad, microprinting) carried out demonstrations which, not surprisingly, showed the system working to perfection and sold their inventions to some states at huge profits. In the real world, the system didn't work so well, but the inventors and promoters laughed all the way to the bank, as did bought-and-paid-for legislators.
Jim