Strange 80's Revolver AND Ammunition:

and Strange People doing Strange Things:

The RG 14 .22" Saturday Night Special:

- Forty years ago March 30 1981 mentally-ill obsessive John Hinckley tried to raise his attractiveness & image with actor Jody Foster by attempting to shoot President Ronald Reagan.

There is a whole series of strangeness exposed by this event .. I'll try to be clear with the sorry tale.

1/- Hinckley himself was a strange nut-job who thought that he could make a movie star love him by becoming a murderer.

2/- After NOT charging the insane Hinckley with the murder of Press secretary James Brady - U S authorities eventually released him from psychiatric confinement in 2016.

3/- The would-be killer chose a rubbish  "RG-14" or "Rohm RG14") .22 Long Rifle double-action revolver that was a notoriously unreliable "Saturday Night Special" - bought from Rocky's pawn shop in Dallas .. But

4/- Hinckley loaded the gun with "DEVASTATOR" exploding bullets produced by Bingham ..

5/- He fired off all six rounds AND the gun actually worked six times .. But

6/- Only one round seems to have 'exploded' as they were supposed to.

As is often the case in U S the facts may be disputed .. Hinckley called the bullets he purchased "Stingers" . It took the FBI some time to conclude that the bullets were .22 caliber Devastators. In fact, even though they supposedly had both Hinckley and his weapon, it took them some time to deduce that a .22 weapon was used in the shootings. They first claimed it was a .38. There is little believable evidence that Hinckley fired Devastator bullets from his weapon.

7/- Three Books, Five Movies and One Broadway Musical have been produced featuring the assassination attempt. - Only in America?

8/- The attempt had great benefit for Reagan's popularity; polls indicated his approval rating rose to be about 73%. - Reagan believed that God had spared his life so that he might go on to fulfill a greater purpose.

9/- It was the sixth & last bullet fired that ricocheted off the car and hit the President - who together with any of the Secret Service team .. was not wearing the usual bullet Proof vest.

________________________________

The hollow tips of the 'Devastator' bullets are modified to accept inserted aluminium percussion caps containing Lead Azide and sealed into place with lacquer. Such explosive tipped projectiles undoubtedly work when fired at hard surfaces such as steel plate .. but the short barreled one and three-quarter inch Rohm revolver is said to maybe have not achieved the 900 ft per sec velocity needed for detonation.

Marty K.

Lead azide is highly sensitive and usually handled and stored under water in insulated rubber containers. It will explode after a fall of around 150 mm (6 in)  - it has immediate deflagration to detonation transition (DDT), meaning that even small amounts undergo full detonation (after being hit by flame or static electricity).