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April 26, 2007

Confirmed: Va Tech Shooter Used Standard Magazines

Virginia State Police Public Relations Manager Corinne Geller confirms via email that Cho Seung-Hui only used standard capacity magazines in a rampage last Monday at Virginia Tech that left more than 50 Virginia Tech students and faculty dead or injured.

"We are not identifying the capacity of the magazines or number of magazines purchased prior or in Cho's possession at the time of the shootings. I can tell you that the magazines were standard issue."

Numerous, immediate, and still erroneous media claims that Cho used high capacity or extended magazines containing as many as 33 rounds are patently false. Geller confirms that Cho used only standard capacity magazines, which for a Glock 19, is 15 rounds.

Posted by Confederate Yankee at April 26, 2007 03:17 PM
Comments

You know, I can't find a single reference anywhere to the actual capacity of those mags. Curiously, though, I did see where the Va State Police said he fired 170 rounds and in a separate report that they recovered 17 magazines. Assuming that another report which stated he saved his last bullet for himself, I'd have to say he was using only 10-round magazines.

Which, of course, means that he was only using magazines manufactured in compliance with the Assault Weapons Ban that NBC news reported would have stopped this shooting.

Posted by: wizardPC at April 26, 2007 08:19 PM

For reasons known only to the investigators, the VSP has decided to only release the info above, in addition to what they've placed on the VSP web site.

If you go to Glock's magazine page and click on the "capatability" tab, you'll see that the 15-round capacity is the standard for Glock 19s.

There is reason to doubt the 17 magazine claim, as well. Survivors claim to have seen Cho reloading individual catridges into magazines. If he had 13 15-round magazines for the Glock (we know conclusively he had 4, 10-round P22 magazines since he bought two on Ebay and had two with the purchase of the Walther), he would have had a total if 235 total rounds (195 9mm, 40 .22LR) and would never have had to reload his magazines.

This means either the witnesses were wrong, the reporters screwed up (again) or the anonymous investigators were wrong (again).

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at April 26, 2007 08:37 PM

"Survivors claim to have seen Cho reloading individual catridges into magazines"


You gotta be kidding. I hadn't seen that. That takes...a long time. And both hands.

Posted by: moon6 at April 26, 2007 09:44 PM

He would have been an easy mark for someone with a weapon or even a baseball bat or just their bare hands.

Posted by: austin at April 27, 2007 01:31 AM

No, I think the 2nd gun (the Walther P22 target pistol) was possibly for anyone who tried to jump him while he reloaded... using a .22 to kill with is pretty stupid since the odds of killing in one or two shots would have been difficult so I think his "target pistol" (and that's what the P22 is) was there as a backup.
Still, too bad nobody had a weapon to defend themselves and others with. Thank the VT president and others for creating a "gun free zone" also known as "victim disarmament zones".
Gun control and it's failed policies helped kill so many innocent people that fateful day.
For the record... Glock pistol magazines... Glock pistols come in three basic sizes (omitting "C" and long slide models); Full size, Compact and Subcompact.
In each caliber of Glock pistol, the magazines are somewhat interchangable. The "standard" Glock magazine, the 17-round 9mm magazine for the Model-17 will fit in the smaller Model-19 (with a small portion of the magazine protruding from the magazine well) as well as the sub-compact Model-26 (with a larger portion of the magazine protruding from the magazine well).
In the same way, the mid-sized 15-round Model-19 magazine will fit in the sub-compact Model-26 with protrusion from the magazine well.
The 31 & 33 round magazines for the Glock Model-18 machinepistol will fit all three models as well but are nearly a foot in length... not what you want to use when concealing a weapon. The 31-33 round magazines are mostly used at shooting ranges where they allow longer, prolonged shooting before reloading... some use them for home defense but the length of these makes them impractical for anything else.
The same is true for Glock's .40S&W pistols with the 15-round full size (model 22), 13-round compact (model-23) and 9/11-round subcompact
(model-27). There is a 29-round magazine for the .40S&W pistols.
Side note: there are "+2" magazine extentions for Glock magazines that would give a model-19's 15-round mazazine a 17-round capacity. These add length and run as much as $17 each... 10-round "Clinton ban" or "Kalifornia" Glock magazines go for as little as $5 each.
With practice, a Glock (or any other pistol) can be reloaded in less than a couple of seconds... whether the magazine holds 7, 10, 17 or 33 makes no difference to someone who has prepared to carry out such an act.
Gun control is a failure and sadly, this incident proved it yet again.

Posted by: EricX at April 27, 2007 03:32 AM

I recall reading that there were eBay transactions linked to Cho including one or more purchases of Glock magazines. EBay policy prohibits the sale of "high capacity" magazines. Nothing over 10 rounds is allowed. If Cho did buy his spare Glock mags over eBay, it is likely that they were 10 rounders.

Posted by: LtDave at April 27, 2007 08:28 AM

One victim interview (african american male) indicated Cho was shooting with the .22. A .22 is plenty lethal if fired accurately and if, as has been reported, the shooter hits with several rounds. I thought it odd, too, but that's what the witness said. Take-away is that it will be quite a while and there will be lots of agenda-driven disinformation before we find out what really happened in this tragedy.

Posted by: Ay Uaxe at April 27, 2007 09:09 AM

Sam Giancana went down with 7 .22's in the back of his head when the mob rubbed him out. Since they were all in the back of the head, one suspects the first was all it took.

Some years ago, some teen punks robbed a cab driver locally and killed him with one .25 shot to the head. A woman was the shooter on that one.

The diminutive calibers are not a joke.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at April 27, 2007 09:17 AM

Well, thank God he used "legal" magazines.

I'm sure the parents and extended families of the dead will be greatly relieved.

*Maybe some of you here can send along a nice note to clarify.

Posted by: Geno at April 27, 2007 01:33 PM