Oh man, the magic bullet. Look, I get why it seems wild, but sometimes a weird bounce is just a weird bounce. That bullet was a full metal jacket, those things are made to stay in one piece. It went through two guys who were lined up just right in a moving car. I've seen crazier things happen at the range with a lucky shot. People have built whole careers on picking apart that one bullet path, but honestly? Occam's razor. Sometimes the simple, weird answer is the right one.

Nah, I just layer colors like @tara745.

Oh man, that tracks completely. Had a nearly identical mess with some of their nickel silver rod a while back. Watched a whole custom run of guides just crack along the grain after the first polish. Their tech finally admitted it was a heat treat problem, like the oven had a cold spot. Cost me a week of shop time easy.

Ever see how much flour gets packed into a cup when you just scoop? That's the whole problem right there.

My mechanic does this with parts numbers.