olivant;

i agree, how may times in neri's career do you think he practiced using that gun on and / off duty and in training? back then you didn't have the luxury ( usually so ) to have anything more for police work than a .38 caliber revolver. not like today where you can get pretty much any caliber and magazine capacity you want and in any combination of sizes, finishes, etc.. not only that, but shooting at moving and stationary targets and make those 6 shots count. when neri takes those 3 shots at barzini, the pose he takes as he aims at barzini and steadies his arm for the shot, he's not going to miss. the 3 shots that barzini is hit with are right in the area of (a) the spinal cord, (b) the heart and (c) the lungs. any combination of which would be fatal. you're only talking a distance of what, maybe a 100 - 125 feet, which is nothing for a .38.. he had to use his "duty" .38 to make it appear to be a "rogue duty cop" to divert an investigation in a different direction. if he had used a .45 or anything else, it could have possibley aroused suspicion if any witnesses report anything to responding officers.



neri is good at his job, because he doesn't leave room for mistakes.