What is Forensic Ballistics?

Forensic ballistics is the scientific

analysis or interpretation of all ballistic
related evidence with the purpose of
interpreting and establishing the facts
in a shooting related crime. It involves
the analysis of bullet impacts to
determine information of use to a
court or other part of the legal system.
1. Ballistics - The science of mechanics
that deals with the flight,behavior and
effects of projectiles.

2. Ballistic Fingerprinting - It involves

analyzing firearm, ammunition and
toolmark evidence in order to establish
whether a certain firearm or tool was
used in the commission of crime.

3. Ballistic Missile - It is a missile guided

only during the relative brief
initial powered phase of flight whose
course is subsequently governed by the
laws of classical mechanics.
Forensics Ballistics is divided into 4 sub-
categories.

(a) Internal Ballistic - The study of the

processes originally accelerating the
projectile.

(b) External Ballistic - The study of the

passage of the projectile through a
medium.
(c) Transition Ballistics - The study of the
projectiles behavior when it leaves the
barrel and the pressure behind the
projectile is equalized.

(d)Terminal Ballistics- refers to the

effects of the impact of the projectile in
the target.
 Internal Ballistics

The study of the processes occurring

inside a firearm when a shot is fired. It
includes the study of various firearm
mechanisms and barrel manufacturing
techniques; factors influencing internal
gas pressure; and firearm recoil
The most common types of internal ballistics
are:
(a) examining mechanism to determine the
causes of accidental discharge
(b) examining home-made devices (zip-guns)
to determine if they are capable of
discharging ammunition effectively
(c) microscopic examination and comparison of
fired bullets and cartridge cases to
determine whether a particular firearm was
used
 External Ballistics
The study of the projectile’s flight from the
moment it leaves the muzzle of the barrel until
it strikes the target.

The 2 most common types of external ballistics

examinations are:
(a) the calculation and reconstruction of
bullet trajectories
(b) establishing the maximum range of a
given bullet
 Terminal Ballistics
The study of the projectile’s effect on the
target or the counter-effect of the target
on the projectile

The ‘target’ can be any solid or liquid

object, but when the target is a human or
animal it is common to use the term
“wound ballistics”
Common types of terminal ballistics
examinations are
(a) determination of the distance between
firing point and target
(b) establishing whether or not a particular
wound was caused by a fired bullet
(c) determining the caliber and type of
projectile that caused bullet damage or
gunshot wound
(d) examination of bullet exit/entrance
by examining the holes in targets, or the
wounds in biological tissue
(e) examination of ricochet possibilities
and fired projectiles
 Basic Handgun and Rifle
Cartridge Terminology
1. Cartridge: also called a “round”; made up of
a case, primer, powder and bullet

2. Bullet: the projectile which contains the

propellant or gunpowder

3. Flash Hole: when primer is ignited the

gases released go through
this small opening towards
the gunpowder
4. Powder: also known as ‘propellant’ or
‘gunpowder’. Found inside the
bullet casing itself; highly
reactive/flammable – but does
not explode – rather it forms
gases which push the bullet out of
the cartridge and gun barrel.
5. Primer: a volatile chemical compound
that ignites when struck by firing
pin of gun; detonates the
propellant in a cartridge
6. Casing: is left behind and is NOT propelled
(only bullet is) when gun has
been fired

7. Caliber: the diameter of the bore of the

bullet measured from end to end,
usually expressed in hundredths
of an inch (0.22 cal) or in
millimeters (9 mm)
8. Matchlock: Employed a burning wick on
a spring that was locked back and
released into a pan of powder upon
pulling a trigger.

9. Percussion: Consists of a hammer that

was locked and when released, struck
a cup containing a volatile primer
that ignited on impact sending a flame
through a small tube into the barrel
chamber.
History of Firearms (timeline)

1232 - The Chinese who invented gunpowder (black

powder) first used it in a weapon - gunpowder filled
tubes aka rockets.

1364 - First recorded use of a firearm - shooter lit wicks

by hand that ignited gunpowder that was loaded into
the gun barrel.

1400 - Matchlock guns - first mechanically firing of

guns. Wicks were now attached to a clamp that sprang
into gunpowder that was placed in a "flash pan".
1509 - Wheel lock guns - wicks were replaced the wheel
lock that generated a spark for igniting the gunpowder.

1630 - Flintlock guns - the flintlock did two things

mechanically, it opened the lid of the flash pan and
provided an igniting spark.

1825 - Percussion-cap guns invented by Reverend John

Forsyth - firing mechanism no longer uses flash pan, a tube
lead straight into the gun barrel, the tupe had an exposive
cap on it that exploded when struck

1830 - Back action lock

1835 - Colt revolver - first mass-produced, multi-shot,
revolving firearms

1840 - Pin-fire cartridges

1850 - Shotguns

1859 - Full rim-fire cartridge

1860 - Spencer repeating carbine patented

1861 - Breech loaded guns

1862 - Gatling Gun

1869 - Center-fire cartridge

1871 - Cartridge revolver

1873 - Winchester rifle

1877 - Double-action revolver

1879 - Lee box magazine patented

1892 - Automatic handguns invented by Joseph Laumann

1893 - Borchardt pistol - automatic handgun with a separate

magazine in the grip

1903 - First automatic rifle a Winchester.

 Men Behind Firearms
1. Col. Calvin Hooker Goddard M.D. - Father of Modern
Ballistics, OS, US Army.
2. Horace Smith- Founded the firm Smith and Wesson and
pioneered the making of Breech loading rifles.
3. Daniel B. Wesson- Associate and Partner of Smith in
revolver making.
4. John M. Browning- Wizard of modern firearms and
pioneered the breech loading single shot rifle.
5. John T. Thompson – Pioneered the making of Thompson
Submachine Gun.
6. David Carbine Williams- Maker of the first known
carbine.
7. Alexander John Forsyth- Father of the percussion
ignition.
8. Elisha King Root- Designed the machinery for making
colt firearms.
9. Eliphalet Remington- One of the first Rifle makers.
10. John Mahlon Marlin Founder of Marlin Firearms Coy.
11. Jams Wolfe Ripley- Stimulated the Development of
the Model 1855 rifle musket.
12. Samuel Colt – Produced the first practical revolver.
13. Henry Deringer-He gave his name to a whole class
of firearms (pistol & rifle). A Famous 19th century
maker of pocket pistol.

14. John C. Garrand-Designed and invented the semi

automatic US Rifle, Cal.30, M1.

15. Oliver F. Winchester-One of the earliest rifles and

pistol Makers.

16. Sir Hiram Maxim - an American inventor of the

machine gun or the maxim gun.

17. Richard Gatling - inventor of the Gatling gun, a

machine gun with a six barrel capable of firing 200
rounds per minute at the earliest stages of
development.
18. Benjamin Robins - He wrote an influential treatise on
gunnery, for the first time introducing Newtonian science
to military men, was an early enthusiast for rifled gun
barrels.

19. Roger Bacon - He is considered as the first European to

describe a mixture containing the essential ingredient
of gun powder.

20. Mikhail Kalashnikov - Russian designer of the the AK-47

assault rifle.

21. Uziel Gal - He invented the Uzi sub-machine gun.

22. Patrick Ferguson - He designed his own rifle which was
one of the first breech loading rifles to be widely tested
by the British military.

23. Carl Walther - A German gunsmith who developed a

reliable small caliber automatic pistol in 1866.

24. Georg Luger - He designed the 9 mm cartridge

introduced in 1902 for the Luger semi-automatic pistol.
Legal Definition
Republic Act No. 10591
COMPREHENSIVE FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION REGULATION ACT

Firearm - refers to any handheld or portable

weapon, whether a small arm or light
weapon, that expels or is designed to expel a
bullet, shot, slug, missile or any projectile
which is discharged by means of expansive
force of gases from burning gunpowder or
other form of combustion or any similar
instrument or implement. For purposes of
the law, the barrel, frame or receiver is
considered a firearm;
Legal definition
Revised Administrative Code & National Internal Revenue Code

Sec 877 and Sec 290 Firearms or Arms are herein used,
incudes rifles, musket, carbines, pistols, revolvers, , and all
other deadly weapons from which bullet, balls, shots, shells, or
other missiles maybe discharged by means of gunpowder or
other explosives. This term also includes air rifles except such
as being of small caliber and of limited range used as toys.
The barrel of any firearm shall be considered a complete
firearm of all purposes hereof.
 
Technical Definition
A firearm is an instrument used for the propulsion of
projectiles by means of expansive force of gases coming from
burning gunpowder. (FBI Manual or Firearms Identification)
 Basic Shotgun Shell
Terminology
8. Shot: may be a single metal projectile –
this is called a ‘slug’ (ideal for
hunting large game), or the shot
may contain many numerous round
metal pellets (ie. birdshot or
buckshot). Birdshot contains
between 20 – 100 small metal
pellets (ideal for hunting birds),
while buckshot contains between 7
– 9 large round metal pellets (used
by law enforcement)
9. Shell casing: made up of a shot, wad,
powder and primer

10. Wad: made of plastic or paper;

separates the powder from the
shot; holds shot together as it is
projected through the shotgun
barrel
11. Powder: same as above

12. Primer: same as above

Types of Bullets
Bullet Designs
 It is easier to design features that aid
deceleration of a larger, slower moving
bullet in tissues than a small, high
velocity bullet.
 Such measures include shape
modifications like round (round nose),
flattened (wadcutter), or cupped
(hollowpoint) bullet nose.
Round nose
 Round nose bullets provide the least
braking, are usually jacketed, and are
useful mostly in low velocity handguns.
Wadcutter
 The wadcutter design provides the most
braking from shape alone, is not
jacketed, and is used in low velocity
handguns (often for target practice).
 A semi-wadcutter design is intermediate
between the round nose and wadcutter
and is useful at medium velocity.
Hollowpoint
 Hollowpoint bullet design facilitates
turning the bullet "inside out" and
flattening the front, referred to as
"expansion" or “mushrooming”
 Expansion reliably occurs only at
velocities exceeding 1200 fps, so is
suited only to the highest velocity
handguns.
 Gunshot Injuries

The seriousness of gunshot wounds

depends on 5 factors
(a) kinetic energy of the bullet
(b) distance to the target
(c) type of tissue
(d) tumbling (flipping around or going
straight through)
(e) bullet design ex. hollowpoint, vs. round
nose etc.
Tissue
- the more dense the tissue the greater the
damage (will create permanent cavity)
ex. muscle is more dense than lung
tissue
- the more elastic the tissue the less damage
because will NOT create a permanent cavity
ex. muscle tissue is more elastic than
organ tissue
 What is Gunpowder Residue?
Gunpowder residue is composed of 2
substances
(a) propellant
(b) primer
 Propellant
- 2 types of propellants are black powder
or smokeless powder

Black powder
 consists of 15% charcoal, 10% sulfur,
and 75% potassium nitrate
 when ignited, it produces a lot of smoke
Smokeless powder
 contains either nitrocellulose alone or
nitrocellulose mixed with nitroglycerine
 these compounds are known as nitrates
 Primer
The cartridge also contains some special
chemicals called the primer
These chemicals have the special property
of igniting when subjected to great
pressure
Several types of primers may be used, but
the most commonly used are lead azide,
lead styphnate, mercury fulminate, barium
nitrate, potassium chlorate and antimony
sulfide.
 How do the Propellant and Primer
mixtures cause a gun to fire?

When the trigger of a gun is pressed, the

firing pin strikes the cartridge at a point
where the primer is kept.
This causes the primer to ignite.
The flames thus produced ignites the
propellant charge.
The burning of the propellant charge
produces large amounts of gases, which
finally propels the bullet