Ballistics: Firearms Identification

Firearms identification is too often referred to as ballistics. The accurate definition can be referred to as, the identification of fired bullets, cartridge cases or other ammunition components as having been fired from a specific firearm. Due to the firearm being composed of hard metal like a tool, it creates markings on the cartridge components causing it to be more like Toolmark Identification.

There are various items of evidence, other than the firearm itself, which the lab will use to aid in the investigation for identifying a firearm, including the wadding for the shell, fired cartridges and casings, and much more. Other identification processes examiners will use are tracing the firearm back to the manufacturer that will produce a caliber and the available ammunition components, calculate the distance of the shot by lifting the residue off of the clothing evidence, and proper discharge of the firearm.

As research has proved, there is no evidence that proves two firearms will create the same markings on the expended ammunition casings. Firearm markings are as unique as a human fingerprint that can’t be remade from a different firearm. Research done by Jeffery S. Doyle has shown that around 80% have produced what he calls a “mechanical fingerprint” on the ammunition projected from the fire arm. No matter how much time passes, an accurate identification can still be made from the shot shell because the firearm doesn’t typically alter, allowing numerous amounts of rounds fired will still able to create the same markings on the last shot as it did on the first.

An initial investigation for a firearm case will start by uncovering the class characteristics, meaning the intentional or design characteristics that wo...

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...inds to the evidence collected from the scene, looking for the unique similar striated and impressed markings. The examiners will also initially identify the class characteristics of the ammunition to figure out what caliber and shot pattern is dispersed by the firearm. That will then lead to examining the projectile and cartridge evidence by firing into a special water tank and cross examining the new standards to the crime scene standards. These standards are viewed side by side under a powerful macroscope to compare the unique markings to make a match. Gunpowder and primer residues can be tested from a suspects hand to determine if a firearm was recently used. Firearms identification can be a very complex scientific process that can be the key to solving a major crime for law enforcement.

Works Cited

www.firearmsid.com

www.firearmsid.com/A_BulletID.htm