Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ballistics Basic
Ballistics Basic
subdivisions of BALLISTICS:
Internal
Terminal
External
Terminal-Medical
Barrel
Bullet
Hammer
cartridge or ammunition
(parts):
shell or casing
percussion cap
primer
powder or
propellant
bullet or projectile
conical
hemispherical
hollow-point
wad cutter
glazer
dumdum
armor piercing
flare or tracer
plastic sabot
double action
soft point
forward
spinning
tumbling
end-over-end
wobbling
tailwag
yaw
downward
movements of
the bullet
high-powered
> 1,400 ft/sec
2,200 2,500 ft/sec
smooth bore
inside of the barrel
has no grooves
ex. shotgun
rifled bore
with spiral lands and
grooves taking a
gradual twist
ex. military
rifle
pistol
fired by a
single hand
rifle
fired from the
shoulder
Cylindrical
Revolving
Magazine
Vertical or
Horizontal
Magazine
bullet
flame
unburned powder
burning powder
expansile gas
abrasion
collar
contusso-abrasio
marginal
abrasion
contact
fire
Accidental :
Solitary wound
Non-selected area
Testimony of assailant
Possibility of accident
Testimonies
Suicidal:
Closed or locked rooms, uninhabited
or open places.
Death weapon almost always present
Muzzle contact or very near contact
Location should be accessible to
wounding hand
Solitary wound
Compatible direction and trajectory
Personal history, suicide note, prior
attempts,
Positive paraffin test
Entrance does not
involve clothing
NEAR
FIRE
(shotgun)
shotgun wounds:
2-3 ft. muzzle-skin distance single wound with large entry
3-4 ft.- entry serrated or scalloped (rat hole)
5-6 ft.- wad produces and independent injury
at the vicinity of the entry shots
6 ft.- shots begin to separate from
conglomerate
10 ft.- each shot with independent entries
FORMULA:
D2 -1 = D
D2 = distance between the two farthest
shots in inches
D = muzzle-target distance in yards