Learning Objectives

1 Define internal, external & terminal ballistics

2 Explain comparison microscopy

Bullet striations; firing pin impressions

3 Describe the use of GSR

1
Ballistics

1 Internal ballistics

What happens in the barrel

2 External ballistics

What happens during the flight

2
Ballistics

3 Terminal ballistics

What happens when the

projectile hits the target

3
Internal ballistics

What happens in the barrel?

How does it affect the use

of firearms in evidence?

4
Internal ballistics

Tsar Cannon, Kremlin, Moscow

5
Muzzle loaders

Require explosives and a projectile

Fuse lit Burn down into explosives

Explosives detonate

Projectile shoots down barrel at high speed

6
Guns

First of superguns Great Turkish Bombard

7
The Great Turkish Bombard

Built for the Siege

of Constantinople

Built by Mehmed
the Conqueror

Mehmed the Conqueror

8
The Great Turkish Bombard

5 m long

760 mm internal
diameter (bore)

Bronze The Great Turkish Bombard

9
The Great Turkish Bombard

680 kg granite cannonballs

60 oxen and 400 men to move it

Fired seven times per day

10
Better Engineering

Improved material

Guns now made of steel instead of bronze

Stronger barrels

11
Better Engineering

Stronger barrels

Allow for higher temperature and pressure

Projectiles fired further and faster

12
Muzzle loaders vs Breech loaders

Muzzle loader Breech loader

13
Breech loading

More efficient

Increase the firing rate

Now automatic loading into the barrel

14
Cartridge

Combine the projectile and explosive

Efficient loading

Cartridges
15
Cartridge

Bullet

Explosive/ propellant

Provides energy

Interior of cartridge
16
Cartridge

Bullet

Explosive/ propellant

Cartridge case

Interior of cartridge
17
Cartridge

Bullet

Primer

Interior of cartridge
18
Primers

Shock-sensitive compounds

Detonate when they experience a shock

Propellant ignited

Gun fired
19
Primers

Lead styphnate normal Lead styphnate basic

20
Cartridge

What happens to each part of the cartridge?

US Marine Corps Colonel James Cooney

fires a 9mm Glock 18 machine pistol
21
Cartridge

Bullet
Bullet shot towards the target

Far from where the

firing took place

22
Cartridge

Cartridge case

Ejected from breech

Often left at site of firing

Interior of cartridge
23
Cartridge

Propellant

Turn into gases and particles

Primer detonation causes

the propellant to explode

Interior of cartridge
24
Cartridge

What causes the primer to detonate?

Impact of the firing pin on

the end of the cartridge

25
Firing pin strikes
end of cartridge

Primer detonates

Propellent explodes

26
Firing pin impression

Impression on cartridge base

Individual

Characteristic

27
Firing pin impression

Cartridge case at crime scene

Was the gun on the suspect used

to fire the shot at the crime scene?

28
Firing pin impression

Load and fire gun

Collect the test

cartridge case

Compare cartridges
Firing pin impression
29
Rifling

Early guns Smooth barrels

Tsar
Cannon

30
Rifling

Cutting of curved grooves along barrel

Bullets fired

Gripped by grooves

Improve accuracy and stability

31
Rifling

Some guns are not rifled

Shot guns

Home-made weapons

32
7 inch gun at Labrador
Park, Singapore
33
Groove

Land

Interior of the
7 inch gun
34
Rifling

Forensic consequence

Grooves leave scratch

marks on the bullet’s side

Striations Characteristic
Striations
on a bullet
35
Striations

Reload and fire

suspect gun

Collect test bullet

Compare both bullets Comparison microscopy

of striations on 2 bullets

36
Gun Shot Residue (GSR)

Residues from explosion

of primer and charge

GSR
37
Gun Shot Residue (GSR)

Deposited near the discharged weapon

Hands and clothes of gun man

Clothes of target

Spreads out a distance of 1 m

38
Gun Shot Residue (GSR)

If the gun is pressed

against victim’s head

GSR forced
into wound

Head wound
39
Gun Shot Residue (GSR)

How can we detect GSR?

Nitrite residues Nitrate

Nitrocellulose

Nitro glycerine

40
Griess Test

Test for nitrite

(X NO2) residues

3 inch Griess test results

41
Griess Test

May give false positive due to

Fertilizers

Urine

Cosmetics

Tobacco
42
Birmingham Six

Wrongfully convicted of carrying

out an IRA pub bombing in 1974

Based in part on a Griess test

Conviction overturned in 1991

43
Sodium Rhodizonate

Test for lead, barium and

antimony from the primer

Sodium rhodizonate

44
Sodium Rhodizonate

Detection of barium, lead and antimony

Most probably GSR

45
SEM-EDX

SEM

See GSR particle

EDX GSR particle

Tell what elements are present

46
1999

Jill Dando shot

on her doorstep

Jill Dando
47
Barry George

Arrested, charged and

convicted in 2001

One particle of GSR

found in his coat pocket

Barry George
48
Barry George

Deposited GSR only lasts for a few hours

GSR particle trapped in his coat pocket

Released on appeal in 2007

GSR evidence unreliable

49
GSR

GSR cannot be individualized

Not much variation within GSR

50
Types of GSR

1 Lead, barium, antimony

2 Lead, barium, antimony, aluminium

3 Lead, barium, antimony, tin

4 Lead, barium, calcium, tin, maybe antimony

5 Barium, calcium, silicon, tin, maybe lead

51
Summary

1 Comparison of bullet striations

2 Comparison of firing pin marks

3 Detection of GSR

52