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FORENSIC BALLISTICS (Firearm Identification) . Combustion of the gunpowder

4. Expansion of the heated gas
BALLISTICS, Defined 5. Pressure developed
• is the science dealing with the motion of projectiles 6. Energy generated
and the conditions governing that motion. 7. Recoil of the gun
• the study of natural laws relating to the performance 8. Rotation of the bullet inside barrel
of gunpowder and projectiles in firearms and the means 9. Velocity of the bullet inside barrel
of predicting such performance. 10. Engraving of the cylindrical surface of the bullet

SCIENCE, Defined II. Exterior Ballistics- is the science of the motion of

• Science – is a systematized body of knowledge which projectile after it has left the gun muzzle which involves
has been observed tested and proven. Ballistics is not the following:
an exact science rather it is branch of physics or applied 1. Muzzle blast
science which is subject to changes and development 2. Muzzle energy
depending upon the demands of the modern 3. Trajectory
civilization. 4. Range
5. Velocity
MOTION 6. Air resistance
• Motion- refers to the mobility or movement of the 7. Pull of gravity
projectile. 8. Penetration
3 TYPES OF MOTION
III. Terminal Ballistics- is the study dealing with the
1. Direct motion- is the forward movement of the bullet effect or the impact of the bullet in the target, it
or shots out of the shell by the action of the expansive involves the following:
force of gases from a burning gun powder. 1. Terminal Accuracy
2. Terminal energy
2. Rotatory motion- is the action of the bullet passing 3. Terminal velocity
through a rifled bore barrel firearm which is either 4. Terminal penetration
twisted to the left or right.
• Forensic Ballistics- is the study of firearm identification
3. Translational- is the action of the bullet once it hits a by means of ammunitions fired through them, it
target and subsequently ricocheted. includes the following:

Origin of the Word Ballistics 1. Field investigation

• The word Ballistics was derived from two Greek
words. The word “Ballo” or “Ballein” which literary
mean “to throw”.
• The term also said to have been derived from the
roman was machine called “Ballista”, a gigantic
catapult which was used to hurl missiles or large
object at a distance like stones.
BRANCHES OF BALLISTICS I.
INTERIOR BALLISTICS – is the science dealing with the
motion of the projectile while still inside the barrel of
the firearm. Specifically involves the following:
1. Firing pin hitting the primer
2. Ignition of the priming mixture
2. Technical examination of ballistics exhibits
3. Legal Proceedings
• Shot Ballistics- is the study of shotgun ammunition
including its characteristics spread and trailing.
• Wound ballistics- is the study of the effects of a
projectile on a target and the conditions that affect
them
FIREARMS, Defined
LEGAL DEFINITION: Firearms or arms include rifles,
muskets, carbines, shotguns, pistols, revolvers and all
deadly weapons from which a bullet, a shot, a shell or
missiles may be discharged by means gunpowder or
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other explosives. The term also includes air rifles except
those that are small in caliber and usually used as toys.

TECHNICAL DEFINITION: A firearm is an instrument that

is used for the propulsion of projectiles by means of the
expansive force gases of burning powder
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“loaded shell” for rifles, muskets shotguns, revolvers
and pistols from which a ball, bullet, shot, shell or other
missiles may be fired by means of gunpowder or other
explosives. The term also includes ammunition for air
rifles.
TECHNICAL DEFINITION: the term ammunition refers to
a group of cartridges or to a single unit or single
cartridge- meaning a complete unfired unit consisting of
bullet, cartridge case, gunpowder and primer. The term
may include a single round of ammunition.

Types of Ammunitions
A. According to the location of the priming mixtures:
• Pin-fire cartridge-a type of cartridge wherein a pin
protruding at or near the base of the cartridge case.
(obsolete)
• Rim-fire Cartridge- a type of cartridge wherein the
priming mixture is located at the rim of the base of the
cartridge case
. • Center-Fire cartridge- a type of cartridge wherein
the priming mixture is located at the center most
portion of the base of the cartridge case.
• Ring-Fire cartridges- a type of cartridge used only on
the Sabotaged case Flechette cartridge of the Steyer
Advance Combat rifle and Steyer antiMaterial Squad
Machinegun.
This is a special type of cartridge wherein the priming
mixture is paced in circular hallow ring about 1/3 of the
base of the cartridge.

TYPES OF FIREARMS: CLASSIFICATION OF CARTRIDGE CASES (CASE SHAPE)

A. According to use: • STRAIGHT
• Small arms -Those types of firearms that propel • TAPERED
projectile less than one inch in diameter. • Artillery • BOTTLENECK
arms - Those types of firearms that propel projectiles of
more than one inch in diameter.
• Hand arms - Those types of firearms that are designed
or intended to be fired in one hand either left or right.

B. According to mechanism:
• Single action type - type of firearm wherein there is a
need to cock the hammer repeatedly after firing.
• Double action type - type of firearm wherein the
hammer is only cocked once in order to fire the firearm, Long or magnum cartridges may also have a heavier
up to such time as its ammunition are consumed. bullet when compared to the standard or short
versions. The 32 S&W cartridge
AMMUNITIONS, Defined:
LEGAL DEFINITION: the word ammunition means
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base which is set on fire when the bullet is projected.
The flash of smoke from this burning permits the flight
of the bullet to be seen, especially at night time. This
type of bullet is primarily used for target acquisition.
• Incendiary bullet-those that contain mixture, such as
phosphorous or other material, that can be set on fire
by impact. They are used against the targets that will
readily burn such as aircrafts or gasoline depots.
• Explosive (fragmentary) bullet- Those type of bullets
that contain a highly charged explosive. Because of their
small size, it is difficult to make a fuse that will work
reliably in small arms ammunitions.
Other variations can occur in the bullet weight and
bullet construction within the same cartridge
designation.

All of the cartridges seen on the right are in the 22

caliber "family" yet each has a different cartridge
designation. From the left they are: 22 Blank, 22 Short,
22 Long, 22 Long Rifle Shot, 22 Viper, 22 Long Rifle, 22
Stinger, 22 Magnum, and 22 Maximum.

BULLETS, Defined
• Steel cores from 7.62x39mm steel jacketed bullets
It is a metallic or non-metallic, cylinder projectile
Jacketed bullets may also contain something other than
propelled from a firearm by means of the expansive
a lead or steel core. Some may contain small lead
force of gases from burning powder.
pellets, plastic, or maybe even a silicone rubber
CLASSIFICATION OF BULLETS:
material as seen below.
A) According to mechanical structures:
• Federal Expanding Full-Metal-Jacketed (EFMJ) bullet
1. Lead bullets- those which are made of lead or alloys
with silicone nose materialGlaser Safety Slug containing
of this metallic lead, tin and antimony which is slightly
small lead pellets and a plastic plug Another somewhat
harder than pure lead.
unusual jacketed bullet is the Remington Accelerator.
This centerfire rifle bullet consists of a copper jacketed
2. Jacketed bullets-Those with a core of lead covered
bullet that is of a smaller caliber than the rifle it is fired
with a jacket of harder material such as: gilding metal, a
in. This smaller bullet is surrounded by what is called a
copper alloy of approximately 90% copper and 10%
Sabot. The sabot actually rides down the rifling of the
zinc.
barrel and once leaving the barrel of the rifle the sabot
and the bullet separate. The sabot falls to the ground
3. Synthetic bullets-Those made of plastic/plasticine
fairly close to the rifle but the light weighted bullet
and other composition or those made of sand polymer
travels down range at a high velocity minus any
mixed. Such bullets were designed for special purposes.
identifiable rifling characteristics. They are on the sabot!
CLASSIFICATION OF BULLETS B.)
• Remington Accelerator "sabot" enclosed bullet Steel
According to use:
cores from 7.62x39mm steel jackete
• Ball bullets-Those have soft cores inside a jacket and
are used against personnel only.
• Armor piercing bullet- Those that have steel cores
and are fired against vehicles and other armored targets
in general.
• Tracer bullet- Those that contain compound at its
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BULLET BASIC SHAPES

Winchester "Black Talon" bullet

Federal Hyda-Shok bullet

with center post.

Remington semi-jacketed
hollow-point bullet

Semi-jacketed Soft Point bullet

Jacketed Soft Point bullet

• Speer Gold-Dot Jacketed Hollow-point bullet.

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The base shape of a bullet can also be an area firearm
examiners will use to help determine the manufacturer of a
bullet. Some bullets have bases that taper in,these are referred
to as "Boat-tail" bullets. Others may have expanded bases or
banded bases.
• Gas-check copper base lead bullet
• Remington Golden Sabre expanded base bullet
• 7.62x39mm boat-tail bullet
Speer Gold-Dot Jacketed
Hollow-point bullet
PROPELLANTS, Defined:
The low explosive which make up the
charge to fire the projectile from a weapon.
Types of Propellants:
• Black Powder- A compound also known as gunpowder. It is
a mechanical mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur
in the proportion 70:15:10, through this proportions have
varied during its history.
• Smokeless Powder- This is the type of powder commonly
used now in modern small arms ammunition. It is the most

powerful of the propellants. These are commonly

nitrocellulose based.
Gas-check copper
base lead bullet

MAIN CLASSES OF SMOKELESS POWDER

Remington Golden Sabre A. Single Based- term to describe propellant powders which
expanded base bullet are made from nitrocellulose with addition of very small
quantities of chemicals to promote chemical stability,
flashlessness, or to assist in the manufacturing process.

7.62x39mm boat-tail
Bullet
B. Double Based- A type of propellant powder which uses
three principal ingredients nitrocellulose, nitroglycerine and
nitroguanidine. It was devised in an attempt to compromise
• Plain Lead Round-nosed bullet between the low power of single based powders. The
• Copper-washed or "Lubaloy" percentage of nitroglycerine is small, but sufficient to give
• Lead round-nosed bullet added powder; nitroguanidine lowers the flame temperature
• Federal "Nyclad" nylon coated bullet while still adding active explosive constituent.
• Other solid bullets can be machined out of a piece of
copper, brass, or similar material. Newer manufacturing • High Ignition Temperature Propellant- A type of
techniques use pressure to compress a material like tungsten propellant in which the main constituent is from the Hexogen
into a bullet referred to as a "frangible" bullet. Examples of RDX group of high explosives. It was moderate through the
these can be seen below. process of gelatinization and was then developed by dynamite
• THV Solid brass machined bullet Nobel of Germany in conjunction with the Heckler and Koch
• KTW Teflon coated for the letters GIIK2 rifle. This is the first and only propellant
• solid brass machined bullet used for the first case less cartridge.
• Frangible tungsten compressed bullets

FIREARMS IDENTIFICATION:

BASIS FOR FIREARM IDENTIFICATION:

1.Firearm identification is actually a tool marks identification.

2.The natural wear and tear of the tools involved

3.When softer surface comes in contact with a harder surface,

it is the softer surface that will acquire or be engraved or
marked with impressions or scratches from any irregularities
on the harder surface.

PRINCIPLES IN BULLET IDENTIFICATION

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1.No two barrels are microscopically identical as the surface
of their bores all posses individual and characteristics marking
of their own.
2. When a bullet is fired from a rifle barrel, it becomes
engraved by the rifling and this engraving will vary in its
minute details with every individual bore. So it happens that
engravings on the bullet fire from one barrel will be different
from that on a similar bullet fired from another barrel. And
conversely, the engravings on bullets fired from the same
barrel will be the same.
3. Every barrel leaves its thumbmark on every bullet which is
fired through it, just as every breech face leaves its thumbmark
on the base of every fired cartridge case.
PRINCIPLES IN CARTRIDGE CASE
IDENTIFICATION:
1.The breechface and striker of every single firearm leaves
microscopic individualities of their of their own.
2.The firearms leaves its fingerprints or thumbmark on every
cartridge case which is fires.
3.The whole principle of identification is based on the fact that
since the breechface of every weapons must be individually
distinct, the cartridge cases which it fired are imprinted with
this individualities. The imprint on all cartridges fired from
different weapons must always he different.
TWO GENERAL TYPES OF CHARACTERISTICS
MARKING:
1. Class characteristics are those characteristics that
are determinable even prior to the manufacture of
the firearms . These characteristics are of factory
specifications and are within the control of man
and they are serve as basis to identify a certain
group or class of firearms.
2. Individual characteristics are those characteristics
markings peculiar in a particular firearm and
which are not found in all other firearms. They
serve as basis to identify a particular firearm.
They are determinable only after the manufacture
of the firearm. They are characteristics whose
existence in beyond the control of man and which
have random distribution inside the gun.
Examples of Class Characteristics
A. Bore diameter (caliber)
B. Number of lands and grooves
C. width of lands
D. width of grooves
E. Direction of twist
F. pitch of rifling
G. depth of grooves.
TYPES OF RIFLING
1. Steyer Type –is the type of rifling having four (4)
lands and grooves, right hand twist and the
width of the lands are equal. (4RG=L)
2. Carbine Type- Rifling having 4 lands and grooves,
right hand twist, the width of the grooves is two
times (2x) the width of the lands. (4RG2x)
3. Smith & Wesson – Rifling having five (5) lands
and grooves, right hand twist, the width of the
lands are equal. (5RG=L)
4. Colt – Type of rifling having six (6) lands and
grooves, left hand twist, the with of the grooves
is twice times (2x) the width of the lands.
(6LG2X)
5. Browning- Type of rifling having six (6) lands
and grooves, right hand twist, the width of the
groove is twice (2x) the width of the lands
(6RG2X)
6. Webley – Rifling having seven (7) lands and
grooves, right hand twist, the width of the
groove is three times (3x) broader than the
lands. (7RG3x)
7. Winchester – Rifling having six (6) lands and
grooves, right hand twist, the width of the
grooves is three times (3x) larger than the
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width of the lands. (6RG3x) E. ejector mark

F. chamber mark

Seven Problems on Forensic Ballistics G. pivotal mark

1. Given a fired bullet to determine the caliber, H. magazine lips marking

type, make of the firearm from which it was

fired. Equipment used in Firearm Identification

2. Given a fired shell to determine the caliber, • Bullet comparison microscope- this valuable

type, make of the firearm from which it was instrument is specially designed to permit the

fired. firearm examiner to determine the similarity and

3. Given a fired bullet and a suspected firearm, to dissimilarity between two fired bullets or two fired

determine whether or not the fired bullet was shells, by simultaneously observing their magnified

fired from the suspected firearm. image in a single microscopic field.

4. Given a fired shell and a suspected firearm, to • Through this type of equipment, the two fired

determine whether or not the fired shell was bullets or fired shells are seen in juxtaposition-that

fired from the suspected firearm. is the two objects-evidence bullet and test bullet

5. Given two or more fired bullets, to determine are examined and compared: AT THE SAME time,

whether or not they were fired from one and plane or level, direction, magnification and at the

the same firearm. same image

6. Given two or more fired shells/cartridge

cases, to determine whether or not they were

fired from one and the same firearm.

7. Given a suspected firearm, to determine

whether it is serviceable or not.

Marks found on fired bullets:

A. land marks caused by the lands

B. groove marks caused by the grooves

C. stripping marks due to the bullet jumping the

Rifling

Marks found on fired cartridges (shells)

A. firing pin mark

B. breech face mark

C. extractor mark
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residues and primer residues. This is a computer system
combined with an electron microscope and laser
spectrophotometry unit. Its power is so great that with a mere

speck of dust it could identify the elemental components of

the particle under examination.

Equipment used in Firearm Identification

• Bullet recovery box- this is used to recover test bullets or

test

shells for comparison with the questioned bullet or shell.

• Vernier caliper- this instrument is used to measure the

diameter

of the bullets or shells up to a thousand of an inch.

• Micrometer-used also for measuring purposes same as the DEFINITIONS:

vernier
• Caliber-bore diameter expressed in decimal of an inch
caliper.
otherwise in the metric system.
• Torsion Balance- this is used more or less for determining
weights of bullets and shotgun pellets-for possible • Bullet- the projectile only, not to be applied to the

determination of type, caliber and make of firearms from
which fired.
• Helixometer-used in measuring the pitch of rifling of the
firearms.
• Taper gauge-used primarily for determining bore diameter
of firearms.
cartridge which is sometime called ball.
• Cartridge- a complete round of ammunition, made up
simply of cartridge case, primer, gunpowder and bullet.
• Cartridge case- commonly the brass or copper envelope
that contains primer, gunpowder and bullet.

• Electric gun marker-used in the laboratory for marking
bullets, fired shells, and firearms submitted for examination.
• Scanning Electron microscope A high powered electron
microscope used to identify left over particles like gunpowder
• Chronograph- instrument which measures the velocity of
projectile.
• Cylinder- in a revolver type of firearm, cartridge
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container that rotates around an axis parallel to and

below the barrel.

• Ejector- the device at the barrel breech within the action

that knocks the fired cartridge case.

• Extractor- device that removes or partially removes the

fired cartridge case from the chamber of the gun.

• Gauge- unit of bore measurement in shot shotgun

determined by the number of solid lead balls, of the bore

diameter obtainable from a pound of lead.

• Grooves- spiral tube in a bore which cause the bullet to

spin as it travels down the barrel.

• Lands- the portion of the bore remaining after the rifling

or grooves have been cut.

• Magazine-device or reservoir to hold extra cartridge.

• Muzzle- end of barrel opposite breech point from which

bullet or shots leaves barrel.

• Ogive- the radius of the curve of the nose of the

bullet usually expressed in caliber.

• Rifling- spiral cuts into the bore of a rifled gun

barrel to impart a spin on the bullet, assuring point

in flight for better accuracy.

• Trajectory- the curve path of the bullet in flight or

a parabola.

• Velocity- projectile speed, usually measured in

feet per second.

• Vent – orifice which the flame enters to burn the

powder

• Wad- a disc or paper, felt, plastic or other material

used in shells.