NURDIYANA MOHD ANUAR

• Explain the types of firearms and the techniques for rifling a

barrel.
• Explain the class and individual characteristics of bullets
and cartridge cases.
• Explain the procedure for determining how far a weapon
was fired from a target.
• A discipline mainly concerned with determining whether a
bullet or cartridge was fired by a particular weapon.
• Basic category of firearms:
• Handguns
• Designed to be fired while held in the hand.
• Classed as either single action or double action firearms.
• Single action: The hammer must be manually cocked backward in order to fire
the weapon.
• Double action: The hammer will be cocked as the trigger is pulled and is
reloaded after the round is fired.
• Includes single-shot, revolvers and semi-automatic pistols.
• Long gun
• Designed to be fired while resting on the shoulder.
• Includes rifles and shotguns.
• Fire only one round at a time.
• Each round must be manually loaded into the chamber
before firing.
• Feature several firing chambers within a revolving cylinder.
• Cylinder rotates clockwise or counterclockwise when fired.
• Cartridge cases are retained in the cylinder.
• Include swing-out revolvers, break-top revolvers and solid-
frame revolvers.
• Feature a removable magazine that is most often contained
within the grip of the firearm.
• After loading magazine, the hammer is cocked by pulling
the slide back then releasing to load the first round.
• When fired, the slide kicks back, the cartridge case is
ejected, and the next round is loaded.
• Fires one shot per trigger pull.
• A firearm having a long barrel with a spirally grooved
interior, which imparts to the bullet spinning motion to have
greater accuracy over a long range.
• A firearm with unrifled bore designed for the discharge of
small shot at shot range.
• Generally fire small lead balls or pellets that are not
impressed with any characteristics markings that can be
related back to the weapon.
• A self-contained cartridge that is composed of one or more
projectiles, propellant and primer.
• 2 Major types:
• Cartridge for handguns and rifles
• Shells for shotguns
• Components of ammunition:
• Case
• Primer
• Gunpowder
• Projectile
• Wad
• The part of the cartridge that leaves the muzzle of the
firearm when it is discharged.
• Bullet is designed based on:
• Powder charge
• Types of firearm
• Ballistics
• A propellant is a chemicals used for propelling projectiles
from any firearm.
• The primer ignites the gunpowder and thereby propels the
bullet.
• It can be divided to 2 types:
• Black powder.
• Smokeless powder.
• Black powder:
• Mixture of sulphur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate.
• Commonly used in antique firearms.
• Produce substantial amount of smoke when fired.
• Smokeless powder:
• Used in modern firearms.
• Produce small amount of smoke when fired.
• The combustion products are mainly gaseous.
• What ignites the propellant.
• Consists of small metal cup containing a percussion-sensitive
material that when struck creates enough heat to ignite the
propellant.
• 3 major components in the primer compound:
• Initiator (Lead styphnate)
• It will set off with a sharp blow when the firing pin strikes the primer.
• Oxidation (Barium nitrate)
• Gives up its oxygen readily to burn the fuel.
• Fuel (Antimony sulfide)
• Burns at a very high rate
• Mechanical process involving primer:
• When a weapon is fired, the firing pin strikes the center of the
primer cup.
• It leads to compressing the primer compositions between the cup
and anvil, causing the composition to explode.
• The vents in the anvil allow the flame to pass through the flash
holes into the cartridge case.
• Therefore, igniting the propellant.
• The gun barrel is produced from a solid bar of
steel that has been hollowed out by drilling.
• The cutting tool/ broach cutter is impressed with
desired number of grooves is forced with
extremely high pressure through the barrel.
• The microscopic drill marks left on the barrel’s
inner surface during this process are randomly
irregular and serve to impart a uniqueness to
each barrel.
• Diameter of the gun barrel measured between opposite
lands.
• Normally recorded in hundredths of an inch or in
millimeters - for example, .22 caliber and 9 mm.
• Purpose: To determine if a particular bullet or cartridge case was fired
from a specific firearm.
• Because there is no practical way of making direct comparison
between the markings on the fired bullet and those found within a
barrel, the examiner must obtain test bullets fired through the suspect
barrel for comparison.
• Test firings are normally made into a recovery box filled with cotton
or into a water tank to preserve the striation on the bullet.
• In conjunction with this, the examiner has the ability to explain how a
firearm functions and what safety features a firearm might have.
• This can have an impact on investigations of suicides, unintentional
shootings and accidental firearm discharge.
• As the bullet passes through the barrel, its surface is
impressed with the rifled markings of the barrel.
• Class characteristics: The number of lands and grooves and
their direction of twist are obvious points of comparison
during the initial stages of an examination between an
evidence bullet and a test-fired bullet.
• Any differences in these class characteristics immediately
serve to eliminate the possibility that both bullets travelled
through the same barrel.
• Individual characteristics: No two rifled barrels will have
identical striation markings.
• What can a firearms examiner do if there are no bullets at
the scene and only cartridge cases?
• The cartridge case is impressed with markings by its contact
with the metal surfaces of the weapon’s firing and loading
mechanisms.
• These markings can be reproduced in test fires and would
give distinctive points of comparison for individualizing a
spent cartridge case to a weapon.
• Chamber: When the cartridge case is pulled out from the
chamber, the sides of the cartridge case can be scratched.
• Firing pin: Marking impressed on soft metal of the primer.
• Breech face: Caused by rearward thrust of cartridge case.
• Extractor: The mechanism by which a fired cartridge case is
withdrawn from the chamber before being ejected.
• Ejector: Cartridge case is thrown from the firearm.
• These marking can also be found on the brass portion of
shells fired by a shotgun.
• Definition: A particle or soot or smoke that coming out from any
opening of firearm.
• Composed of burnt and unburnt particles from the propulsive charge.
• When garments or other evidence relevant to a shooting are received
in the crime laboratory, the surfaces of all items are first examined
microscopically for the presence of gunpowder residue.
• These gunpowder particles may be identifiable by their characteristic
colors, sizes, and shapes.
• Chemical tests, such as the Griess test (orange) and using Sodium
Rhodizonate solution (purple), may be needed to detect gunpowder
residues that are not visible. Infrared photography can help visualize.
• The firing of a weapon not only propels residues toward
the target, but gunpowder and primer residues are also
blown back toward the shooter.
• As a result, traces of these residues are often deposited on
the firing hand of the shooter, and their detection can
provide valuable information as to whether or not an
individual has recently fired a weapon, handled a weapon,
or was near a discharged firearm.
GSR Collection Kit
• Evaluate the distance from which a GSR pattern in question
was shot by using the same firearm and ammunition.
• Perform a firing test to fabric or cloth target.
• Muzzle to target distance estimated are based on the
comparison of GSR pattern produced between questioned
and test firing cloth target.
• Contact: Caused heavily damage to the cloth target and no
bullet hole.
• 1-12 inches: A heavy concentration of smoke-like vaporous
particle usually surrounds the bullet entrance hole.
• 12 to 18 inches or less: A halo of vaporous lead (smoke)
deposited around a bullet hole.
• 18 to 25 inches: The presence of scattered specks of burnt,
unburned and partially burnt powder grains without any
accompanying soot.
• 25 to 36 inches: Scatted gunpowder particles.
• > 36 inches: There will be no powder residue deposited on the
target.