IMPORTANCE OF FORENSIC BALLISTICS IN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

Ballistics as used in Forensic Science or Criminalistics commonly refers to the study and
effects of projectiles from firearms. Typically a firearm cartridge consists of the cartridge
case, the primer, the propellant, and the projectile (bullet). Examination can yield marks from
the firearms breach, ejection, extractor, and firing pin on the cartridge case, Propellant
examinations may yield chemical analysis. Bullet examinations may indicate caliber, type of
firearm used, and individual characteristics such as lands and grooves or rifling or other
marks. There may be other trace evidence on the bullet such as clothing fabric or DNA or
fingerprints on the cartridge case. Additionally, examination of probable trajectory could
possibly prove or disprove an alibi. Similar study could show location or origin of where the
cartridge was fired.
Ballistics studies can be made with any type of thrown or mechanically or chemically fired
projectiles ranging from a slingshot to an artillery shell.

Ballistics is the area of Forensic Science that deals with firearms; how they are used, why
they are used and why they are used frequently in the practice of murder. When a person is
shot the wound and the condition of the victim can tell a lot about the nature of the weapon
that has been used. Indeed if the weapon has been left at the scene of the crime - which
sometimes happens when the perpetrator panics the weapon itself can go a long way to
providing valuable information as to the kind of person who has committed the offence.

Most guns have their own unique identifying features and even if the gun has not been left at
the crime scene many degrees of information can be determined from the bullet, the nature of
the wound and any residue that is left around it. Bullets contain a mixture of gunpowder and
cordite and these leave burn marks on the skin of the individual either wounded or killed,
they also leave a fine residue on the fingers and hands of the individual firing the gun. These
burn marks can signify closeness of the victim to the perpetrator, kind of weapon and also if
the weapon has had any modifications made to it. Some weapons have been disarmed by
having the firing pins and mechanisms removed but there are individuals who can 'reactivate'
these weapons for use again.

Also, each weapon's barrel contains small ligatures and grooves, which, when a bullet is fired
from them, make marks on the shell casing, which can be used as a means of identifying the
make and model of gun if these shell casings are found at the scene. An automatic or semi-
automatic weapon will expel shell casings as the weapon fires a round whereas a revolver
will fire the round but retain the shell casing within the barrel.

The field of ballistics is able to identify rifling patterns, marks made by using suppressors
(silencers), shell casings, powder burn and many other different areas relating to the use of
firearms and the evidence they leave behind. Ballistics experts will be able to tell you the
particular weapon simply by the sound of it being fired. They will also be able to carry out
distance and depth tests which include firing rounds of ammunition into water, sand and other
substances to determine how close a person would have to be to receive a life threatening
wound from a gun.

Ballistics is a very important part of the world of Forensic Science and much of its evidence
is used in criminal proceedings. In some cases the use of ballistics research can prove a link
between many different crimes carried out over a lengthy period of time. This is also an
important function of the ballistics team as many weapons are passed and sold on between
criminals during their life cycle.

1. Striations on a fired bullet

Once a bullet is recovered, either from an impact point in a soft wall or pulled out of flesh by
a medical examiner or a physician, that bullet will become a primary piece of evidence.
Every gun barrel is rifled during manufacture, or finished inside the barrel with rotating
grooves to impart spin to a bullet in order to improve accuracy during flight. The resulting
spiralling grooves and lands (the flat parts between the grooves) leave mirrored markings on
the bullet itself.

If you are able to fire another bullet from the same gun, an investigator can match the grooves
under a special microscope which displays both bullets side by side, comparing the strata.
Since there are several processes involved in rifling a barrel, each barrel is unique. Just like
fingerprints, a bullet can be paired to a weapon with nearly perfect accuracy.

Further, even without a weapon, the striations can identify a type and model of firearm, so
detectives will know what to look for.
2. Gunpowder residue leaves expected patterns

When a gun is fired, the bullet is not the only thing that comes out of the barrel. Burning
powder particles also expectorate and will create a pattern on the object closest to the barrel.
This pattern varies by how far the weapon is from the target. By knowing the patterns of a
particular firearm, a consensus can be reached about how close or how far away the gun was.
If there are no powder marks on the hand holding the gun or the forehead around the bullet
hole, it is unlikely that the victim shot himself, so suicide can be ruled out no matter how
convincing the pose looks to the untrained eye.

3. Trajectory, ricochet and bullet holes

Sticks carefully inserted in bullet holes can indicate direction of the bullet, and, if many holes
are found in a scene, these sticks can help triangulate: where the shooter was standing; how
tall he (or she) might have been; and many more details. Bullets that ricochet will collect
trace evidence from where they bounce, and add further detail for the investigator.

4. Hidden fingerprints

A gunman will finger bullets as he loads them into a cylinder or magazine, and leave tiny
quantities of salty sweat with each touch. When a bullet is fired away from its casing,
tremendous heat is instantly transferred to that metal, vaporising the moisture and setting the
salts from those prints. The salts become molten and a chemical reaction with the metal
etches the fingerprints permanently into the casing.

5. Firing pin impressions

Firing pins leave individual marks on the primer (the explosive cap that ignites the
gunpowder when struck by the pin on the tip of the hammer) at the very bottom of each
bullet. The alignment, size of impression, and age of the firearm also contribute to
individualised marks as the hard metal (the pin) make impressions on the soft metal (the
primer).

6. Bullet damage to tissue

Wounds can provide an incredible amount of information about sequence of hits, distance,
velocity, bullet type, caliber, and more whether a bullet fragment is recovered or not.
Bevelling around an entrance wound holds clues, fracture lines in dense bone such as skulls
can identify distance, velocity and direction of fire. Grazing bullets leave skin tags little
flags of ragged skin that are pulled up and torn as a projectile passes by at high speed. All of
these indications help validate the opinions of a medical examiner.

Every one of these indicators can become a comprehensive study in itself. While we only
have room for a highlight from each factor, there have been: books written about each
subject; experts have spent decades studying only trajectory, for example; and hundreds of
thousands of tests repeated over and over again verify the science and validate the findings.