FIREARM INJURIES

(page 178)

mainly about rifled guns

 These are injuries caused by high velocity projectiles, called
bullets or pellets.They produce punctured wounds.
Types of firearm weapons (guns)
1) Rifled guns - The term “rifle” comes from the riflings
or groovings made on the inner surface of the barrel. On
the inner surface of the barrels of these guns, parallel
grooves (usually 4-7 in number) are made which run
spirally, all along the bore.
Rifled guns are comparatively more powerful guns.
Rifled gun cartridge contains one bullet as the projectile.

2) Smooth bored guns or shotguns : In these guns the inner

surface of the barrel is uniformly smooth.
Injuries in case of rifled weapon
(bullet injury) (page 189)

There is a single punctured wound of

entrance. It travels deep inside the body,
injuring organs in its track and sometimes
makes an exit wound.
1. The wound of entrance
1) shape and diameter
The wound of entrance is circular when the bullet
strikes the body surface perpendicularly.
It is oval, when the bullet strikes the body at an
angle.
This wound (wound of entrance) is smaller when
the firing is from a close range (except contact
wound).
It is slightly larger when the firing is from a long
distance.
2) abraded or contused collar
While the bullet enters the body through
the hole made by the nose of the bullet, the
surface of bullet faces a friction with the
skin surrounding the hole (wound of
entrance), causing abrasion or contusion of
the frictioned area, around the wound of
entrance, termed abraded or contused collar.
3) dirt or grease collar
Around the abraded or contused collar,
there is a dirt or grease collar, made by the
metallic dust and grease on the surface of the
bullet, which the bullet inherits when it
passes through the length of the bore of the
barrel (grease is used in the inner surface of
the barrel to prevent rusting, and metallic
dust is procuced due to the friction between
the bullet and inner surface of the barrel
when the bullet travels inside the barrel).
 3) The wound of entrance is inverted and
there is no protrusion out of fat through this
wound.
The abraded or contused collar and the
grease collar tell about the direction of
firing .
2. The depth and track of the wound
After entering the body the bullet may run a
straight course or it may get deflected and take a
different course due to obstruction by the tissue,
mostly a bone.
If the affected part of the body is covered with
clothes then, the depth of the wound near the wound
of entrance will show presence of fabrics torn out
from the clothes and pushed inside the wound by the
bullet. In bullet injury, usually there is less
haemorrhage near the wound of entrance.
3. The wound of exit
1) The wound through which the bullet comes
out of the body is usually slightly larger than the
wound of entrance, when the gun is fired from a
short distance. The wound of entrance is smaller
when the bullet is fired from a short distance,
because in that case the bullet possesses high
velocity.
But when fired from a long distance, the exit
wound is slightly smaller than the wound of
entrance . The wound of entrance is larger when the
bullet is fired from a great distance as, then the
bullet possesses a low velocity.
 2) The wound of exit is everted, with protrusion of
fatty tissue through the wound.
3) The margin is irregular.

Contact wound in case of rifled weapon

In case of contact wound, there will be muzzle
impression around the main wound, in the form of
abrasion or depression. The effect of fire, hot gas,
smoke and unburnt and semiburnt gunpowder will
be present in the depth of the wound near the wound
of entrance, instead of their effects being present
around the wound.
 Due to expansion of the gas coming out
of the muzzle end and entering inside the
depth of the body tissue, there will be
greater destruction of the tissue with a large
wound.
If the contact wound is on the head, then
bursting of the cranial cavity may occur
with exposure and expulsion of the brain
matter.
Examination of gunshot injury cases (page 193)
A. In case of living
In pellets (shotgun ) injury, the problem is
occasionally more than bullet injury. This is because
of dispersion of the pellets in the body. The pellets
may be distributed in widespread area. But
fortunately, often the depth of the wounds are less
with less involvement of the internal vital organs
due to less penetrating capacity of the pellets.
The part of the body apparently injured with
possible extent of the pellets to deeper tissue, should
be subjected to X`ray examination.
X`ray examination will help exact location of the
pellets, which is necessary for both legal and
medical puposes.
Examination of the injured
1. General condition of the injured.
2. The part involved, extent and severity of the
injury.
For these, radiological examination may be
necessary. X`ray examination is also necessary for
therapeutic purposes. A gunshot injury case is
better examined on the operation table.
 In case of shot gun injury, many a times
the superficially lodged pellets are left as
such without disturbing, particularly when
many of them are lodged sporadically at
distant places. If such pellets are compatible
with continuance of life and normal
functioning, then their removal by surgery
may be considered as unnecessary step, just
to cause further trauma.
3. Examination of the clothing
It is important to examine the clothings
to the presence of recent tear or bullet hole
and blood and other stains.
4. Exanination the place of occurrence of the
bullet inury may at times be necessary,
which may be helpful to know the direction
of firing etc.
B. Postmortem examination of a case of death due to
firearm injury
The size and shape of the entrance and exit
wounds should be noted. Mark of contact with the
muzzle is also an important finding. Once the bullet
or a pellet is traced (which becomes very easy if the
body is X`rayed prior to the starting of the
postmortem examination ), it has to be removed
from the body cautiously. It is recommended that
bullets or pellets should be removed with the help of
rubber-tipped forceps and not with the bare metallic
tips of the forceps.
 The bullet or the pellets so recovered, need not
be washed and should instead be preserved along
with the blood stain over them, being wrapped with
cotton, in a clean glass jar. The jar should be
properly labelled and sealed and sent to the Forensic
Science Laboratory. If fragments of a bullet have
been recovered, then all the available fragments of
the bullet should be preserved. The number of
bullets, fragments or pellets recovered and preserved
should be mentioned on the label of the glass
container. In case of contact wound by shotgum,
along with pellets, the wad and the discs should be
searched out from the track of the wound and
preserved.
 Materials to be preserved during postmortem
examination in cases of death due to firearm injuries
1. Bullet, fragment of bullet or pellets.
2. Skin from around the skin, for chemical
identification of the unburnt gunpowder and the
type of grease (availavle from the grease or dirt
collar), which help to identify the firearm weapon
used. If the unburnt gunpowder detected from the
skin around the wound tallies with that present in
the inner surface of the barrel of a gun which is
suspected to have been used to injure the vicim, then
that becomes a strong corroborative finding.
3. Clothings
 Differences between wound of entrance and exit
( page 192)
Points of difference Wound of Entrance Wound of Exit
1.Size Smaller when near, larger when distant
Larger when near, smaller when distant
2. Margin Inverted Everted
3.Singeing, blackening, burning, tattooing Present Absent
4. Abraded or contused and grease collars Present Absent
5. Foreign fabrics of cloth etc Enters in the wound Nothing such
6. Protrusion of fat Absent Present
7. Bright redness due to formation of COHb Present Absent
8. Impression of muzzle Present in contact shot Absent
9. Bursting effect In contact shot may be present Absent
 Medicolegal informations available from a
firearm injury
1. Nature of death due to firearm injury – Death due
to firearm injury may be suicidal, homicidal or
accidental.
Suicidal: 1) elective sites (palate,area below the
chin, right temple in case of a rt. handed person), 2)
usual weapon(short,hand-rest weapons), 3) Often
the entrance wounds are contact wounds with
presence of the impression of the muzzle around the
wound of entrande. 4) The gun may be held in the
tight grip, in a state of cadaveric spasm of the hand
used. And other suicidal support.
Homecidal , accidental ( no specificity)
 2. The direction of the firing
It is better to try to assess the direction of the firing
from the dispersion of the pellets in cases of shotgun
injuries and from abraded /contused and grease collars, in
case of bullet injuries by rifled weapons.
3. Distance of firing
In case of bullet injury (rifled gun), the distance of
firing can be assessed from :
1) Effects of fire, smoke, burnt and unburnt gunpowder,
when firing is from a short or near distance.
2) Beyond the distance covered by the influence of
these, it is very difficult to assess the precise
distance of the firing. Only a vague idea can be
formed from the diameters of the wound of entrance
and the wound of exit.
Usually, when the firing is not from a great
distance, the wound of entrance should be smaller
than the wound of exit. But if the firing is from a
long distance, the wound of entrance may be equal
or even larger than the wound of exit.
3) As in case of shotgun injury, impression of the
muzzle will indicate contact firing.
4. Identification of the firearm weapon used.
1) The gunpowder used in the ammunition
(cartridge), can help identification of the weapon
used.
If by chemical examination, the nature of the
gunpowder present at the inner surface of the barrel
and those around the wound of entrance or the
corresponding part of the clothing of the victim are
found to be same, then it is an indication that the
suspected gun might have been used in the
particular occasion.
2) As in case of gunpowder, if the grease material
from over the grease collar around the wound of
entrance or the corresponding part of the clothing (in
case of bullet wound), tallies with the grease material,
used to keep the inner surface of the barrel of the
suspect gun clean then , this finding also serves as a
linking line between the use of that particular gun in
causing the particular wound.
3) Comparative study of the bullet recovered from the
dead body and the test bullet fired from the suspect
gun
Such a comparative study may be confirmatory to
conclude whether a particular gun was actually used
or not.
1) Primary markings – These are the marks engraved
on the surface of the bullet due to lands and grooves
present on the inner surface of the barrel of a rifled
gun, which are similar in the barrels of all the guns
of the same make.
Hence, these marks on the surface of the bullet,
which are parallel and spiral according to the line of
the grooves and lands on the inner surface of the
barrel, will be similar on all bullets fired from any
rifled gun of the same make.
 2) Secondary markings – These marks on the surface of
the bullet are caused due to certain individual features
of the inner surface of the barrel like, minor projections
or elevations or depression ehch are specific of a
particular gun and not common to all guns even of the
same make.
If these marks on the body of the test bullet and
those on the body of the recovered bullet tally in their
dimensions and curvature, then it can be more or less
conclusively opined that, the bullet causing the death of
the victim was fired from the gun examined.
5. Identification of the assailant
Dermal nitrate or paraffin test is
recommended for the identification of the
assailant. Paraffin impression from the
medial surface and the base of the thumb
and lateral surface and the base of the index
finger of the right hand of a right handed
accused is taken and is subjected to the test
for the presence of nitrite, performed with
the reagent diphenylamine.
 In case of recent use of a gun, if the hand is
contaminated with nitrogenous compolind of the
gunpowder or priming mixture, then bluish
discolouration of the relevant parts of the paraffin
cast will be there due to leakage of the gas from the
chamber through the defective breach mechanism,
during a fire.
The test may be negative even though one round
was fired by the accused, if there is no chance of
leakage of the gas through the breach mechanism or
if the assailant has thoroughly washed his hand after
using the gun or used gloves while using the gun.
 Conversely, the test may give a false positive
reaction even if a gun has not been used by the
accused person, if his hand gets contaminated with
his own body fluid like urine, which contains
nitrogenous compounds.
Now-a-days, for the fallacies of the nitrous test,
test for metal present in the priming mixture which
also contaminates the hand, is recommended.
Trace of the primer metals may be detected by
SPECTROPHOTOMETRY or NEUTRON
ACTIVATION ANALYSIS.