Firearms Toolmarks

Firearms & Toolmarks
Firearms Identification
A discipline mainly concerned with determining whether a bullet or

cartridge was fired by a particular weapon. It is not to be confused
with ballistics, which is the study of a projectile in motion.
Bullet Comparison
1)The barrel of a gun leaves markings on a bullet fired through it
that are particular to that barrel.
2)Suspect guns are test fired and the test bullet is compared with
the evidence bullet.

A gun barrel is produced from
A solid bar of steel that has
been hollowed out by a drill.
Rifling:The spiral grooves
formed in the bore of a
firearm barrel that impart spin
to the projectile when it is
fired.
Grooves: The cut or low-lying
portions between the lands in
a rifled barrel
Lands: The raised portion
between the grooves in a rifle
bore.

Rifling
The act of making lands and grooves in the barrel of a rifle which
impart spin to the projectile fired through the barrel.
1) Cutting: Prior to 1940 all barrels were machine cut by running a
steel hook cutter through the barrel which would impart one or two
grooves at a time.
2) Cutting: After 1940 a broach cutter was used so all grooves could
be cut simultaneously.
3) Button Process: A steel plug or button impressed with the
desired number of grooves is forced under extremely high
pressures down the barrel and the inside of the barrel is
compressed to form the lands & grooves
4) Mandrel Rifling: A mandrel rod of hardened steel cut so its form
is the reverse of the desired lands & grooves is inserted into a
slightly oversized bore. The mandrel-containing bore is then
compressed so the lands & grooves are formed.

As the bullet passes through the
barrel, the barrel rifling and
other unique characteristics
impress markings on the bullet
which are unique to that barrel.
No two rifled barrels, even those
manufactured in succession,
have identical striation markings.
Striation Markings

To compare bullets, an examiner test fires the weapon into a

recovery box filled with cotton or a water tank.
Bullet Comparison: What to look for

1) Class Characteristics
a) The number of lands &
grooves
b) Their direction of twist.
2) Individual Characteristics
a) Striated markings on
each bullet
b) Done using a Comparison
Microscope

Bullet Comparison
Difficulties often arise during the attempt to identify or compare
bullets:
1) Grit & Rust in the barrel can alter the markings on bullets fired
through the same barrel
2) Evidence bullet mutilation commonly, the evidence bullet, when
found is mutilated to some degree due to its passage through
materials (bone, tissue, walls, car doors, etc)
3) Extended weapon use as the weapon is fired over & over, the
striations on the barrel will change to some degree over time.
However, its usually not enough to totally eliminate the match
4) Examiner expertise unlike chemical or instrument analysis, bullet
comparison relies on the expertise and experience of the examiner
to determine whether two bullets are, in fact, a match.
An example of bullet mutilation & deformation due to

projectile velocity.
Round-nosed
Teflon-coat
Wad-cutter
THV Solid brass

machined bullet
Semi-wadcutter
Copper-washed
lubaloy
nyclad
Jacketed soft-point
Copper-jacketed
Nickel-plated
Fully jacketed
Glaser Safety Slug containing

Federal Expanding Full-Metal-Jacketed (EFMJ)
small lead pellets and a plastic plug bullet with silicone nose material
Sabot Round
Speer Gold-Dot Jacketed Hollow-point bullet.

Shotguns have smooth barrels so
there is no rifling and no
subsequent striations on the
projectile.
Shotguns are measured by bore
size or gauge.
12-gauge 0.73 in. (1/12th lb)
16-gauge 0.67 in (1/16th lb)
20-gauge 0.53 in (1/20th lb)
410-gauge 0.41 in.

Cartridge Case Comparison
The act of pulling the trigger releases the weapons firing pin, causing
it to strike the primer, which in turn ignites the gunpowder. The
expanding gases generated by the burning gunpowder propel the
bullet forward through the barrel, simultaneously pushing the
spent cartridge case or shell back with equal force against the
breechblock (the rear part of a firearm barrel).
As the bullet is marked by its passage through the barrel, the shell
casing or cartridge is marked by contact with the metal surfaces
of the weapons firing & loading mechanisms.

As with bullets, these markings are distinctive.
The shape of the firing pin is impressed into the primer.
The breechblock characteristics are impressed into the rear of the
cartridge case.

Firing Pin Impressions: these can be very unique and can be seen
in both center-fire and rim-fire cartridges.

Breechblock
Cartridge Casing

Breechmark Comparisons: Here is an example of the markings on
the back of the breech being impressed on the casing.

Ejector Marks: These are a function of the ejection mechanism as it
grabs the cartridge case and ejects it after firing.
Ejector Mechanism
Ejector marks 1
Ejector marks 2

Shear Marks: These are made as the cartridge, after being pressed
back into the breechblock, is then moved up or down across the
firing pin hole and a set of ridges are cut into the casing.

Automated Firearms Identification
1) DRUGFIRE (started by the FBI) and IBIS (started by the ATF) were
initially incompatible systems in the early 1990s.
2) Around 1998 2000 the FBI and ATF joined forces and created
NIBIN (National Integrated Ballistics Information Network).
3) DRUGFIRE focused on examination of spent cartridge casings and
stored digital images. IBIS concentrated on expended bullets as
well as casings but the two computer storage systems couldnt be
linked (sorta like PC and Mac)
Configuration of a portion of the IBIS system called Bulletproof

Gunpowder Residues
1) Used to help determine the distance from which the weapon was
fired.
Distance Determinations: The process of determining the distance
between the firearm and a target, usually based on the distribution
of powder patterns or the spread of a shot pattern.
Chemical evaluation
of GSR can expand
the evidence
pattern to include
nitrate residue as
well as lead and
powder residue.
Following the initial

explosion, vaprous
lead along with
powder, nitrates and
other gases are
expelled from the
barrel

Tool Marks
A tool mark is any impression, cut, gouge, or abrasion caused by a
tool coming into contact with another object. Most often tool
marks are encountered at burglary scenes or other forcible entry
scenes. Generally, these marks occur as indented impressions into
a softer surface or as abrasion marks caused by the tool cutting or
sliding against another object.
As with bullets and rifling, here we can have Class Characteristics
as well as Individual Characteristics.
Class characteristics include the type and shape of tool as well as
size. These would be the difference between a screwdriver and a
claw hammer or a chisel that was used to force an entry,

Tool Marks
Individual characteristics include random striations generated during
the machining of the tool as well as individual edge characteristics
like nicks and cuts or ridges and valleys that develop in tools over
time.
These individual characteristics can be seen in all types of tools from
chisels to shovels to cutters and saws.
Here both class and

individual characteristics
can be seen
Here the casting of a tool mark using

silicone brings out the individual
characteristics of this prybar.

Firearms Toolmarks

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Firearms Toolmarks

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Firearms & Toolmarks

A discipline mainly concerned with determining whether a bullet or