[gatagato]

Death rates due to gunshot wounds vary greatly around the world with high rates occurring in countries such as South Africa, Mexico, and the United States.
Injuries caused by projectiles (missiles or bullets) fired from guns (firearms) have characteristic features that are influenced by the caliber of the
weapon and the distance from the gun to the victim. The term ‘‘penetrating’’ is used when a projectile or missile has entered the body but not exited, whereas the term ‘‘perforating’’ indicates that the projectile/missile has passed completely through the body.

There are three basic types of firearms: handguns, rifles, and shotguns.
Rifles and shotguns are classified as long guns due to the length of their barrels and usually have a stock that extends from the grip that allows for the weapon to be braced against the shoulder during discharge.

The inside surface of the barrels of most handguns and rifles have spiraling grooves along their length known as rifling.
The raised parts are known as lands and the depressed parts as grooves.
The purpose of rifling is to impart a spin to a bullet which makes it more aerodynamically stable and therefore straighter in its course.
Rifling differs in different weapons with different directions of spin (i.e., either right twist or a left twist) and different numbers and sizes of the lands and grooves.

A weapon’s caliber depends on the diameter of the barrel and thus on the diameter of the bullets that are fired.
The combination of a rifled weapon’s caliber, as well as the number, size, and twist of lands and grooves determine the weapon’s class characteristics.
The unique microscopic striations (toolmarks) imparted onto a bullet from the barrel represent the weapon’s individual characteristics and allow a bullet to be matched to a specific weapon. In contrast, shotguns tend to have smooth bores, meaning the internal surface of the barrel is not rifled but is smooth.
The diameter of the barrel is referred to as the shotgun gauge. The choke of a shotgun refers to the extent of constriction that occurs at the muzzle end of the barrel.

Two handguns (semiautomatic and revolver) and a rifle


Two bullets with rifle marks


An unspent (unfired) handgun cartridge. The silver-colored casing contains the unspent bullet, which has a copper jacket


An intact cartridge and an opened cartridge, showing the casing, the gunpowder and the bullet


Comparison of a rimfire cartridge (left) and a centerfire cartridge (right)


Additional comparison of rimfire (left) versus centerfire (right) cartridges. In rimfire cartridges, the primer material is embedded in the
rim of the casing, while in centerfire cartridges, the primer material is within the centrally located, circular area


Typical muzzle flash from a handgun


Diagram of a discharging firearm, showing a small amount of flame at the muzzle, a cloud of smoke/soot, particles of gunpowder, and the bullet


Comparison of semiautomatic (left) and revolver (right) cartridges. Notice that the rim of the semiautomatic cartridge casing is
recessed compared to that of the revolver, where the outer edge of the rim extends beyond the outer diameter of the remainder of
the casing


A 0.357 revolver. The cylinder in this particular model holds 6 cartridges and has a smooth contour (it is ‘‘non-fluted.’’ Many revolver
cylinders are ‘‘fluted’’ – they have indentations). Note the narrow gap between the front of the cylinder and the beginning of the barrel
(arrow). This is referred to as the ‘‘cylinder-barrel gap’’ and is important because gunshot residue exits this area when the gun is
discharged


A 9 mm semiautomatic pistol


Examples of handgun ammunition of various calibers. Top (L to R): 0.22, 0.38 special, 0.44 magnum; Bottom (L to R): 0.25, 0.32, 0.380, 9 mm, 0.40 S&W, 10 mm, 0.45 ACP, 0.50 caliber


A variety of special bullet types. The lower row shows unfired bullets only, while the upper two rows show unfired bullets (middle row)
immediately below an example of the corresponding fired bullet (upper row).
Lower row (L to R): full-metal-jacketed bullet, brass-colored full-metal-jacketed bullet, wadcutter, semi-wadcutter, Nyclad, aluminum-jacketed bullet. Middle and upper rows (L to R): jacketed soft point, Black Talon, Hydrashok, Silvertip, Golden Saber, Gold-Dot


A variety of different sized birdshot pellets. L to R: #2, #4, #5, #6, # 7 ½, #8, and #9


Various types of wadding material from within shotgun cartridges


Shotgun shells of various sizes (gauges)


Various types of shotgun slugs


Examples of different gunpowder types from five
different cartridges


Soot present on the hand of a gunshot suicide victim


Contact wound of the left breast from a double
barrel 0.12 gauge shotgun with a muzzle
impression from a non discharged barrel


Contact wound from a double barrel 0.12 gauge shotgun with soot soiling and a muzzle impression from the non discharged barrel


Extensive stipple marks related to shotgun filler material from a buckshot charge.
Note the presence of the small white filler material
within and around the entrance defect


A shotgun wound with ‘‘scalloped’’ margins, indicating that the mass of shot pellets remained relatively tightly packed when they struck the skin.
Note also the irregular abrasion adjacent to the central defect caused by plastic wad material


A shotgun wound with a central defect, as well as occasional satellite pellet wounds


A shotgun entrance wound with petal strike marks from wadding evident along the wound’s margins


Shotgun wadding petal marks on the skin around an entrance wound.
In this case, the plastic wadding had very firm petals, thus causing very well-defined abrasions


Petal marks from shotgun wadding around an entrance wound of the scalp only revealed once the hair had been shaved


A shotgun wad strike mark, with the wadding material adjacent to the injury.
The photo was taken prior to shaving beard hair from around the pellet entry site, which is in the central neck


A shotgun entrance wound with a central defect and numerous individual pellet entrances


A shotgun wound with a central defect surrounded by numerous satellite pellet entrance wounds.
The upper arm was also involved


A shotgun entrance wound complex, with absence of a central defect.
The shot pellets have spread apart prior to striking the body


Buckshot entrance wounds


A cluster of entrance wounds in the left side of the chest from a 0.12 gauge shotgun using 00 buckshot


A homicide victim with three shotgun wounds of the back.
All were fired from the same weapon at a similar range.
Both bird and buckshot were used


Three buckshot exit wounds: one just under the
nose and two on the chin.
Note that the exit wounds mimic those caused by handgun bullets


Shotgun pellets located immediately beneath the
skin of the back


Plastic wadding can be seen plugging a shotgun exit wound of the back


The typical appearance of a birdshot shotgun wound X-ray


A noncontact shotgun slug wound of the head with
massive destruction


Shotgun slug fragments as seen on X-ray. Note the
‘‘C’’-shape of the largest fragment


A gunshot wound of the aorta


Multiple shotgun pellet wounds of a large blood vessel


A gunshot wound of the lung


A gunshot wound of the heart


A shotgun slug wound of the hear


A microscopic section of a contact gunshot
entrance wound, showing extensive black
particulate matter (soot) deposition


Soot soiling of the bone underlying a contact gunshot wound of the head.
In occasional cases, identification of soot on external examination is quite difficult.
Finding soot on the skull is beneficial in such cases


Soot staining the dura underlying a contact gunshot wound of the head.
Finding such soot can confirm that a wound represents a contact gunshot wound


An outer view of a gunshot entrance wound of the skull, after scalp reflection (and after peeling away the soft tissue normally adherent to the outer surface of the skull) showing no beveling (shelving)


An inner view of a gunshot entrance wound of the skull, showing classic internal beveling.
Entrance wounds are characterized by internal skull beveling


An inner view of a gunshot exit wound of the skull with no beveling


An outer view of a gunshot exit wound of the skull, showing classic external beveling.
Exit wounds are characterized by external skull
beveling


Bevelling may be hard to detect if the entrance / exit wounds are through particularly thin skull bones


An external skull view of a ‘‘keyhole’’ defect produced by a relatively tangential shot of the head, with the bullet traveling from bottom
to top of the photograph


Bilateral (involving both sides) periorbital (around the eyes) ecchymosis (bleeding) caused by basilar skull fractures produced by
a gunshot wound


A deformed (‘‘mushroomed’’) bullet collected as evidence


Multiple bullet fragments collected from a single gunshot wound


Evidence collected from the victim of a shotgun injury.
Note the representative sampling of birdshot pellets as well as plastic wadding material


Defense wounds of the fingers from a 0.12 gauge
shotgun (birdshot pellets


Defense wounds of the left hand that had been placed in front of the neck


An inscription on the base of the bullet.
Some pathologists inscribe the case number and their initials on the base of the bullet.
Others choose not to do this


A photograph showing a suicidal gunshot wound of the head, prior to shaving the hair from around the entrance wound


A photograph taken after cleaning the body and shaving the hair from around the entrance wound


Contact gunshot wound of head, after cleaning and shaving


Contact gunshot wound of head after cleaning, shaving, and reapproximating wound edges using cyanoacrylate (strongbonding glue)


An X-ray taken prior to clothing removal in a toddler who was being held in his mother’s arms when she was shot multiple times


An X-ray taken after clothing removal in the case shown in the previous pic. Note that a majority of the bullets exited the body but were retained within the clothing


Aluminum-jacketed bullet, with the lead core separated from the jacket.
Aluminum jackets are not necessarily visible by X-ray exam


A suicide victim who used a coat hanger to depress the trigger of his shotgun


Suicidal gunshot wounds occasionally have more than one entrance wound.
In this case, a suicide victim was witnessed by numerous people to place the small-caliber weapon under his chin and discharge the weapon. After each of the first three shots, he looked at the weapon, placed it back under his chin, and fired again, for a total of four shots.
At autopsy, only one bullet was found to have entered the brain


An example of the dense soot produced with a black powder weapon


Snakeshot or ratshot cartridges are handgun shot cartridges that contain numerous small shot pellets (similar to shotgun cartridges)


An example of the appearance of a wound produced by a handgun shot cartridge


NYCLAD cartridge and bullet. Note that the bullet is covered with a blue material.
This material is made of nylon and presumably reduces the amount of residue buildup within the barrel of a weapon, thus keeping it clean.
The nylon material makes ballistic comparison
difficult as the material does not show microscopic striations as well as lead or various metal jacket materials


A ‘‘gilded’’ small-caliber bullet recovered from a body at autopsy.
A gilded bullet has a copper-colored material coating the bullet, but it is not the same as a metal jacket.
Note that the copper-colored material has ‘‘flaked off’’ the sides of the bullet.
Such bullets can cause difficulty for firearms examiners when attempting to evaluate striations microscopically


A Glazer cartridge, unfired bullet, and fired bullet. These bullets are designed to fragment on impact, presumably making them safer (if a shooter misses their target and the bullet strikes a wall, the bullet will not continue through the wall and possibly strike someone on the other side)


A sabot rifle cartridge, plastic sabot, and bullet


A retained bullet recovered at autopsy.
Note that the bullet is embedded within muscle with no surrounding hemorrhage


Multiple entrance (E) and exit (X) wounds caused by two bullets







References
The Atlas of Forensic Pathology for Police, Forensic Scientists, Attorneys and Death Investigators (2012)


Byard RW, Haas E, Marshall DT, Gilbert JD, Krous HF. Characteristic features of pediatric firearm fatalities – comparisons between Australia and the United States. J Forensic Sci. 2009;54:1093–6.

Cina SJ, Ward ME, Hopkins MA, Nichols CA. Multifactorial analysis of firearm wounds to the head with attention to anatomic location. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1999;20:109–15.

Clark MA, Micik W. Confusing wounds of entrance and exit with an unusual weapon. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1984;5:75–8.

Cunliffe CH, Denton JS. An atypical gunshot wound from a home-made zip gun – the value of a thorough scene investigation. J Forensic Sci. 2008;53:216–8.

DiMaio VJM. Gunshot wounds. 2nd ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 1999.

Dodd MJ. Terminal ballistics – a text and atlas of gunshot wounds. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis; 2006.

Hartwig S, Tsokos M, Byard RW. Black powder handgun deaths remain anuncommon event. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2009;30:350–3.

Hartwig S, Tsokos M, Schmidt S, Byard RW. Self-constructed shooting devices utilizing direct-impact firing pins – (suicide machines). Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2010;31:192–4.

Jacob B, Huckenbeck W, Daldrup T, Haarhoff K, Bonte W. Suicides by starter’s pistols and air guns. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1990;11:285–90.

Juvin B, Brion F, Teissiere F, Durigon M. Prolonged activity after an ultimately fatal gunshot wound to the heart: case report. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1999;20:10–2.

Karger B, Kneubuehl BP. On the physics of momentum in ballistics: can the human body be displaced or knocked down by a small arms projectile? Int J Leg Med. 1996;109:147–9.

Kury G, Weiner J, Duval JV. Multiple self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head: report of a case and review of the literature. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2000;21:32–5.

Molina DK, Wood LE, DiMaio VJM. Shotgun wounds: a review of range and location as pertaining to manner of death. Am J Forensic Med Pathol.

[Faline]

excellente

[Ed Gein]

Excellent post as usual

[Airbornemama]

Very nice post G!!! I used to make round's(load bullet's at home) for A 357 mag. They also shoot 38 round's!!

[bode5997]

awesome

[Billthegravedigger]

Originally Posted by Softballmama13 ↗

Very nice post G!!! I used to make round's(load bullet's at home) for A 357 mag. They also shoot 38 round's!!

Yes they do, you can also fire a .380 round through a 9mm gun, but can't fire a 9mm round through a .380 gun, at least not the one I have. The 9mm round is too long and will not let the breach close.

[Billthegravedigger]

Great post man, that will explain a lot to people.

[shelbster]

Fuckin sick post some first 48 shit there

[wolfie]

A+

[SeaBolt]

Great post, thanks