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H
andguns and rifles fire ammunition or cartridges
composed of a primer, gunpowder or propellant,
and a bullet or projectile. When the firing pin of a
weapon strikes the primer, the resulting explosion
ignites the gunpowder. Gunpowder, vaporized primer,
and metal from a gun may be deposited on skin and/or
clothing of the victim. The presence and location of
primer elements on the hands help to indicate who may
have fired the weapon in question.
Gunpowder comes out of the muzzle in two forms.
1. Completely burned gunpowder, called “soot” or
“fouling,” can be washed off the skin.
2. Particles of burning and unburned powder can
become embedded in the skin or bounce off and
abrade the skin. The marks on the skin are called
“tattooing” or “stippling.”
The presence or absence of gunpowder on the clothing
or skin indicates whether the gunshot was contact (loose
or tight), close, intermediate, or distant.
Tight contact — All gunpowder residue is on the
edges or in the depths of a wound. There may be
searing or burning of wound margins, or redden-
ing of surrounding skin due to carbon monoxide
gas produced by burning powder. There is often
tearing of the skin around the entrance wound
(especially in head wounds) because of pressure
buildup and blow-back of the skin toward the
muzzle.
Loose contact — Gunpowder may escape from the
barrel and be deposited around the edges of a
wound.
Close range — Close range gunshot wounds occur
at muzzle-to-target distances of approximately
6–12”. Both fouling and stippling are present.
Intermediate range — These wounds occur at
muzzle-to-target distances of approximately 12”
to 3’. There is no fouling, only stippling or depo-
sition of particles on clothing.
Distant wounds — No fouling or stippling.
The amount of gunpowder emanating from the muzzle
is different among weapons and the same weapon with
different ammunition. A particular gun in question
must be test-fired with the same ammunition if accurate
comparisons are to be made.
Entrance and exit wounds are generally easy to differen-
tiate. Entrance wounds tend to be circular defects with a
thin rim of abrasion caused by a bullet scraping and
perforating the skin. Entrance wounds of the face can be
quite atypical appearing because the surfaces are not
flat.
Exit wounds may be circular like entrance wounds, but
they are more often irregular in shape. They may be slit-
like or have ragged edges. They do not have a rim of
abrasion like entrance wounds unless a victim’s skin is
pressed against another object. This is called a “shored”
exit wound. Skin around an exit wound may also be dis-
colored because of underlying bleeding in the soft
tissues.
The scene must be examined for bullets and cartridges.
Bullets may be under the body or caught in clothing
after exiting the body.
Chapter 6
66
FIREARMS
(HANDGUNS AND RIFLES)
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