Firearms Analysis
Firearms and Toolmark Identification
Firearms analysis is a “discipline mainly concerned with determining whether a bullet or cartridge was fired by a particular weapon”. (Saferstein) Its beginnings can be traced back over one thousand years ago to around 1040 A.D. In China, Tseng Kung-Liang published the first recipes for three types of gun powder, which were made through a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrite. (Hellemans and Bunch, 75) These basic elements are important because modern powder is simply a refined version of the primitive substance and is standardized enough that gunpowder residue can be analyzed by methods which identify specific components. (Klatt)
There is no official date and place of origin for the invention of the gun, however it is known that the continual catalyst for the development of firearms is and has always been military usage. The important needs, militarily speaking, for a firearm included the following: reliability of firing, accuracy of projectile, force of projectile, and speed of firing. (Klatt) The refinement of these various elements throughout time has proved to be very beneficial for forensic firearms examiners because of the increased degree of accuracy to which they can identify a firearm with its ammunition.
Arguably, since the invention of firearms there have been firearms related examinations that can be linked to the modern day science. However, the earliest noted incidence of actual firearms identification occurred in 1835 in the City of London, England. A homeowner was shot and killed and the servant was suspected of the crime. A man named Henry Goddard, a Bow Street Runner (an early police force within the City of London), investigated the case. Goddard was able to identify the mold mark — the mold is used to manufacture lead balls from molten lead — on the fired projectile ball. He also examined the paper patch — the paper patch provides a seal between the ball and gunpowder in blackpowder
Firearms analysis is a “discipline mainly concerned with determining whether a bullet or cartridge was fired by a particular weapon”. (Saferstein) Its beginnings can be traced back over one thousand years ago to around 1040 A.D. In China, Tseng Kung-Liang published the first recipes for three types of gun powder, which were made through a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrite. (Hellemans and Bunch, 75) These basic elements are important because modern powder is simply a refined version of the primitive substance and is standardized enough that gunpowder residue can be analyzed by methods which identify specific components. (Klatt)
There is no official date and place of origin for the invention of the gun, however it is known that the continual catalyst for the development of firearms is and has always been military usage. The important needs, militarily speaking, for a firearm included the following: reliability of firing, accuracy of projectile, force of projectile, and speed of firing. (Klatt) The refinement of these various elements throughout time has proved to be very beneficial for forensic firearms examiners because of the increased degree of accuracy to which they can identify a firearm with its ammunition.
Arguably, since the invention of firearms there have been firearms related examinations that can be linked to the modern day science. However, the earliest noted incidence of actual firearms identification occurred in 1835 in the City of London, England. A homeowner was shot and killed and the servant was suspected of the crime. A man named Henry Goddard, a Bow Street Runner (an early police force within the City of London), investigated the case. Goddard was able to identify the mold mark — the mold is used to manufacture lead balls from molten lead — on the fired projectile ball. He also examined the paper patch — the paper patch provides a seal between the ball and gunpowder in blackpowder