Firearms 2

Wound Characteristics

Smooth Bore Weapons

The mass of shot leaves the weapon initially as a solid mass, which progressively diverges with increasing distance from the weapon.

Standard 'cylinder' barrels of double barreled shotguns allow greater shot divergence than those with 'choke' barrels, which tend to constrict divergence.

Contact Wounds

When a weapon is fired, the bullet, hot gases from exploding gun powder and metal fragments from the bullet and the gun barrel are propelled out of the muzzle at the same time.

In contact range wounds, the hot gases and particulate matter are blasted into the body at the same time as the bullet. The hot gases char the tissues, and the gun powder and metal fragments are deposited along the wound track or on the skin surface.

Contact wounds over bony supported skin can give rise to a stellate or lacerated appearance, due to the expansion and tearing of tissues by gases being blown into the wound.

Clothing, body and head hair should all be examined for evidence of singing and stippling etc, to assit in the interpretation of wounds, and for the estimation of range of fire.

General Features of Contact Wounds

	round or oval central defect with an 'abrasion collar' (where the bullet has abraded the skin surface as it passes through it). The size of the defect is comparable to the size of the muzzle opening or bore of the weapon
	circular bruise over the skin due to muzzle impact
	blast injury from muzzle gases (stellate tearing of the skin where there is an underlying bony support, eg the skull)
	'pink/red' staining of the skin (due to carbon monoxide laden gases producing carboxyhaemoglobin)
	gun powder blackening of the wound edges and surrounding skin (from soot and unburned propellant gases).
	burning of skin and singing of hairs

Near Contact

	a larger central defect with 'stippling'. ('Stippling' or 'tatooing' is the presence of small, dry, reddish orange abrasions caused by unburned powder and small metal fragments striking and abrading the skin)
	a petal shaped, or rectangular shaped abrasion may be seen if plastic shot cups have been used, or if the wadding has struck the surrounding skin (the wad may be projected by up to 4-6 feet from the weapon)

Shots from Increasing Distance

	a large central hole with scalloped margins
	smaller satellite defects due to individual pellets striking the skin and penetrating it (each defect has an abrasion collar)
	an increasingly smaller central defect as the distance increases
	a shot fired from over 2 feet from the victim is unlikely to cause stippling

Accurate estimations of the range of fire of a weapon can only be made following test firing of the suspect weapon, loaded with the same type of ammunition, at different distances, and then comparing the pattern produced by the test fire with that seen on the body.

Histological examination of the wound may reveal singing of hairs, powder stippling and soot blackening, assisting the pathologist in the estimation of firing distance.

Contact (Close Range) Gunshot Wounds

The following links are to colour photos on the WebPath site that illustrate contact gunshot wounds ...

Contact Gunshot Wound - the barrel has contacted the skin, and the gases released have passed into the subcutaneous tissues, causing the stellate shaped laceration. There is also some grey/black discolouration and a faint abrasion ring.

Contact Gunshot Wound - an abrasion ring forms when the force of the gases entering below the skin blow the skin surface back against the gun muzzle.

Contact Gunshot Wound - an abrasion ring is clearly seen as well as a clear muzzle imprint.

Contact Gunshot Wound - this entrance wound has a grey/black discolouration from burned powder.

Contact Gunshot Wound - this skull shows a contact range wound/ defect heavily stained with soot. There are radiating fracture lines indicating that the direction of fire was into the picture.

Summary Diagram of skin appearances (top) and bone defects (bottom) - illustrating skull bevelling out away from the direction of the bullet.

Histology of Contact Wound - entrance wound on skin with black gunshot residue and coagulative necrosis.

Intermediate Range Gunshot Wounds

Again, the following references are to photos on the WebPath site ...

Intermediate Range Gunshot Wound - powder tatooing. The wound is irregular due to the bullet tumbling in flight.

Intermediate Gunshot Wound - powder tatooing

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