THE EFFECT OF BARREL LENGTH ON PELLET DISPERSION AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN DETERMINATION OF RANGE OF FIRE

Year 2012, Volume: 26 Issue: 2, 62 - 66, 31.08.2012

Adnan Çelikel Yasemin Balcı Bülent Üner Cengiz Bal

https://izlik.org/JA63KE56DL

Abstract

Objective:
An important issue in need of investigation is the determination of
the shooting range in cases of death and injury that occur through
the use of firearms. In shotgun injuries, in distances beyond which
the residue of gunpowder cannot
reach, the dispersion of pellets on
the target is used to determine the
firing distance. In shotgun injuries
with a long discharge range, the
dispersion of shot on the target is
also used to determine the firing
distance. Nonetheless, there are
a number of factors that affect
the size of the shot pattern, such
as barrel length, shot size, degree
of choking, type of wadding and
environmental conditions. It is important to consider these factors
when determining the range.
In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of barrel length on
the dispersion of shot.
Methods:
With this aim, we fired at linen
targets from nine different distances using a non- choked 12
gauge shotgun with a 70 cm barrel using cartridges containing 3.5
and 7.5 mm pellets. We repeated
all the discharges after altering
the shotgun barrel length to 45
cm and 20 cm.
Results:
When we compared the obtained
dispersion of shot according to the
length of the barrel, the dispersion of shot from the 45 cm barrel
was no more than that from the 70
cm barrel and this difference was
variable statistically. The dispersion of shot with the 20 cm barrel
was more than that with the 70
cm and 45 cm barrels, and when
the firing distance was above 100
cm, the variance on dispersion of
the shot was more marked.
Conclusion:
We came to the conclusion that
the difference in the dispersion of
shot is more marked with a distinctly shortened length of barrel

Keywords

Firearms , Shotguns , Forensic ballistic

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