Firearms and Toolmarks Flashcards
Ballistics
The study of an object in flight
Firearms divided into two types
Handguns and shoulder firearms
Two major types of handguns
Revolvers and pistols
How do semiautomatic pistols load a live round into the firing chamber?
Energy of the recoil and the sliding of the breech block, or the recoil of the cartridge to expel the empty cartridge
Springs in the magazine store energy and expend it
Types of shoulder firearms
Rifles, automatic rifles, machine guns, shotguns
Lands (firearms)
Ridges that spiral the length of the barrel
Grooves (firearms)
Valleys that spiral the length of the barrel
Rifled
Referring to the interior of a firearm barrel, the existence of spiraling lands and grooves
Not present in shotguns
Why are barrels rifled?
Spins the bullet and creates a stable flightpath
Bore diameter
Diameter of the internal side of the barrel that touches the tops of the lands
Choke
The measure of construction of a shotgun barrel, intended to group the pellets and product a tighter pattern at impact
Gauge
The size of a shotgun barrel
Equal to the number of lead balls with the same diameter as the barrel that would weight 1 pound
3 parts of the ammunition
Projectile(s), propellant (fuel), and a primer (to light the fuel)
The first propellant used in firearms
Black powder
Firing pin impression
The mark made by the firing pin as it strikes the primer cap
