Development of firing pin and breech face impression on lead and plasticine surfaces- a case report

Background The microscopic examination of fired cartridge cases and fired bullets helps the expert to determine if a suspect firearm/firearms were, or were not, discharged in a shooting incident. This is achieved by using a combination of class and individual characteristics. But in case of malfunctioning of firearm, experts have to adopt different methods to link fired cartridge cases and fired bullets with the suspected firearm. Case presentation In this paper, a new method for the reproduction of the firing pin and breech face impression on two different surfaces are reported. Two chosen surfaces are plasticine and lead metal. Conclusions The surface of the lead being soft and brittle reproduced the impression with maximum detail. Five match points were seen on the lead surface with clear demarcation whereas only three points of individual characteristics marks were observed on plasticine surface.