Date of Award
Summer 8-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department/Program
Forensic Science
Language
English
First Advisor or Mentor
Peter Diaczuk
Second Reader
Patrick McLaughlin
Third Advisor
Andrew Winter
Abstract
Polymer coated bullets were designed to limit a shooter’s exposure to lead. However, despite the advantages that these bullets give there are still difficulties which arise in a forensic firearms examination. Unlike in a typical metal coated bullet, individualizing striations will typically not be imparted to a polymer coated bullet making it unable to be linked to a specific firearm. Due to this difficulty any information that can be gained at the scene of the crime could be crucial. Some obtainable information includes the angle of ricochet and the angle of incidence of the discharged bullet as well as traces from the polymer coating found at the impact mark. In this project the ricochet angle and angle of incidence were calculated using a trigonometric equation, and the velocity was also measured with a chronograph. The data was collected using 9 mm Luger Federal brand total synthetic jacket (TSJ) bullets and 9 mm Luger Federal brand full metal jacket (FMJ) bullets. The selected substrates were sheetrock®, sheet metal, and durock® cement boards. Upon the collection of the velocity data the TSJ bullets had a significantly lower average velocity (p-value of
Recommended Citation
Daly, Stephen, "Bullet Ricochet of Polymer Coated Bullets" (2021). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/jj_etds/195
Included in
Forensic Science and Technology Commons, Other Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons