Date of Award
Fall 12-1-2021
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
Firearms are commonly used by law enforcement, hunters, and civilians either for protection, sport or criminal activity. Ammunition is used in traditional firearms such as rifles and handguns, and consists of a cartridge case, propellant, a bullet (projectile), and primer. The two types of priming systems within the cartridge that are commonly used today are rimfire and centerfire cartridges. There are several types of malfunctions that can occur with ammunition. Improper ammunition storage is one major factor that plays a role in ammunition failure. One form of improper ammunition storage is where the storage environment being used abruptly changes due to an external liquid or solid material submerging the ammunition. As a result, ammunition failure and damage to the firearm may occur if used. This study observed how ammunition function is affected when it is improperly stored in the following materials: water, soil, Hoppe’s No. 9 Gun Bore Cleaning Solvent, and WD-40. This research showed that although there were distressed cartridges that fired successfully with an expected average velocity measurement obtained, the majority of the cartridges exhibited changes such as ammunition failure, low velocity, and anomaly velocity measurements. All of the distressing materials used had an adverse effect on the cartridges, with Hoppe’s No. 9 Gun Bore Cleaning Solvent being the most detrimental on all cartridge sets. These findings encourage future work to be done to observe any additional detrimental effects of improper ammunition storage in an external liquid or solid.
Recommended Citation
Andre, Victoria S., "Effects of Improper Ammunition Storage" (2021). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/jj_etds/213
