Effect of Shortening the Barrel in Contact Shots from Rifles and Shotguns
![handle is hein.journals/injlegame122 and id is 81 raw text is: Int J Legal Med (2008) 122:81-85
DOI 10.1007/s00414-007-0161-y
TECHl NICAL NOTE
Effect of shortening the barrel in contact shots from rifles
and shotguns
M. Grofie Perdekamp - B. Vennemann-
B. P. Kneubuehl M. Uhl M. Treier - R. Braunwarth-
S. Pollak
Received: 27 November 2006 /Accepted: 13 February 2007 / Published online: 8 March 2007
C Springer-Verlag 2007
Abstract In a suicidal gunshot fired to the chest from a
carbine, the barrel of which had been shortened to half its
original length, an unexpectedly large degree of destruction
of the anterior thoracic wall with extensive undermining of
the subcutis was found. This phenomenon was investigated
for reconstructive purposes by firing test shots from two
different long guns (caliber 7.92x57 repeating rifle with
full-jacketed pointed bullet and caliber 12/70 single-
barreled shotgun with shotgun slug) into blocks of soap
(38 x 25 x 25 cm). The contact shots were fired before and
after shortening the barrels (repeating rifle from 60 to
30 cm and single-barreled shotgun from 72 to 36 cm). The
volume of the cavities in the simulant was visualized three-
dimensionally with the help of a multislice computed
tomography (CT) scanner and calculated sectionally. With
the repeating rifle and the single-barreled shotgun, the shots
M. GroBe Perdekamp (E) - B. Vennemann - S. Pollak
Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Freiburg,
AlbertstraBe 9,
79104 Freiburg, Germany
e-mail: markus.perdekamp@uniklinik-freiburg.de
B. P. Kneubuehl
Armasuisse,
Feuerwerkerstrasse 39,
3602 Thun, Switzerland
M. Uhl - M. Treier
Department of Radiology, University Hospital Freiburg,
Hugstetter StraBe 55,
79106 Freiburg, Germany
R. Braunwarth
Kriminaltechnische Untersuchungsstelle
der Landespolizeidirektion Freiburg,
Berliner Allee 3a,
79114 Freiburg, Germany
from the sawed-off barrels produced significantly larger
cavity diameters in the first section of the bullet track. This
effect is attributable to the fact that, with a shortened barrel,
the gas pressure at the muzzle is higher, thus, leading to
increased expansion in the initial part of the wound track in
contact shots.
Keywords Contact shot . Shortened barrel - Rifle . Shotgun.
Computed tomography
Introduction
Long guns with shortened barrels are mostly used in
connection with criminal offences. Especially, shotguns
are shortened for criminal purposes to make it easier to
carry them unnoticed [1-3]. In contrast, suicidal acts are
rarely committed with shortened long guns. When investi-
gating a suicide of this type, it could be demonstrated that a
contact shot from a sawed-off barrel may cause atypical
findings in the gunshot entrance region [4]. In the reported
gunshot to the chest, several abnormalities were found:
- An unusually large stellate entrance wound,
- An oversized powder cavity with extensive under-
mining of the subcutis and destruction of corre-
sponding parts of the precordial thoracic wall,
- A perforation of the skin near the entrance wound
caused by a rib fragment displaced contrary to the
direction of the shot, and
- A disproportionately small exit hole.
For experimental investigation of this phenomenon,
comparative test shots with two different weapons were
fired to blocks of soap (before and after shortening the
barrel).
'_i Springer](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/injlegame122&div=17&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Effect of Shortening the Barrel in Contact Shots from Rifles and Shotguns
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