Assessing the shooting distance of lead-free ammunition regardless of composition using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
Alicia Doña-Fernández, Jose Antonio Rodriguez-Pascual, Israel de Andres-Gimeno, Esperanza Gutiérrez-Redomero, Eduardo Valtuille-Fernández, Francisco Javier Gomez-Laina- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
- Anthropology
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous)
- Pathology and Forensic Medicine
- Analytical Chemistry
Abstract
At present, it is challenging to accurately determine firearm shooting distances in the case that lead-free ammunition is involved, largely because different manufacturers use different primer compositions. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) allows the simultaneous detection of multiple elements with high sensitivity and so may represent a solution to this problem. Previous studies have, in fact, demonstrated that LIBS can be used to determine shooting distances when working with gunshot residues from conventional ammunition based on scanning fabric surfaces. The present study confirms that the shooting distance can be ascertained using LIBS to detect copper originating from the ammunition casing and projectile but not the primer on fabric surfaces. This estimation can be performed regardless of the primer composition of lead-free ammunition.