title: Fatal firearm injuries caused by handmade weapons.
abstract: Six cases of accidental death caused by a shot from handmade or improvised firearms are described. Data were collected on incident, victim and special autopsy findings. In three cases the weapon used was a so-called 'pen gun' of small calibre (5.6 mm) and in two cases a home-made shotgun/muzzle loader with shotgun cartridge (containing 16 mm pellets) was used. In one case, the weapon was a shop-made gun with home-made ammunition. It is perhaps surprising that in the present war situation in Croatia, when all kinds of firearms are easily available, people continue to produce handmade weapons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, Clinical Hospital Split, Split, Croatia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Definis Gojanović