title: Forensic and clinical issues in the use of frangible projectile.
abstract: Frangible projectiles for firearms, which break apart on impact, are mainly used by law enforcement agencies for training purposes, but can also be used for police interventions. Apart from the usual absence of lead in the projectiles, the main advantage of using frangible projectiles is the reduced risk of ricochet after impact with a hard target. This article describes the design and function of frangible projectiles, and describes gunshot wounds caused by ultra-frangible projectiles which fragment after penetration of soft tissues. Shooting experiments performed by the authors confirmed that differences in the geometry and technology of frangible projectiles can significantly modify their wounding effects. Some frangible projectiles have minimal wounding effects because they remain compact after penetration of soft tissues, comparable to standard fully jacketed projectiles. However, a number of ultra-frangible projectiles disintegrate into very small fragments after impact with a soft tissue substitute. In shooting experiments, we found that the terminal behavior of selected ultra-frangible projectiles was similar in a block of ballistic gel and the soft tissues of the hind leg of a pig, except that the degree of disintegration was less in the gel.
authors.affiliation: University of Defence, Department of Weapons and Ammunition, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Komenda
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hejna
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rydlo
authors.forename: Miroslav
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Novák
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krajsa
authors.forename: František
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Racek
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rejtar
authors.forename: Luděk
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jedlička
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D005389:Firearms; D044709:Forensic Ballistics; D006801:Humans; D035846:Law Enforcement; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: Gunshot wound; Projectile fragmentation; Ultra-frangible projectiles; Wound ballistics; Wounding effect of projectile