An unusual characteristic "flower-like" pattern: flash suppressor burns.
The case on contact shots from firearms with a flash suppressor is rare. When a rifle fitted with a flash suppressor is fired, the emerging soot-laden gas in the barrel escapes from the slits of the flash suppressor. If the shot is contact or near contact, the flash suppressor will produce a characteristic "flower-like" pattern of seared, blackened zones around the entrance. This paper presents the injury pattern of the flash suppressor in a 29-year-old man who committed suicide with a G3 automatic infantry rifle.
Trakya University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Forensic Medicine, Edirne, Turkey.
Altun
A
Gurcan
contact shot; flash suppressor; infantry rifle; suicide