Current State of Firearms Analysis: Review of the Field Including

The purpose of this presentation is to provide the non-Firearms Examiner an introduction to the instrumentation typically found in the modern Firearms Unit. This will consist of an explanation of the types of measurements performed, how the data is collected, and what conclusions may be drawn from these measurements. To accomplish this, a brief description and history of the two main types of microscopes (stereomicroscope and comparison microscope) will be presented along with a discussion of the various measuring devices used in the section. Particular emphasis will be placed on the combinations of instrumentation used to measure the land and groove impressions found on fired bullets. The presentation will conclude with an explanation of firearms barrel length and overall length measurements along with a brief description of the application of measurement uncertainty to the collection and reporting of this data