Forensic evidence Studies
May 1997

Hollowpoint and other deformed bullets trap pieces of what they've penetrated. In interpreting bullets such as the one shown, one must remember the materials appear in the reverse order of the penetrations. On this bullet, the cloth was penetrated first, then the wooden object. When bullets penetrate objects the bullet's surface is frequently either marked by the texture of the material or object it penetrates.

Some bullet shapes tend to trap fragments of the penetrated material into the deformed area of the bullet body. This is particularly true with hollowpoint bullet designs, which tend to sever plugs of the penetrated materials. These severed materials are then jammed into the hollowpoint cavity. Such plugs of material are then further embedded into the body of the bullet as the nose area is mashed back and deformed.

The accompanying photographic examples demonstrate these principles and are color coded as follows:

• Green dot/line indicates layers of wood fibers.
• white dot/line indicates fibers from a loosely packed material like a pillow, or fluffy cotton pad.
• Red dot/line indicates fragments of body tissues adhered to the bullet.
• Yellow dot/line indicates bone fragments adhered to/embedded with the bullet body.
• Blue dot/line indicates woven fabric (shirt cloth) embedded into remainder of hollowpoint

 

There are adipose fat tissues adhered around the telltale center post which identifies this bullet as a Federal Hydra-Shok.
This bullet penetrated a human skull.
This bullet penetrated a a human rib.
This Winchester Black Talon has adipose fat adhered in the "talon".
This hollowpoint penetrated a blue uniform shirt and body tissues.
This bullet penetrated a bovine rib which was embedded in twenty pounds of swine shoulder tissues for performance testing.

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