Customer Reviews

Handbook of Firearms and Ballistics: Examining and Interpreting Forensic Evidence

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4 star:		(2)
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Very well written, easy to read, simple clear pictures. First third of the book talks about general knowledge of firearms, ammunition and ballistics. How they work, types, nomenclature, etc. If you are firearms enthusiast or you work with firearms this part does not give you to much new information. If you looking to get more knowledge about forensic ballistic the rest two thirds are more interesting. This book should be excellent for lawyers, police officers, judges and for anybody who needs to know more about this topic. Only one complaint: Too expensive for the info in this book. For about $120 you can get 3 or 4 books with much more information. Like example Firearms Investigation Identification and Evidence written by Hatcher, Jury and Weller.

This book is a concise and incisive overview of the operation of various firearms and the testing procedures used to properly identify and match firearms to spent cartridges. It is written in an easy and effective style and is of use to the criminal practitioner engaged in the felony trials.

I really like this book a lot. It's hard to cover all the information with forensic firearms and ballistics in one book. Forensics is where law meets science, you follow the evidence with scientific methods and let the evidence speak. This book will give you all the tools to understand the process. Some areas are completely covered; serial number restoration, gunshot residue examination(GSR),test firing, accidental discharge, trajectory, how to determine range/distance firing, ballistics and firearm examination process. The explanations, terms and nomenclature are all given in a easy to understand way. The areas not covered in detail are trade names, proof markings and the whole identification process(make, model and year of manufactured through markings), I believe its better covered in other reference books. This book gives a great overview on the whole process of identification. If you're looking for serial number restoration, which there is not much published on the subject, this book covers all current methods used. In order to get all the hands on information and training in this book, you would have to work in a forensic firearms lab.