FORS 421 FORENSIC BALLISTICS
Scope of Arms Manufacturing Process; Barrel Making
A Firearms Examiner must be adequately familiar with the various steps in the
manufacture of a firearm to enable him to explain the source or cause of the different
markings found on a firearm’s evidence which may be the basis of his identification. There
should be a sound reason for all markings, scratches, or dents visible on firearms
evidence and the Firearms Examiner must determine how and why they were made and
likewise to interpret their importance both to himself and to the court of justice. Most of
these markings are transferred to the firearms evidence by deliberate or accidental
operations of the tools during the process of manufacture.
How the Barrel is Made
All barrels, regardless of the type of weapon for which they are made, are being
manufactured from a solid piece of metal. The metal is carefully selected for its chemical
and metallurgical structure, thus ensuring a high-quality product after the various machine
operations and heat treatment are completed.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A BARREL STEEL
1. Machinability – The ability of the steel to be easily cut and shaped.
2. Durability – The ability of the steel to last a long time.
3. Strength – The quality or state of being strong.
STEPS IN MAKING GUN BARREL
1. Drilling – is the first step and the most difficult among the process. A Special Deep-
Hole Drill is used through the center of which the lubricating oil is forced under
pressure. The interior surface at this stage bears numerous scars and scratches
resulting from the irregular cutting of the drill and the metal chips which mark the
finish.
2. Reaming – this is the next step to remove the scars and scratches left by the
drilling operations in the entire length. The reamer removes the metal from the
entire surface due to its size which is slightly larger in diameter than that of the
drill. In shotgun barrels that should have some degree of choke, a choke cutter or
reamer is used to finish the muzzle end. This completes the bore operations on a
shotgun. If the barrel is to be rifled, it is done employing several rifling methods.
FORS 421 FORENSIC BALLISTICS
3. Rifling Process- The rifling in the bore may be produced by one of the following
methods:
a. Broach Gang – a tool having a series of cutting edges of slightly increasing
height used to cut the spiral grooves in a barrel. All grooves are cut with a
single pass of the broach.
b. Broach Single – A non-adjustable rifling cutter that cuts all the grooves
simultaneously and is in a series of increasing dimensions until the desired
grooved depth is achieved
c. Button - a hardened metal plug called a “button” affixed to a long rod with
a rifled cross-section configuration. Similar to the broaching system the
“button” is pulled or pushed through the barrel and twisted only once forming
all spiral grooves to the desired depth and twist in a single pass.
d. Hook Cutter – A cutting tool that has a hook shape and only cuts one
groove at a time. Several passes are made through a groove, removing only
a little metal each time, until the desired groove depth is attained.
e. Scrape - A cutting tool that cuts two opposing grooves at a time. This
method is practically the same as the hook-cutter type, but it uses a different
form of cutting edge.
f. Swage (hammer forging) – An internal mandrel with a rifling configuration
which forms rifling in the barrel through external hammering.
g. ElectroChemical Rifling – is formed by wet-etching the interior part of the
barrel under an electric current which dissolves the metal to create grooves
in the barrel.
4. Lapping – This is the polishing operation in which a lead plug closely fitting the
inside of the barrel is drawn back and forth on a rod carrying with it a polishing
compound. This operation polishes both the land and groove areas of the barrel
and removes many of the larger imperfections resulting from the cutting operations.
5. Chambering Process – This is the final step in making a gun barrel. Chambering
or cutting away of the breech end of the barrel where the cartridge or shotgun shell
is to fit.
BREECHFACE MANUFACTURE
Another stage of firearm manufacturing that is very important in identifying the
firearm is the finishing operations on the breech face of the weapon. This is that portion
of the firearm from which the cartridge case and the primer are forced backward when a
cartridge is fired in the chamber. As this occurs, the base of the cartridge case will be
imprinted with the tool markings on the breech face of the firearm. This happens because
the base of the cartridge case is softer than the breech face of the firearm. “Therefore,
when the soft surface comes in contact with a hard surface under tremendous pressure,
it is the soft surface that is left or engraved with the tool mark from the hard surface. This
applies Edmond Locard's exchange principle, stating that whenever two objects come in
contact, a transfer of material occurs.