Definition

Noun: * The forensic identification of a firearm: The process of identifying the specific gun that fired a bullet or cartridge case by analyzing the unique, microscopic marks left on them by the gun's barrel and firing mechanism.

Usage

• Bullet fingerprinting is a crucial technique in forensic science for linking a weapon to a crime scene.
• The detective explained that bullet fingerprinting of the recovered shell casings could identify the murder weapon.
• Advances in technology have made bullet fingerprinting more precise and reliable.

Advanced Usage

• "To perform bullet fingerprinting": To conduct the specific forensic analysis.
  • The lab was asked to perform bullet fingerprinting on the evidence.
• "Subject to bullet fingerprinting": Describing evidence that undergoes this process.
  • All firearms evidence was subject to bullet fingerprinting.

Variants and Related Words

• Ballistic fingerprinting (n): A synonymous term for bullet fingerprinting.
• Firearm identification (n): The broader field of study that includes bullet fingerprinting.
• Toolmark analysis (n): The forensic discipline of analyzing marks left by tools, which includes the marks from firearms.

Synonyms

• Ballistics identification
• Firearm toolmark examination

Related Concepts (Not Phrasal Verbs or Idioms)

• Striations (n): The microscopic parallel lines engraved on a bullet's surface by the rifling in a gun barrel, which are compared during bullet fingerprinting.
• Breech face marks (n): Impressions left on the base of a cartridge case by the rear surface of the gun's firing chamber.
• Firing pin impression (n): The mark left on the primer of a cartridge case by the gun's firing pin.

Noun

1. identification of the gun that fired a bullet from an analysis of the unique marks that every gun makes on the bullet it fires and on the shell ejected from it