Forensic Ballistics Questions and Answers

Q: Which of the following is correct related to the effect of Rifling ?(i) Increase the stability(ii) Increase the accuracy(iii) Increase the effective range(iv) Decrease the effective range

The correct effects are (i), (ii) and (iii).Rifling, the spiral grooves in a barrel, spins the bullet. The spin gives it gyroscopic stability, so it does not tumble (i); a stable bullet flies truer, increasing accuracy (ii); and because it keeps its point forward and loses less energy, its effective range increases (iii).Statement (iv), that rifling decreases the effective range, contradicts (iii), so the option including all four cannot be right, and the options with only two statements leave out a true effect.

Q: Smokeless Powder came into existence after :

Smokeless powder came into existence after 1886.The French chemist Paul Vieille developed Poudre B, the first practical smokeless powder, based on nitrocellulose, in 1884, and the French army adopted it in 1886 for the Lebel rifle. It burned with little smoke and gave far higher velocities than black powder.1800 is long before nitrocellulose was discovered, and 1900 and 1950 are too late: smokeless powder had replaced black powder in military use by the 1890s.

Q: Which of the following slugs is having the deep depression in the base which places the centre of mass very near the tip of the slug ?

The slug with a deep hollow base is the Foster slug.Designed by Karl Foster in the 1930s, it has a deep cavity in the base, so most of its weight is in the nose. Like a shuttlecock, it flies nose-forward and stays stable even from a smooth-bore shotgun.The Brenneke slug has a solid body with an attached wad at the back for stability, and a sabot slug is a narrower projectile in a plastic carrier for rifled barrels. 'Halton slug' is not a standard type.

Q: Core of the Bullet is made up of :

The core of a bullet is made of lead.Lead is dense, cheap and soft, so a lead core gives the bullet weight (and therefore momentum) while allowing it to take the rifling. In jacketed bullets the lead core is covered with a copper or gilding-metal jacket; some cores are hardened with antimony.Aluminium is too light for a core, and cobalt and nickel are not used for bullet cores, although nickel may appear in jacket plating. Special armour-piercing bullets use steel or tungsten cores, but the ordinary core is lead.

Q: Assertion : The "maximum effective range" of bullet is often easy to quantify.Reason : It depends on various factors such as bullet weight, velocity, bullet diameter and bullet placement.

Assertion is false but Reason is true.The maximum effective range of a bullet, the farthest distance at which it can still reliably cause the intended effect, is hard to state as a single figure. It depends on many things: bullet weight, velocity, diameter and construction, where the bullet strikes, and conditions such as wind and elevation. That is what the reason says.Because so many factors are involved, the assertion that the range is 'often easy to quantify' is false, while the reason is true.

Q: DRUGFIRE is an automated search system for :

DRUGFIRE is an automated search system for firearms evidence.Despite its name, DRUGFIRE was the FBI's computer imaging system of the 1990s for comparing marks on fired cartridge cases and bullets, so that crimes committed with the same gun could be linked. It was later merged with the ATF's IBIS into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN).The name ('drug' and 'fire') suggests drugs, which is the trap; it has nothing to do with narcotic, psychotropic or medicinal drugs.

Q: Walker test is used to trace :

The Walker test is used to trace nitrites.Developed by J.T. Walker in 1940, the test transfers gunshot residue from clothing around a bullet hole onto desensitised photographic paper treated with a Griess reagent. Nitrite particles from burnt powder show up as orange-red spots, whose spread helps estimate the firing distance.Nitrates, sulphates and carbonates are not what the Walker test detects; nitrates were the target of the old, unreliable dermal nitrate (paraffin) test.

Q: The distance travelled by the Firearm discharge in chronological order is :

The order is Burning, Charring, Blackening and Tattooing.Each component of a firearm discharge travels a different distance from the muzzle. The flame travels least, so burning of skin and singeing of hair appear only at contact or very close range. Hot gases reach a little farther and char clothing and skin. Smoke, made of fine soot particles, travels farther and is deposited as blackening. Unburnt and partly burnt powder grains are heaviest and travel farthest, embedding in the skin as tattooing.So the effects, in increasing distance, are burning, charring, blackening and tattooing, which is how range of fire is estimated from a wound. Every other option puts tattooing or blackening before burning, which reverses the physics.

Q: In which of the following weapons, iron pyrite was used as ignitor ?

Iron pyrite was used in the wheel lock gun.The wheel lock, developed in the early sixteenth century, had a spring-loaded serrated steel wheel that spun against a piece of iron pyrite held in the jaws of the cock. The sparks ignited the priming powder in the pan. It was the first self-igniting firearm mechanism.The matchlock used a slow-burning match cord, the flintlock struck flint against a steel frizzen, and the percussion lock fired a percussion cap containing a shock-sensitive compound. None of them used pyrite.

Q: Which of the following tests is used to detect the presence of Nitrates in Gunshot Residue ?

The test is the modified Griess test.Smokeless powder is based on nitrocellulose, and its burning leaves nitrite residues around a bullet hole. In the modified Griess test, a desensitised photographic paper treated with sulphanilic acid and alpha-naphthol is pressed against the target with acetic acid; nitrite particles produce orange spots. The pattern of spots shows the distribution of gunshot residue and helps estimate range.The Harrison-Gilroy test detects the metals lead, barium and antimony from the primer. The dithiooxamide test detects copper (and nickel) from bullet jackets, and Scott's test is a colour test for cocaine.

31.

Which of the following is correct related to the effect of Rifling ?

(i) Increase the stability
(ii) Increase the accuracy
(iii) Increase the effective range
(iv) Decrease the effective range

A.(i) & (ii) are correct
B.(i) & (iii) are correct
C.(i), (ii) & (iii) are correct
D.(i), (ii), (iii) & (iv) are correct.

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2023, SET Exam - 2023,

Answer: C

The correct effects are (i), (ii) and (iii).

Rifling, the spiral grooves in a barrel, spins the bullet. The spin gives it gyroscopic stability, so it does not tumble (i); a stable bullet flies truer, increasing accuracy (ii); and because it keeps its point forward and loses less energy, its effective range increases (iii).

Statement (iv), that rifling decreases the effective range, contradicts (iii), so the option including all four cannot be right, and the options with only two statements leave out a true effect.

Discuss in Forum

32.

Smokeless Powder came into existence after :

A.1800
B.1886
C.1900
D.1950

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2023, SET Exam - 2023,

Answer: B

Smokeless powder came into existence after 1886.

The French chemist Paul Vieille developed Poudre B, the first practical smokeless powder, based on nitrocellulose, in 1884, and the French army adopted it in 1886 for the Lebel rifle. It burned with little smoke and gave far higher velocities than black powder.

1800 is long before nitrocellulose was discovered, and 1900 and 1950 are too late: smokeless powder had replaced black powder in military use by the 1890s.

Discuss in Forum

33.

Which of the following slugs is having the deep depression in the base which places the centre of mass very near the tip of the slug ?

A.Sabot slug
B.Foster slug
C.Brenneke slug
D.Halton slug

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2023, SET Exam - 2023,

Answer: B

The slug with a deep hollow base is the Foster slug.

Designed by Karl Foster in the 1930s, it has a deep cavity in the base, so most of its weight is in the nose. Like a shuttlecock, it flies nose-forward and stays stable even from a smooth-bore shotgun.

The Brenneke slug has a solid body with an attached wad at the back for stability, and a sabot slug is a narrower projectile in a plastic carrier for rifled barrels. 'Halton slug' is not a standard type.

Discuss in Forum

34.

Core of the Bullet is made up of :

A.Lead
B.Aluminium
C.Cobalt
D.Nickel

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2023, SET Exam - 2023,

Answer: A

The core of a bullet is made of lead.

Lead is dense, cheap and soft, so a lead core gives the bullet weight (and therefore momentum) while allowing it to take the rifling. In jacketed bullets the lead core is covered with a copper or gilding-metal jacket; some cores are hardened with antimony.

Aluminium is too light for a core, and cobalt and nickel are not used for bullet cores, although nickel may appear in jacket plating. Special armour-piercing bullets use steel or tungsten cores, but the ordinary core is lead.

Discuss in Forum

35.

Assertion : The "maximum effective range" of bullet is often easy to quantify.
Reason : It depends on various factors such as bullet weight, velocity, bullet diameter and bullet placement.

A.Both Assertion and Reason are true
B.Assertion is true but Reason is false
C.Assertion is false but Reason is true
D.Both Assertion and Reason are false.

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2023, SET Exam - 2023,

Answer: C

Assertion is false but Reason is true.

The maximum effective range of a bullet, the farthest distance at which it can still reliably cause the intended effect, is hard to state as a single figure. It depends on many things: bullet weight, velocity, diameter and construction, where the bullet strikes, and conditions such as wind and elevation. That is what the reason says.

Because so many factors are involved, the assertion that the range is 'often easy to quantify' is false, while the reason is true.

Discuss in Forum

36.

DRUGFIRE is an automated search system for :

A.Firearms evidence
B.Narcotic drugs
C.Psychotropic substances
D.Medicinal drugs

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2023, SET Exam - 2023,

Answer: A

DRUGFIRE is an automated search system for firearms evidence.

Despite its name, DRUGFIRE was the FBI's computer imaging system of the 1990s for comparing marks on fired cartridge cases and bullets, so that crimes committed with the same gun could be linked. It was later merged with the ATF's IBIS into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN).

The name ('drug' and 'fire') suggests drugs, which is the trap; it has nothing to do with narcotic, psychotropic or medicinal drugs.

Discuss in Forum

37.

Walker test is used to trace :

A.Nitrite
B.Nitrate
C.Sulphate
D.Carbonate

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2023, SET Exam - 2023,

Answer: A

The Walker test is used to trace nitrites.

Developed by J.T. Walker in 1940, the test transfers gunshot residue from clothing around a bullet hole onto desensitised photographic paper treated with a Griess reagent. Nitrite particles from burnt powder show up as orange-red spots, whose spread helps estimate the firing distance.

Nitrates, sulphates and carbonates are not what the Walker test detects; nitrates were the target of the old, unreliable dermal nitrate (paraffin) test.

Discuss in Forum

38.

The distance travelled by the Firearm discharge in chronological order is :

A.Charring, Blackening, Burning and Tattooing
B.Burning, Charring, Blackening and Tattooing
C.Blackening, Charring, Tattooing and Burning
D.Tattooing, Charring, Blackening and Burning

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2024, SET Exam - 2024,

Answer: B

The order is Burning, Charring, Blackening and Tattooing.

Each component of a firearm discharge travels a different distance from the muzzle. The flame travels least, so burning of skin and singeing of hair appear only at contact or very close range. Hot gases reach a little farther and char clothing and skin. Smoke, made of fine soot particles, travels farther and is deposited as blackening. Unburnt and partly burnt powder grains are heaviest and travel farthest, embedding in the skin as tattooing.

So the effects, in increasing distance, are burning, charring, blackening and tattooing, which is how range of fire is estimated from a wound. Every other option puts tattooing or blackening before burning, which reverses the physics.

Discuss in Forum

39.

In which of the following weapons, iron pyrite was used as ignitor ?

A.Percussion lock gun
B.Flint lock gun
C.Wheel lock gun
D.Match lock gun

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2024, SET Exam - 2024,

Answer: C

Iron pyrite was used in the wheel lock gun.

The wheel lock, developed in the early sixteenth century, had a spring-loaded serrated steel wheel that spun against a piece of iron pyrite held in the jaws of the cock. The sparks ignited the priming powder in the pan. It was the first self-igniting firearm mechanism.

The matchlock used a slow-burning match cord, the flintlock struck flint against a steel frizzen, and the percussion lock fired a percussion cap containing a shock-sensitive compound. None of them used pyrite.

Discuss in Forum

40.

Which of the following tests is used to detect the presence of Nitrates in Gunshot Residue ?

A.Harrison-Gilroy test
B.Scott test
C.Dithiooxamide test
D.Modified Griess test

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2024, SET Exam - 2024,

Answer: D

The test is the modified Griess test.

Smokeless powder is based on nitrocellulose, and its burning leaves nitrite residues around a bullet hole. In the modified Griess test, a desensitised photographic paper treated with sulphanilic acid and alpha-naphthol is pressed against the target with acetic acid; nitrite particles produce orange spots. The pattern of spots shows the distribution of gunshot residue and helps estimate range.

The Harrison-Gilroy test detects the metals lead, barium and antimony from the primer. The dithiooxamide test detects copper (and nickel) from bullet jackets, and Scott's test is a colour test for cocaine.

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