Ejection patterns of shot residues made from 9 mm Parabellum gun, 9 mm short gun, .38 revolver and 7.62 mm Cetme rifle

In firearm shot combustion primary residues are first expelled, which form a distal cloud, followed by the bullet accompanied by secondary residues and finally the rest of the combustion residues or the tertiary residues. The secondary residues are expelled in high amounts and very dark concentrated soiling is deposited on the target. The distal cloud forms dispersed, light or blurred soiling. Depending on the distance and taking into account the characteristics of the shot residues, we estimate that the distances can be calculated sub-classifying them into: contact wound shots; shots at close range with dense or clustered soiling; shots at close range with medium concentration soiling; shots at close range with blurred or low density soiling; shots at close range with gunpowder tattoo; and short and long distance shots.