International journal of legal medicine
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Review Comparative Study
Damage to apparel layers and underlying tissue due to hand-gun bullets.
Ballistic damage to the clothing of victims of gunshot wounds to the chest can provide useful forensic evidence. Anyone shot in the torso will usually be wearing clothing which will be damaged by the penetrating impact event and can reportedly be the source of some of the debris in the wound. Minimal research has previously been reported regarding the effect of bullets on apparel fabrics and underlying tissue. ⋯ That fabric coverings did not affect the amount of bony debris produced is interesting, particularly given there was some evidence that apparel layers affected the size of the wound. Recent work has suggested that denim (representative of jeans) can exacerbate wounding caused by high-velocity bullet impacts to the thigh when the bullet does not impact the femur. That more bony debris was caused by Remington R357M3 rather than 9 mm FMJ ammunition was not surprising given the relative constructions of these two bullets, and is of interest to medical practitioners.