Evidence recovery from the post impact characterization of a Full Metal Jacket 9 mm Parabellum bullet

Abstract
We demonstrate here how the shooting distance of a 9 mm Parabellum FMJ bullet (115 gr) has been estimated both via shooting experiments and computer simulation. A 9 mm bullet was found by investigators near a concrete wall, fairly distorted at its tip. The bullet carries no evidence of multiple impact and no evidence of ballistic impact on the wall has been reported. We estimated the impact velocity by comparing the questioned bullet with a set of comparison bullets hitting a wall (rigid target) with different velocities. These comparison bullets were obtained both by experimental and numerical means. The estimated velocities (experimental velocity and numerical velocity) exhibit a very good concordance. The shooting distance was recovered from the impact velocity by studying the typical behaviour of a manufactured 9 mm bullet weighting 115 grains (7,45g), shot in pistol or a sub machine gun. The results demonstrated that the questioned bullet was a lost bullet. The shooting distance also helped the investigators, narrowing the range of the estimated positions of the shooter.