AFTE Store - A Stable Reagent for Nitrate / Nitrite Detection and the Verification of Suspected

Trained and experienced firearms examiners have little difficulty in correctly recognizing unconsumed and even partially consumed powder particles. These may be recovered from fired cartridge cases, the bore of a firearm, the clothing of an individual involved in a shooting event, or a surface near to the muzzle of a firearm when a shot was fired. This is a consequence of the characteristic and often unique morphology of such particles in those situations where the original appearance of the propellant particles has survived the discharge process. However, other particles may be better described as potential, or possible gunpowder particle due to a lack of explicit recognizable morphology. Just as thorough shooting scene reconstructionists may choose to employ the chemistry of the dithiooxamide, 2-nitroso-1-naphthol, or sodium rhodizonate tests for bullet metals at suspected impact sites, an investigator may opt to use the chemical reagent described here in order to provide a simple, and highly sensitive means of verifying particles as nitrate or nitrite bearing.