AFTE Store - Bore Lapping Compounds and Their Effect on Traditional Firearms Identification

Bore treatment products designed to improve the exterior ballistic performance of firearms were generally found to alter the bearing surfaces within the firearm’s bore to the extent that pre-treatment and post-treatment bullets could not be matched to each other in all cases. When this occurred the ‘new’ patterns of striae on the land impressions of fired bullets were sufficiently persistent that post-treatment bullets could be identified among themselves and often possessed striae patterns that were more pronounced than those on pre-treatment bullets. This observation was contrary to what one would expect given the advertising claims of these products. Although of little forensic interest, the claims of improved accuracy and increased velocity were not realized in the limited testing carried out in this study.