Contact Shot
Definition
Muzzle pressed against skin or clothing at the moment of firing. Hallmarks are a stellate (star-shaped) wound from sub-dermal gas tracking, a muzzle imprint (abraded brand of the muzzle face), seared skin from hot gas, soot deep inside the wound track, and cherry-red discolouration of tissues from carbon monoxide binding.
- Field
- Range of firing determination
- Muzzle distance
- Pressed against skin or clothing
- Wound shape
- Stellate, star-shaped
- Distinctive sign
- Muzzle imprint abrasion
- Tissue colour
- Cherry-red from carbon monoxide binding
Common questions
Why does a contact shot produce a stellate wound while other close-range shots do not?+
When the muzzle is sealed against the skin, propellant gas has nowhere to escape except under the skin itself, and it tracks along tissue planes before rupturing outward, tearing the skin into a star-shaped pattern. At even a short standoff distance the gas disperses in air instead, so the entry stays roughly round with soot deposited on the surface rather than gas tearing beneath it.
Can a contact shot occur over clothing rather than bare skin?+
Yes, a garment pressed between the muzzle and skin can still show contact features, including scorching and a fabric-transferred muzzle imprint, though the classic stellate tearing is most reliable over skin directly overlying bone, such as the scalp, where the bone provides resistance for the gas to tear against.
Related terms
- Bullet Wipe
- Greyish to brownish ring of lubricant, lead and copper rubbed off the bullet onto the margin of an entry hole in clothing....
- Modified Griess Test
- A contact-transfer colour chemistry test for nitrite-containing propellant combustion residue. Sulphanilic acid undergoes diazotisation with nitrous acid (from NO2 on the target...
- Powder Tattooing
- Stippling pattern of unburned and partially burned propellant grains embedded in the skin around an entry wound. Cannot be wiped off. Pathognomonic...
- Range of Firing
- The distance from the muzzle of the firearm to the target at the moment of discharge. Estimated from wound geometry, soot pattern,...
- Sodium Rhodizonate Test
- Colour test for lead. The cloth is treated with sodium rhodizonate followed by buffer; lead deposits give a pink-to-red colour, confirmed with...
- Soot (Blackening)
- Submicrometre carbon-rich particles from incomplete propellant combustion, deposited on the garment or skin surface around the entry hole at contact and near-contact...
- Walker Test
- Filter-paper transfer test for nitrites in propellant residue. The cloth is pressed against desensitised filter paper, sprayed with sulphanilic acid and alpha-naphthylamine,...