Modern Trend of Country Made /Improvised Pistols Used in the Capital of India

Now a days crimes relating to firearms and ammunition have dramatically increased in northern part of India. It has been observed that Country made pistols of 8mm/.315” bore; Improvised pistols of 7.65mm/9mm calibre, .32”/.38” calibre are randomly used by criminals in Delhi and NCR regions. On the basis of crime cases received in the Forensic Science Laboratory for examination, the smooth bore illegal country made firearms chambered for pistol, revolver and rifle cartridges are very often encountered in criminal cases all over India and other developing countries. The possibility of identifying types of smooth bore firearms of country made and improvised pistols has been studied.


Introduction
Criminals, docoits, terrorists and antisocial elements in India use wide variety of firearms and their ammunition. Firearms are of wide range starting from ordinary shotgun to sophisticated military weapons, shotguns/hunting weapons as well as improvised / country made firearms. Shotguns including both breechloader and muzzle loaders, pipe guns are most popular among the criminal and antisocial elements. 12 bore, 8mm and 7.65mm cartridges are popular because of their easy availability through open licence arms and ammunition stores. Pipe guns or country made guns are frequently assembled from cheap steel pipes by antisocial persons.
The bore early type of small arms had smooth surface. The projectile consisted of a lead ball, and the powder charge as well as the projectiles were introduced into the chamber at the breech from the muzzle end of the bore, hence the name muzzle loader.

Materials and Methods
In the present systematic study, country made pistols of 8mm/.315" calibre, improvised pistols of 7.65mm, 9mm, .32" and .38" calibre which   were received for crime examination in Delhi and used to create a data base .Scientific analysis of country made pistols of 8mm/.315" bore and Improvised pistols of 7.65mm bore have been studied. Comparative study of physical parameters of country made pistols and improvised pistol were done in the laboratory. Overall length, barrel length and the internal diameter of barrel at muzzle ends were measured and compared among each other.
Measurement of 80 samples data each of barrel length, total length of firearms, internal diameter of barrel at muzzle and breech end were taken for the study. They were measured by electronic venire calliper made by Mitutoyo, Japan and data was statistically analysed. Details are given in table 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5. The difference between country made and improvised pistols is given in table 6. Country made pistols of 8mm/.315" bore, improvised pistols of 7.65mm calibre and other bores firearms used Delhi & NCR in the commission of crime. Detailed photographs of various countries made pistols and an improvised pistol were taken and given in Figure 1 to 10.
It has also been observed that marksmanship and material used for country made and improvised firearms is crude steel which is easily available in commercial market. These firearms are not having any standard specifications and calibrations.
After test firing, it is observed that all fired cartridge cases were bulged and made cylindrical in shaped in country made pistols of        8mm/.315" bore while in improvised pistols, all fired cartridges cases were protruded and bulged. Almost all improvised pistols of 7.65mm and 9mm bore were having fake registration number like 111, 777, AUTOMATIC PISTOL, MADE IN USA/ITALY embossed on the body and other portion of barrels. In most of the cases, spelling mistakes were also found in many improvised pistols. On the other hand, .315 along with the year of manufacturing were also encrypted on country made pistol body portion of 8mm/.315" bore in few cases [1][2][3][4][5].

Effective Range of Country made Pistol and Improvised Pistols
It is expected for ballistics experts to have an idea of the effective ranges of various types of firearms encountered in crimes.  range of a firearm may be defined as the range which a man size target can be hit with certainty. Generally Country made/improvised firearms have capacity to kill a person depending upon range of firing, velocity loss into the target and last but not least the portion of body where the projectile hits. These country made /improvised firearms are crudely made from cheap steel tubes, sanitary/water pipes etc. It is a fact the criminals improved a firearms to fire the regular cartridges available with them in local market [1][2][3][4][5].    Improvised pistols are manufactured locally with proper knowledge of standard weapons and these are the copy (imitation) of standard caliber pistols.
It can be used with proper caliber ammunition for which it has been made.

3.
Generally, these are single shot hammer action pistols without magazine. Generally, these are semi-automatic pistols with magazine.

4.
Only one cartridge can be fired at a time. Next cartridge can be loaded manually. Number of cartridges loaded in magazine (upto 8 to 10) can be fired at a time.

5.
Generally, rimmed cartridges are used to fire. Generally, only rimless or semi-rimless cartridges can be fired.

6.
Generally, these are smooth bore firearms. Generally, these are rifled as well as smooth bore firearms.

7.
No safety mechanism like safety catch are found present in country made pistols. Generally, a safety notch is present in improvised pistols.

8.
The firing pin present in country made pistols can be easily replaced.
The firing pin present in improvised pistols are difficult to replace.

9.
The barrels of country made pistols are generally manufactured by iron pipe, sanitation pipe etc.
The barrels of improvised pistols are manufactured with the help of machine like lath machine etc.

10.
The shape of country made pistols are not look like as standard weapon. The shape of improvised pistols are look like as standard weapon.

11.
The barrel catch lever is present for opening and closing the barrel. In this case magazine catch is present in improvised pistols. they can be mistaken to be a factory made on a cursory look. It is also observed that, the barrels of country made pistol are usually, smooth bored and rifling's are made in an improvised pistols of 7.65mm, 9mm. Sometimes these rifling are incomplete, straight in the barrel and there is no consistency in diameter of lands and grooves. Finishing of lands and grooves also not as like to standard rifling in regular firearms [6][7][8].
It has also been observed that muzzle velocity developed in such type of firearms usually much less than the normal velocity of the cartridge used. It has been found that internal diameter of barrel at muzzle end of an improvised pistol of 7.65mm bore are found to be less than the actual diameter of standard pistol of same calibre. Here also no such standard factory parameters were applied for making muzzle diameter of barrel. It varies from 7mm to 8.86mm (approx.). Overall length of improvised pistols is also vary from 16.5mm to 22mm (approx.) and no such specific standard were adopted by 'the criminals/ illegal firearm manufacturers.

Conclusion
Average total length of country made pistols found to vary from 140.64mm (approx.) and 258.08mm and in Improvised pistols from 108.64mm (approx.) and 214.86mm (approx.). Internal diameter of barrels in country made pistols and improvised pistols at muzzle ends were found to vary from 7.79mm and 8.99mm (approx.) respectively.
It has also been observed that total lengths of 7.65mm bore improvised pistol are different from each other and also vary from 170mm to 220mm (approx). Firearm details of country made pistol and improvised pistols in this paper may be useful to Law Enforcement Agencies and Police Officers, Experts of Forensic Ballistics, Law Officers and Judicial Officers etc.