Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

NIST Ballistics Toolmark Research Database

Published

Author(s)

Xiaoyu Alan Zheng, Johannes A. Soons, Robert M. Thompson

Abstract

The NIST Ballistics Toolmark Research Database (NBTRD) is an open-access research database of bullet and cartridge case toolmark data. The development of the database is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice. The database is being developed to: - foster the development and validation of measurement methods, algorithms, metrics, and quantitative confidence limits for objective firearm identification - improve the scientific knowledge base on the similarity of marks from different firearms and the variability of marks from the same firearm, and - ease the transition to the application of three-dimensional surface topography data in firearms identification. The database contains traditional reflectance microscopy images and three-dimensional surface topography data acquired by NIST or submitted by database users. The goal is a collection of data sets that: 1. represents the large variety of ballistic toolmarks encountered by forensic examiners, and 2. represents challenging identification scenarios, such as those posed by consecutively manufactured firearm components.
Citation
Forensics @ NIST 2016

Keywords

Firearms, Toolmarks, Forensics, Database

Citation

, X. , Soons, J. and Thompson, R. (2016), NIST Ballistics Toolmark Research Database, Forensics @ NIST 2016, [online], https://www.nist.gov/news-events/events/2016/11/forensics-nist-2016 (Accessed October 12, 2024)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created December 4, 2016, Updated June 24, 2021