Topography Measurements and Performance Comparisons between NIST SRM 2460 Standard Bullet Masters and BKA Bullet Replicas

Published

July 31, 2012

Author(s)

Jun-Feng Song, Theodore V. Vorburger, Robert M. Thompson, Susan M. Ballou, Xiaoyu Alan Zheng, Thomas Brian Renegar, Richard M. Silver

Abstract

Two Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2460 Bullets produced by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) were used as masters for the fabrication of replica bullets at the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA). The surface topography of the SRM masters and the replicas were measured and compared to determine their topography similarity. The topography comparisons revealed surface contamination on the surface of replica bullets made from the first SRM bullet master. In some cases, the cross-correlation values dropped to below 80%. However, the surface contamination problem was significantly improved with the replica bullets made from the second SRM bullet master. To compare the performance similarity of imaging correlations, one of the replica bullets was imaged at the National Laboratory Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) using an Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS)*. The images of the replica bullet were correlated with those of the SRM bullets previously tested from 2002 to 2006. The Max Phase correlation scores were used for performance comparisons. There was no significant performance difference can be found between the SRM bullets and the replica bullet.

Citation

Forensic Science International

Volume

44

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

Forensic science, ballistics identification, standard reference material, SRM, standard bullet, IBIS, NIBIN

Citation

Song, J. , Vorburger, T. , Thompson, R. , Ballou, S. , , X. , , T. and , R. (2012), Topography Measurements and Performance Comparisons between NIST SRM 2460 Standard Bullet Masters and BKA Bullet Replicas, Forensic Science International (Accessed October 20, 2025)