* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Malays. Appl. Biol. (2016) 45(2): 87–92 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY TO DETERMINE ANGLE OF FIRE ON SELECTED SOLID TARGETS BY 9MM SEMI-AUTOMATIC PISTOL DURGA DEVI, S. 1 , NATARAJA MOORTHY, T. 2* , RASYIDI BIN HARUN 3 and MOHD ZAHEDI DAUD 4 1 Forensic Science Program, Department of Diagnostics and Allied Health Sciences, FHLS, Management and Science University Shah Alam, Selangor 2 Associate Professor of Forensic Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Management and Science University, Shah Alam, Selangor 3 Ballistics Division, Polis Di Raja Malaysia, Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur 4 Management and Science University, Shah Alam, Selangor * Email: natrajamoorthy@rediffmail.com Accepted 26 October 2016, Published online 21 December 2016 ABSTRACT Crimes involving the use of firearms represent a significant area of forensic investigation. In legal proceedings of criminal events that involve the use of firearms and ammunitions, the expert forensic officer should be able to produce crucial information to the court. The existence of bullet holes is a significant aspect in crime scene reconstruction. It is a terminal ballistics study using various solid targets. The study is aimed to conduct an experimental firing study by using 9 mm pistol fired on selected solid targets viz. plywood, ceramic tiles, glass plate, aluminium metal sheet and PVC sheet and examined the damaged characteristics. The range of firing was fixed as 10m in all shooting exercises. The shooting exercise was conducted at Sungai Buloh shooting range by trained firearms experts, Polis Di Raja Malaysia, Bukit Aman. Kuala Lumpur. The result of the investigation showed that the angle of impact is below 90 degree in all the targets. Key words: Forensic science, firearms, 9 mm pistol, solid targets INTRODUCTION In the law procedure of criminal event that requiring the role of firearms and ammunitions, the expert forensic officer able to produce an important element as an evidence to the court of law for a legal view. In comparable condition, peculiar interest is normally attracted to an appraisal matter linked with guns and mutual clue like bullet holes impact morphologies (Romolo & Margot, 2010). An existence of bullet holes impact is a significant aspect in crime scene reconstruction of series of an event. It is shown that the diameter of exit wound holes is larger than the entry wound (Naik, 2011; Harshwardhan, 2016). Like blood pattern evidence, the reconstruction of shooting incidents relies on the certainty of trigonometric calculations combined with the intuition seasoned crime scene investigators and bring to the investigation. The circumstances and nature of violent crimes frequently produce a variety of bloodstains that, when carefully studied and evaluated with respect to their geometry and distribution, may provide information of considerable value to assist the investigator with the reconstruction of the scene (Stuart, 1991; Haag, 2006). In 1955, Dr. Paul Kirk of the University of California at Berkeley prepared an affidavit regarding his findings based upon bloodstain evidence to the Court of Common Pleas in the case of the State of Ohio vs. Samuel Sheppard. Dr. Kirk was able to establish the relative position of the attacker and victim at the time of the administration of the beating. He was also able to determine that the attacker administered blows with a left hand, which was significant in that Dr. Sheppard was right- handed. The angle of impact is the acute or internal angle formed between the direction of a blood drop and the plane of the surface it strikes (Stuart, 1991). The identifying directionality is blood droplets