The question of handgun use in a city or densely populated aglomerations requires a highly practical level of solution to this issue, though with the knowledge of theoretical presumptions of wound ballistics of ricochet projectiles. The application of wound ballistics into the practice of a forensic pathologist, as well as a surgeon or a traumatologist, enables a good understanding of the dynamics of projectile penetration through anatomic structures of the human body. In forensic assessment, gunshot wounds of limbs are relatively frequent cases. By the integration of wound ballistics principles into the research of gunshot wounds, it is also possible to establish, whether the projectile entered into the anatomic structures under direct trajectory steadily or whether through the course of its trajectory, before reaching the human body, it firstly contacted a particular object in the space, i. e. whether the injury could have been caused by a ricochet projectile. In connection with unclear gunshot wounds and their morphological image, it is necessary to consider the possibility of the effects of a ricochet projectile, especially when persons are injured accidentally. The daily practice of the officers of the Police Corps of the Slovak Republic essentially enhances the necessity of being informed about the behaviour of parametrically designated ricochet projectiles in a ballistic experiment with the use of a model of a built-up area in a town, with typical materials and surfaces of objects in between and a model of a human limb part as a potential target of an uncontrolled ricochet projectile. The proposed design of the situation is undoubtedly of an enormous significance, even when forensically evaluating the morphological consequences of ricochet projectiles. By the application of results of such experiments and their final comparison, when different types of projectiles are used, it is also possible to contribute to the experts groundwork in the process of rearmament of the official armed forces. The main aim of our work is to point out the high potential of the wounding effect of ricochet bullets of a particular calibre cartridge with focus on injuries of the femurs of the lower limbs. The carried out ballistic experiment was designed for the needs of the experimental part of a diploma thesis of a student from the Faculty of Medicine of Comenius University in Bratislava and his results point out at the possibilities for civilian safety strategies during the intervention of the armed forces as well.
Keywords: Terminal ballistics - Ballistic experiment - Ricochet projectile - Gunshot wounds.