The current state of expert research of domestic firearms and cartridges for them in Ukraine

Abstract

The development of the domestic engineering industry during the independence of Ukraine, in particular, led to the emergence of enterprises working in the field of development and production of firearms and ammunition for it. Experimental studies performed by forensic experts and criminologists to study the features of injuries and damage caused by modern models of domestic weapons need to be generalized and systematized.
 Aim of the work. To review the literature sources related to the study of lethal and non-lethal pistols and ammunition for them of domestic production.
 Materials and methods. In order to achieve this goal, we searched for literature sources within the scientometric databases of Google Scholar, Web of Science and Scopus by keywords, to a depth of 10 years using the criteria of selection of articles.
 Results. A review of literature sources revealed that the direction of the study of pistols and ammunition for them of domestic production is still relevant and tends to increase in the last 5 years; the departments of forensic medicine at Higher Education Institutions and Research Forensic Centers are most interested in studying this topic; publications on models of pistols developed 10 or more years ago are found in large numbers in the scientific literature, but publications on "younger" models in the scientific literature are not found.
 Conclusion. The vast majority of research on domestic firearms is devoted to the study of pistols produced by RPC «Fort». However, the available amount of research cannot meet the current needs of the expert service and, accordingly, the police. Research aimed at studying the ballistic properties of domestic weapons still remains a relevant and urgent area of forensic medicine and criminology.