Weapons Industry Research Articles

Nanomaterials and security in occupational and forensic medicine: insights from nanotoxicology

Nanoenergetics are defined as a class of nanomaterials that possess the ability to release energy in certain situations. These properties have been studied and deepened in recent years, so much so that nanoenergetics have been introduced into the use of the weapons industry, among others. It is therefore an emerging reality that deserves attention with regard to potential harmful effects on human and environmental health. it has been suggested that nanoenergetics may have genotoxic and immunotoxic effects, among others. Problems related to exposure to nanonenergetics can therefore potentially affect both exposed workers (both in the production and use phase) and the civilian population, if used in war scenarios, for example,. Starting from these assumptions, the INNOTOX research project aims to contribute to the in-depth study of the toxicity of nanonenergetics, through an integrated approach involving experts in occupational and forensic medicine, nanotoxicology and bioengineering.

Friction-induced temperature rise at energetic β-HMX crystal interfaces: Part I. Role of contact pressure and speed under dry sliding friction

In this study, the friction behavior and surface temperature of beta-phase octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (β-HMX), a widely used energetic crystal in modern weapon industry, is systematically investigated by varying the contact pressure and sliding speed as well as sliding cycles. Experimental results reveals that the maximum temperature rise on β-HMX surface can be well-correlated with the frictional power density involving the friction coefficient and contact pressure and sliding speed. The frictional work-heat conversion rate of β-HMX surface decreases with the frictional power density and then stabilized at ∼43.7 % upon single scratch and it decreases with sliding cycles upon reciprocating scratch. These findings can provide deep insights into the frictional safety of energetic materials.

Identifying and Prioritizing Economic Opportunities for Medical Tourism Management: An Analytic Hierarchy process

Background: As a growing industry, medical tourism includes many economic opportunities. This industry is the largest and most diverse industry in the world, with a foreign currency income which is equal to the automotive and military weapons industries. The aim of the current research is to identify and prioritize economic opportunities related to medical tourism management, using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a multi-criteria decision-making tool. Methods: This was a descriptive-survey research with an applied and cross-sectional approach. A survey method was used to collect data, so this study can be classified as field research. The statistical population of the research included 25 people with experience and expertise selected through purposive sampling in the fields of management, tourism, and medicine. The method of collecting data was in the form of library and field studies. The tool for collecting data was a questionnaire of paired comparisons and a check sheet. Data analysis was done with AHP method and Expert Choice 11 software. After collecting the paired comparison questionnaire and calculating the geometric mean, the inconsistency rate of the questionnaires was less than 0.1, which showed that the data had the required validity. Results: First, using library studies, economic opportunities related to medical tourism were identified. These opportunities included cash generation, technological advancements, job creation, diversification of tourism industry, development of health care infrastructure, knowledge transfer and cooperation, services and ancillary industries, and regional development and diversification of economic activity. Opportunities were prioritized using the AHP method. Cash generation with relative importance of 0.191 was ranked first, job creation with relative importance of 0.162 was second, and technological advances was ranked third with relative importance of 0.131. Diversification to economic activities with a relative importance of 0.45 was ranked ninth which was the lowest. Conclusion: Strategic marketing, delivering quality healthcare services, competitive pricing, specialized medical care, patient-centered experience, collaboration and partnership, continuous improvement, and strengthening medical tourism infrastructure are the pillars through which medical tourism management can not only generate sustainable revenue but also provide invaluable healthcare services to patients from across the globe.

Strategic Interests and Geopolitical Considerations: Assessing the Importance of Afghanistan for the US Post-Withdrawal

This research aimed to understand the US’s strategic interests, political goals, and geopolitical considerations in Afghanistan post-US military occupation, highlighting its strategic value for the US, given its connection to Central Asia, South Asia, China, and Russia, and its importance to US. This study used qualitative research to conduct a content analysis of the US’s strategic interests and geopolitical considerations in Afghanistan post-withdrawal, using the theories of realism offensive and defensive to determine the value of Afghanistan for the US in the region, thereby revealing US’s clear strategic interests. Afghanistan helped as a US strategic base, reducing China, India and Russia’s influence in the region, promoting its weapons industry, energy resource, indirect engagement and diplomatic initiatives, counter-terrorism, and non-proliferation and regional stability. The US also established a military presence and stable government in Afghanistan, focusing on US interests. Afghanistan has become a battleground for great powers like US, India, China, and Russia, who has used its strategic location for their own interests. The US has worked for its interests in Afghanistan for 20 years, and its policy changes and goals remain safe after withdrawal. However, their interests remain constant. The Afghan government and future generations must recognize Afghanistan’s significance for US strategic interests and geopolitical considerations. US’s priorities and policies change in the region, and when regional and great powers pose challenges, US’s presence in Afghanistan becomes possible.

Land of Nuclear Enchantment: A New Mexican History of the Nuclear Weapons Industry by Lucie Genay (review)

Land of Nuclear Enchantment: A New Mexican History of the Nuclear Weapons Industry by Lucie Genay (review)

Старообрядчество Ижевского завода в контексте взаимоотношений с заводской администрацией и духовенством в дореформенный период

The author analyzes the Old Believers of the Izhevsk factory of the Vyatka province. The focus of this study is the interaction between the factory administration, clergy and Old Believers. The author studied the situation of the plant's Old Believers in the context of the confessional policy of the Russian Empire and made several conclusions. Firstly, the Old Believers appeared in the factory district probably at the end of the 18th - early 19th century, when workers were recruited for weapons industry. Secondly, the laws of the Russian Empire regarding the Old Believers also applied in the factory district. The legislation was tightened during the reign of Nicholas I, especially since the 1840s, when the harm of sects to society was determined. The purpose of the legislation was to protect the monarchy, the Orthodox Church and the family. The measures of influence on the Old Believers were conversations, sermons, prohibitions of public prayers, closure of prayer houses, confiscation of objects of worship, initiation of court cases. The clergy of the Izhevsk churches cooperated with the factory administration. As a result, the number of Old Believers decreased in the Izhevsk factory by the end of the studied period. In turn, the Old Believer communities preserved the specifics of social and family life and rituals, polemicized with the clergy, submitted petitions, cited as an argument the importance of factory work as a civil service.

The Wretched Atom: America’s Global Gamble with Peaceful Nuclear Technology (Hamblin, 2021)

In The Wretched Atom: America’s Global Gamble with Peaceful Nuclear Technology (2021), Jacob Hamblin tackles the concept of peaceful nuclear energy by arguing that the promise of atomic energy was deeply intertwined with Western postcolonial policies and was always linked to the United States nuclear weapon industry. Based on rich archival work, the book tells the telling story of the development of atomic energy from the Manhattan Project to recent decades.

Comparison of physical, mechanical and chemical properties of barrel steel 32CrMoV12-10 and nitriding steel 31CrMoV9 after nitriding in gas

32CrMoV12-10 and 31CrMoV9 steels are used not only for components in the automotive industry, but also for firearms parts in the weapons industry. In these applications, high strength and surface layer hardness is required while maintaining the toughness of the core, which is achieved by nitriding. The aim of the work was to determine which of the steels exhibits better physical, mechanical and chemical properties after nitriding in a gaseous atmosphere. Metallographic samples were made to compare the structure of the nitride layer after nitriding. Hardness and fracture toughness were measured and Charpy impact testing and corrosion resistance evaluation were also carried out. The test results revealed that 31CrMoV9 steel shows better physical and chemical properties than 32CrMoV12-10 steel.

Armament in the Emirati strategic perception after 2015


 After 2015, the political decision-maker in the UAE decided to work on increasing military capabilities. This increase is definitely related to an armament, which comes from two sources. The first one is external from weapon exporting countries. Such countries are identified in the research sections. As for the second source, it comes through the local weapon industry, and this source has developed greatly through the large number of weapons that have been produced in the Emirates. Both sources contributed to increasing the military capabilities of the state. This increase and development is related to the UAE military spending, which has also evolved for budgets that have been allocated to increase the size of the UAE military capabilities.
 

Experts, activists, and girl bosses of the nuclear apocalypse: feminisms in security discourse

Having long been regarded as irrelevant to the high politics of foreign affairs, feminism and gender equality have in recent years gained increased attention in international security debates, including discussions about nuclear weapons policy. Several governments have adopted official feminist foreign policy postures, international security institutions have launched inquiries into gender equity and representation, and a myriad of security actors have enthusiastically embraced the language of women’s empowerment. Mapping the various modes of purported feminist practice on display in the nuclear policy field, we find that being “pro women” has become a sought-after rhetorical asset on both sides of the nuclear weapons debate. Reflecting wider trends in the corporate world, constituents of the nuclear weapons industry have increasingly embraced liberal feminist language and workplace diversity goals. These practices, we suggest, have helped challenge the perception of the nuclear industry as overly masculine, aiding recruitment to, and overall political legitimation of, the nuclear weapons enterprise. This development is significant because it functions to undercut the association between feminism and opposition to nuclear weapons, thus complicating efforts to advance arms control and disarmament through feminist interventions.

Wer war Fritz Mandl: Waffen, Nazis und Geheimdienste by Ursula Prutsch

Reviewed by: Wer war Fritz Mandl: Waffen, Nazis und Geheimdienste by Ursula Prutsch Jacqueline Vansant Ursula Prutsch, Wer war Fritz Mandl: Waffen, Nazis und Geheimdienste. Vienna/Graz: Molden Verlag, 2022. 303 pp. If Fritz Mandl is known to readers, it is most likely as Hedy Kiesler Lamarr's tyrannical first husband. But Mandl was much more than that—among other things, he was one of the wealthiest men in Europe as well as a major player in the munitions industry. Although of Jewish heritage he was labeled a Nazi agent by American intelligence during World War II. In fourteen gripping chapters, Ursula Prutsch places the life of this fascinating if somewhat unsympathetic figure within a larger historical context, beginning with the story of the emancipation of the Jews in Austria-Hungary and its meaning for Mandl's ancestors. She views his personal life and business dealings through the lens of turbulent events of the twentieth century and documents both unethical and illegal practices in the munitions and weapons industry. Fritz Mandl was born in 1900, the son of a wealthy atheist industrialist of Jewish heritage and a Catholic mother. Mandl's parents did not marry until he was ten, and his "illegitimate" birth plagued him growing up. At the same time, he enjoyed all the advantages of wealth, which may have helped him remain in school despite poor grades. At the age of 24 he assumed the directorship of the Hirtenberger munitions factory that was in dire financial straits. Proving himself a shrewd factory owner, he often promoted his business transactions by circumventing the laws and selling munitions to third parties, who then sold them further. Trading with warring sides became a trademark practice of Mandl's. An admirer of Mussolini and an Austrian patriot, Mandl viewed Italian-type fascism as the means to protect Austria from the National Socialists. After an unsuccessful putsch attempt by the leader of the Styrian Heimwehr, Walter Pfrimer, in September 1931, Mandl reached out to the Italians for armed support. Having supported the Heimwehr and its leader, Graf Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg, financially for many years, he worked behind the scenes to get them better armed. Before the Anschluss Mandl had the foresight to diversify his holdings, which placed him in a much more favorable position than many other exiles. Having transferred 440,000 Pounds sterling from the factory to a private account in Switzerland, the magnate forced the National Socialists to negotiate with him to buy the factory, a rare occurrence indeed. In the hope of building up new business interests, Mandl settled in Argentina, [End Page 93] where he soon fell under the surveillance of the North and South American intelligence agencies. Prutsch points to the 1944 article "Poison from Austria," in which the American journalist Francis Rufus Bellamy labels Fritz Mandl "one of the most sinister figures of the Western Hemisphere" and "Menace No. 1 to the peace of the Americas" (210). The man who had to flee Austria because of his Jewish heritage was now labeled a Nazi. The Americans placed him on a blacklist, which limited his travel and froze some of his assets for years. Although he had done business with Nazis in the past and was not disinclined to work with Nazis, Mandl certainly was not one. However, Juan Perón used the rumors to his advantage after Argentina declared war on the Axis to imprison Mandl as a Nazi sympathizer. After being taken off the blacklist, Mandl was allowed to return to Austria and regained control of the Hirtenberger factory in 1957. As a major employer in Austria, he was able to have the government look the other way when again he engaged in unethical and illegal practices. The scandals surrounding his firm did not cease with his death in 1977. Prutsch closes with the infamous Noricum affair in the 1980s when the Hirtenberger factory, then a subsidiary of VOEST-Alpine, was involved in the illegal sale of weapons to Iran. Prutsch convincingly argues that Mandl's life story is compelling for many reasons. Indeed, this biography covers more than the life story of a major player in the munitions industry, who distanced himself from his...

Anti-Tank Guided Missile System Design Based on an Object Detection Model and a Camera

First-generation anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) mainly rely on the skills of operators to guide them in hitting targets, thus making them inaccurate. However, third-generation ATGMs are affected by electronic disruption and are extremely expensive. For example, the accurate range for anti-tank RPGs is 100 m, while the range of the ATGM Javelin is just 4 km (Lightweight CLU) and the cost is US$249,700 (Lightweight CLU only). However, the range of our system depends on the camera range used, which can exceed 50 km on flat ground, and the cost is a few thousand dollars. In this paper, an object detection model was used to recognize a targeted tank, and the fundamental matrix and triangulation approaches were utilized to determine the location of the target tank. Thus, the produced control circuit is smart, autonomous, accurate, with a wide range, and quite inexpensive. The system was installed on an anti-tank missile, tested indoors, and worked correctly. Using object detection models and computer vision technologies in the weapon industry led to the production of an intelligent weapon that is smart, has more range, and is autonomous.

ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКИЙ РІК НАВИЧОК: ВІКНО МОЖЛИВОСТЕЙ ДЛЯ УКРАЇНИ В УМОВАХ ВІЙНИ

The purpose of the article is to outline the opportunities and prospects offered by the European Year of Skills, launched by the European Parliament in May 2023, for both Ukrainian residents and forced Ukrainian migrants. The article provides an overview of a wide range of projects that are being implemented within the framework of the European Year of Skills both in the European Union and in Ukraine. The author analyzes the level of skills, PISA educational achievements, and the share of STEM education graduates in Ukraine among various countries based on UNCTAD statistics and the Global Innovation Index, whose evaluation criteria refer to the global databases of UNESCO and the OECD. The analysis of the level of skills showed that in 2023 Ukraine ranks 42nd among 166 countries, thereby overtaking a number of countries in the Central and Eastern Europe region, namely Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. According to the results of the PISA-2018 educational surveys in reading, science and mathematics, Ukraine ranked 40th among 132 countries, leaving Bulgaria and Romania behind. The share of graduates of Ukrainian higher education institutions in STEM education in 2020 was 25,7% (Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Latvia, Italy and even the United States are far behind Ukraine), which gives some optimism about the European future of our country. In the context of the new reality, the article emphasizes the importance of popularizing STEM education in developing countries, including Ukraine. At the same time, the article outlines the requirements imposed by the European Year of Skills on Ukrainian employers, which are aimed at creating competitive European labor market conditions. This, in synergy with the accelerated industrialization of the country, especially against the background of the implementation of military-tech (high-tech weapons industry), will be a key dominant of the post-war recovery of the national economy.

Guns, Guerrillas, and the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third World by Benjamin R. Young

<i>Guns, Guerrillas, and the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third World</i> by Benjamin R. Young

Effects of pre-strain and aging treatments on the mechanical property and corrosion resistance of the spray formed ultra-high strength Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy

Mechanical property and corrosion resistance are essential performances in ultra-high strength Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys for the aerospace and weapon industries. In this study, the pre-strain and aging treatments were used to enhance such performances of the spray formed ultra-high strength Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy. After 2% pre-strain with peak aging (PA) and retrogression and re-aging (RRA) treatments, the ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation can reach to 774 MPa, 735 MPa, 10.7% and 774 MPa, 747 MPa, 9.4%, respectively. The coarser precipitates of the samples with 4% pre-strain can lead to the slight lower strength compared with the samples with 2% pre-strain. The proper combination of pre-strain and aging treatments can also effectively enhance the stress corrosion resistance of the studied alloy by the following reasons. First, the higher strain concentration degree and dislocation density introduced by pre-strain treatments have high internal energy and provide more stored energy for the growth of the passive film. Second, the spacing of grain boundary precipitates under double aging (DA) and RRA states is larger than that under PA state. The width of uniform precipitation free zone (PFZ) with 2% pre-strain is larger than that with 4% pre-strain. Third, after pre-strain treatments, the cracks perpendicular to the deformation direction can be produced in Al 7 Cu 2 Fe phase, which further breaks up such particles. According to the results of Kelvin probe microscopy, the Al 7 Cu 2 Fe phase with smaller dimension can obtain the lower difference of potential to Al matrix. • The strength and corrosion resistance of the alloy were enhanced by pre-strain. • The pre-strain produced cracks in Al 7 Cu 2 Fe particles and further broke up them. • The pre-strain improved the strain concentration degree and dislocation density. • The effect of precipitation free zone and precipitate is better under 2% strain. • The improvement mechanism of pre-strain treatment was revealed.

High-Temperature Wear Properties of 35Ni15Cr Fe-Based Self-Lubricating Die Materials

Hot forging dies play an important role in metallurgy, automotive, aerospace and weapons industries. However, due to the high temperature and high pressure of hot forging die and the working environment of cyclic load, the friction and wear performance of hot forging die is poor and the service life is low. The use of traditional lubricants can prolong the life of the mold, but it will cause environmental pollution, harm to workers’ health and other problems. In this paper, 35Ni15Cr Fe-based self-lubricating die material was prepared by high energy ball milling and vacuum sintering. The wear properties of the materials were studied under ball-to-disc wear conditions at 600 °C. The results show that when CaF2 content is 8 wt%, the friction coefficient and wear rate of the material are the lowest, which are 0.3 and 0.9166 × 10−5 mm2 min−1, respectively. When the load increases, the friction coefficient first increases and then decreases, but the wear rate continues to increase. The wear mechanism mainly includes abrasive wear, adhesive wear, oxidation wear and fatigue wear. The friction reduction mechanism is that CaF2 is precipitated from the self-lubricating mold material and Fe and Ni are oxidized to the boss on the wear surface. The broken boss and lubricant form a lubricating film and accumulate into a glaze layer. The material can be used in high temperature forging environment without additional lubricant.

Quo vadis sustainable finance: why defensive weapons should never be classified as an ESG investment

ABSTRACT The Russian invasion of Ukraine has influenced how investors categorize sustainable investments. More precisely, an invasion has been used as an excuse to label investments in companies supplying weapons used in self-defense to fight against Russian aggression as socially sustainable since they are a tool helping democracy to repel the invasion of the non-democratic counterpart. Suddenly, the weapons industry started becoming an entirely acceptable sustainable investment asset. This demonstrated that weapons are not the cause but only the result of flawed sustainable investing thinking, which can sometimes be based on ideas that vary widely in terms of consistency and accuracy. This paper discusses some of the reasons underlining systematic problems in the sustainable finance realm and lists why defensive weapons can never be classified as an acceptable asset to invest in.

Deficiencies and potential corrections in ceramic art education according to the ceramic industry employees

Ceramics may be considered one of the most important and oldest inventions that give information about the history of humanity. Dating back to 8000 BC, ceramic has been used in many areas of daily life, such as kitchenware, sanitary ware, space technology, weapon industry and artistic production. In this context, the use of ceramics as an industrial material has resulted in the ceramic industry which requires education as an indispensable field. This study aims to determine the deficiencies and potential corrections for these deficiencies from the views of the employees who currently work in the field of ceramics. The study was conducted as a phenomenological study, which is one of the qualitative research designs. Fifteen employees participated in the study. The data of the study was collected by interviewing the employees. The findings of the study suggest that outdated curricula, narrow and insufficient industrial field courses, the need for self-development of the lecturer in the industrial field, the necessity of establishing a relationship between the ceramic industry and education and insufficient and inadequate computer design courses with software not suitable for the industry are the main deficiencies along with some others. Keywords: Art education, ceramic, industrial ceramic, design, sector, employee

ON THE GENERALIZATION OF PHYSICS CURRICULUM TO SCIENCE EDUCATION AND POPULAR SCIENCE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF EMOTION REGULATION

BackgroundScience Education in China is a way to improve citizens' scientific and technological literacy. It also popularized physics that promoted innovation. The deep popularization of physical science is an important content of science education. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the logical relationship and practical path between science education, college physics curriculum and science popularization, that is, the generalization of physics curriculum to science education and popular science from the perspective of emotional regulation.Subjects and MethodsApply Bruner's cognitive structure learning theory in psychology to college physics teaching, and transform the basic structure of physics into the cognitive structure of physical theories and phenomena in students' minds. In order to coordinate the development of physics courses and the popularization of science, the basic physics courses and majors of the University have been adjusted to help students understand the principles of physics and apply them to engineering. A total of 415 junior middle school students in three grades of an experimental middle school were investigated by cluster stratified sampling. The emotional regulation ability scale compiled by Lu Jiamei and Ji Jiajun (2010), the Chinese version of emotional behavior scale (PBI) revised by Yang Hongjun (2009) and the Chinese version of aggressive behavior (BWAQ) (2008) were used as research tools, and spss17 0 to analyze the data results by descriptive analysis, analysis of variance and linear regression.ResultsWe found that while widely spreading science and technology, cultivating citizens' awareness of science and technology is a necessary condition for further popularizing science. We have identified four aspects of in-depth popularization of science. We have also created a four part physics course and created a teaching method that combines online and offline teaching, large and small classes, as well as theoretical and practical learning. Using various forms of science education, we have constructed three ways to provide ideological education in the curriculum. In the practice of many science education, we have not only proved that the most important part of physics education is scientific and technological literacy, but also formed the soul of basic physics curriculum: “explore laws after encountering phenomena, respond to principles creatively, and pursue loyalty and accuracy”. Based on the teaching philosophy and objectives of Xi University of technology, and taking two innovative points, three characteristic physics courses and popularization as the main line, this paper explores 30 elements of ideological education related to “physics, weapon industry and calligraphy”. These reforms were highly praised by the heads of 15 engineering majors related to the ordnance industry, and helped 13 engineering majors obtain China's higher engineering education certification.ConclusionAfter 10 years of educational practice, we have developed the physics curriculum to the stage of in-depth popularization of science. In the full combination of physics curriculum and engineering teaching, it embodies the three-stage learning process of acquisition, transformation and evaluation in Bruner's psychological theory. The scientific and technological literacy of Chinese teenagers has improved. In short, we should fully consider the important influence of emotion, actively pay attention to the changes of psychological emotion and behavior in their learning, and strive to become the manager, coordinator and collaborator of curriculum construction.We should actively organize rich activities flexibly according to the psychological characteristics of this part of the group, strive to build a relaxed and harmonious living atmosphere, create a friendly and mutual aid relationship, encourage and guide this part of the group, adjust the psychology to the best state, and promote the healthy growth in a good learning life.AcknowledgementsThe paper was supported by the Shaanxi Social Science Foundation Project of P.R.C (Grant No.2021P022). The authors thanks for the Physical Multifunction Hall Focusing on Demonstration & Research in Xi’an Technological University (PMHFDRXATU), and the “Virtual Teaching-research Center on Cloud Teaching & Reform of Basic Physics in Universities of Midwest of China” led by Professor Shijun Xu. Further, this work was financially supported by three funding projects on the Teaching Reform in Universities of Shaanxi Province in China (Grant No. 21BY081), the 2021 Higher Education Science Research Project of Shaanxi Higher Education Society (Grant No.XGH21139), and the Soft Science Research Project of Xi'an Science and Technology Plan of P.R.C (Grant No.2021-0048).

Установление дистанции выстрела по дробовой осыпи при отстреле патронов, снаряженных пыжами-контейнерами

Introduction. Most often, in cases of crimes related to the use of firearms, in addition to establishing that an object belongs to a firearm and resolving the issue of its serviceability and suitability for shooting, it is necessary to solve other non-identification tasks, such as establishing the direction and distance of the shot. As a rule, these two tasks are set together and the identification of such significant data as the distance of the shot and the angle at which the gunshot damage was inflicted allows us to give a correct criminal-legal assessment of the events that occurred. In this work, the results obtained by the A. F. Lisitsyn nomogram were compared with the real data obtained when shooting cartridges, factory equipment with wad containers. Experimental part. The experiment was conducted in a closed shooting range, targets made of 1 mm thick metal sheets, chipboard and wallpaper were selected. The shooting was carried out from three distances: 5, 10, 15 meters; half of the targets were located at an angle of 90 degrees, the second half was placed at an angle of 75 degrees. A total of 54 shots were fired: 18 shots at targets made of wallpaper, 18 shots at metal sheets and 18 shots at chipboard. The weapon used in the experiment was a copy of the IZH-27M 12-caliber hunting rifle. The shooting was carried out from the upper barrel with a muzzle narrowing “choke” with cartridges of the Russian company “NPF “AZOT” the model “Azot Russian Hunter B/K”. Discussion of results. The obtained results of the scattering diameters of shot spread were used to determine the distance of the shot using the A. F. Lisitsyn nomogram. The calculated intervals of distances were compared with the actual shooting distances. The results of the comparison show that the values of the intervals of the shot distance obtained by the A. F. Lisitsyn nomogram give a significant error – the actual values of the shot distance are about a third greater than the upper limit of the interval of the shot distance determined by the A. F. Lisitsyn nomogram. According to the results of the study, a proprietary nomogram was derived to determine the shot distance from the traces of shot spread. Conclusions. If there is a trace of the wad container, to determine the distance of the shot, it is better not to use the Lisitsyn nomogram, but to build an experimental dependence of the maximum and minimum values of the diameters of the shot spread at specific distances for a gun from the scene of the incident or a similar model of weapon. There is a need to improve and update currently existing methodological research, since the use of outdated information hinders the rational implementation of the tasks assigned to forensic ballistics. It is necessary to conduct research to establish the firing distance of a poly projectile when using a weapon with a specific drilling of the Lancaster barrel bore. The latest developments in the weapons industry – such models as the TR 366 TKM with a “Paradox” type barrel drill, in which a 366 TKM shotgun cartridge with an oval capsule for a police squad can be used, require further improvement of methods for establishing the distance of the shot.