- 01: Introduction
- 02: History
- 03: Propellants, Firearms, and Ammunition Development
- 04: Modern Firearms Manufacture
- 05: Small Arms Ammunition
- 06: Evidence Handling Procedures
- 07: Equipment and Instrumentation
- 08: Examination of Firearms
- 09: Cartridge and Shotshell Examination
- 10: Characterization and Evaluation of Fired Projectiles
- 11: Bullet Comparison and Identification
- 12: Gunshot Residue and Distance Determination
- 13: Toolmark Identification
- 14: Communicating Results
- Resources
Case Linkage
Home > Cartridge and Shotshell Examination > Case Linkage
Historically, many forensic firearm laboratories maintained files containing fired evidence (cartridge cases, shotshell cases, and fired bullets) from unsolved cases. This evidence was typically from shooting incidents in which a firearm had not been located or connected to the evidence collected at the crime scene. Cartridge cases from the most recent incident were compared to all previous cartridge cases and shotshell cases of the appropriate caliber/gauge and cartridge type retained in physical files.
These evidence files were named
- unsolved case file,
- open case file,
- reference fired specimen file,
- open case ammunition file.
Over time, many jurisdictions found that the storage and access to the large number of files was impractical. This resulted in the restriction of file searches to particular years or cases, as indicated by other investigative information.
