- 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
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice ProgramsNational Institute of JusticeThe Research, Development, and Evaluation Agency of the U.S. Department of Justice
Fired Shotshell Components
Home > Characterization and Evaluation of Fired Projectiles > Fired Shotshell Components
Components of a shot pellet load
(primer, powder, pellets, wadding, and casing)
The construction and components of shotshells are described in depth in Module 5.
Shotshells may be comprised of a number of components:
- Card (paper) or fiber disks
- Plastic wadding components
- Lead, steel, bismuth, or tungsten alloy shot pellets
- Shotgun slugs
- Shot buffer materials (granular plastic particulate)
