The Scope and Implications of a Tracing Mechanism for Small Arms ...

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significance, hence in general terms the marks can include the
manufacturer, calibre, date and batch code, as demonstrated below with
these 0.50” calibre rounds on the left. Alternatives, as shown to the right of
the picture on this 40mm grenade, can include printing information on the
side of the cartridge case. Markings are not intended to be unique to each
round due to the disproportionate cost involved and lack of any
commercial benefit for doing so. Instead ammunition is marked in batches
that can range from 1000s to hundreds of 1000s. Additional marks are used
on the external packaging, where there is more space to provide
information, to identify the manufacturer, country of origin, calibre, date
and quantity. Supplementary marks can be added to the packaging by
importing countries but corresponding import marks are not added to the
individual rounds. Consequently, the ability to effectively trace the history
of ammunition when it has been separated from its packaging is severely
limited.
From a forensic perspective, the benefit to law enforcement agencies
of stamping over other less intrusive methods, such as engraving and
etching, is that the depth of disruption to the molecular structure of the
metal involved in stamping means there is a greater opportunity to retrieve
some if not all the details should an attempt be made to obliterate the mark.
Mindful of this point, new legislation in South Africa, for example, requires
all new firearm markings to be stamped.
The use of laser etching, for example, to create secondary, duplicate or
covert marks in generally inaccessible places is a concept that has been
previously discussed at UN sponsored meetings in Geneva, as well as by the
arms manufacturers represented on the World Forum for Sport Shooting
Associations (WFSA) at their meetings in Brescia and Sardinia. Covert