Recent non-chemical approaches to estimate the shooting distance

Shooting distance estimation offers useful information for the reconstruction of firearm related incidents. The muzzle to target distance is usually estimated by examining the bullet entrance hole and the gunshot residue pattern. To visualize the pattern the forensic analyst usually uses presumptive tests based on color chemical reactions that are applied using long and tedious proceedings. Due to the drawbacks of the chemical tests recent developments for shooting distance estimation not based on color chemical tests were described in the literature. The present review covers the approaches for shooting distance estimation published in the last 10 years considering two types of target, clothing and skin.