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NIST and Noblis Seek Participants for Bullet Black Box Study

Are you a US firearms examiner who has conducted operational casework in the past year? NIST and Noblis are seeking participants for a bullet black-box study to evaluate the accuracy, repeatability, and reproducibility of bullet comparisons by firearms examiners.

Study Overview

Participants will conduct 100 comparisons over a period of approximately 6-7months. The test will be conducted by sending the physical samples to the participants in 10 packets, each of which contains 10 bullet sets for comparison. The test samples will be a range of bullets that will be collected under ground-truth controlled conditions, attempting to be as broadly representative of casework as practical. Firearms, calibers, and ammunition frequently encountered in casework will be used. Custom web-based software will be used to record examiner responses, and transmit responses back to the test administrators.

Interested in participating? Email Firearms@noblis.org. Additional details can be found on the NIST flyer.