Which statement best describes terminal ballistics?

Which statement best describes terminal ballistics?

• A. The study of bullet flight during ascent.
• B. The synchronization of firing pins.
• C. The bullet behavior on impact, including expansion, penetration, fragmentation, and their effects on wound channels and stopping power.
• D. External ballistic calculations.

Answer: (C)

Terminal ballistics studies what happens to a bullet after it strikes a target—how it deforms, expands, penetrates, or fragments and how those behaviors shape the wound channel and the overall stopping power. This area explains why some bullets create larger, more devastating wound paths while others penetrate deeper with different tissue disruption, and how design and velocity influence those outcomes. The other topics aren’t about what happens at impact: bullet flight during travel (external ballistics), firing-pin timing (internal mechanisms), or calculating flight paths in the air (external ballistic calculations).

Terminal ballistics studies what happens to a bullet after it strikes a target—how it deforms, expands, penetrates, or fragments and how those behaviors shape the wound channel and the overall stopping power. This area explains why some bullets create larger, more devastating wound paths while others penetrate deeper with different tissue disruption, and how design and velocity influence those outcomes. The other topics aren’t about what happens at impact: bullet flight during travel (external ballistics), firing-pin timing (internal mechanisms), or calculating flight paths in the air (external ballistic calculations).