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The first step in the Comparison Process is to test fire the firearm into a water tank in the lab. The second step involves using a comparison microscope to compare the test bullet to the bullet recovered from the victim or crime scene.

Ammunition is measured by the bullet's diameter, which is known as ?caliber?. The caliber can be measured in both inches and millimeters (mm). Depending on where it was invented, ammunition is measured in millimeters or inches.

Caliber usually is measured as the diameter of the bore from land to opposite land and is expressed in hundredths of an inch, thousandths of an inch, or millimeters. For example, a . 270-caliber rifle bore measures 270/1000ths of an inch in diameter between the lands and has a larger bore diameter than a .

For roughly a century, forensic ballistics experts have been comparing bullets and cartridge cases by visually examining them under a split-screen microscope. After comparing the bullets, the examiner can offer an expert opinion as to whether they match but cannot express the strength of the evidence numerically.

As the bullet is propelled through the barrel, the grooves exert a rotational force on the metal surface that's so strong it leaves marks. Under a microscope, these striae are all distinctive and different ? and they will correspond to the grooves inside the barrel of the gun that fired the bullet.

With the help of Charles Waite, the two researched and collected data from all known firearms manufacturers. Results were compiled and a database created to house this information. It was the most comprehensive ballistics database of its time.

Stereo microscopes are used to determine basic class characteristics of fired bullets, bullet fragments and cartridge/shotshell cases.

If investigators recover bullets or cartridge cases from a crime scene, forensic examiners can test-fire a suspect's gun to see if it produces ballistic fingerprints that match the evidence.

To figure out if a bullet could have originated from a specific firearm, however, a forensic firearm and toolmark examiner uses an instrument called a comparison microscope to compare a questioned bullet (one recovered from a crime scene, for example) to bullets test fired from a suspect firearm.

Ballistics experts may go to crime scenes to collect evidence or may spend a good part of their day analyzing the evidence to study the firearms and perform ballistics fingerprinting, which involves assessing the marks left on weapons to determine which weapon was used in a shooting.