Buffer Material

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Shotshell buckshot load, including white
polyethylene buffer material for
protecting the individual shot pellets

Courtesy of Jack Dillon

Buffer materials are a form of trace evidence most often detected in the microscopic examination of the clothing from a shotgun shooting victim. The physical appearance of buffer materials should be documented.

Buffer material is particulate in nature and usually composed of polyethylene or polypropylene. Many older buffer materials were pigmented (black, blue, light yellow), but currently are generally white in color. Shot pellets and the hollow bases of slugs fired from a shotshell containing buffer materials show microscopic impressions of the buffer material on their surface.

It may be possible through instrumental analysis of buffer particulate to determine the manufacturer/marketer.

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