Ballistic gelatin is made to imitate the tissue of humans and animals. It is used primarily to test the performances of firearms ammunition. However, ballistic gelatin can also be extremely useful in forensics as well. In the case of forensics it is used to recreate bullet wounds of a certain crime, in hope to discover how the victim(s) was killed and what exact firearms and bullets were used. Ballistic gelatin was introduced to the public via television on the CSI series and on the show mythbusters, where they attempted to recreate the murder of JFK in hope to prove or disprove the magic bullet theory.

     Ballistic gelatin is primarily a solution of pork gelatin powder and water. However, a great deal of care and accuracy must be taken to ensure that the final gelatin is the right consistency to correctly model the properties of human tissue. In order to ensure that the gelatin forms properly a BB bullet from an airgun of a specific caliber is shot into it during one of the intermediary steps and the distance of penetration of the BB into the gelatin is measured. The bullet has to penetrate the gelatin at specific length at that step. The length changes based upon the caliber of the bullet used. This makes sure that the end product will have a consistency very close to the desired state.

     Ballistic gelatin can help to solve crimes involving firearms. To figure out the actual type of firearm or bullet used in a crime all potential weapons or bullets can be used on different gelatin blocks. The actual firearm or bullet used in the crime will be the one that had the most similar results to the actual shooting during the testing with the ballistic gelatin. The size of the wound, the condition of the bullet, the spreading of gunpowder around the wound, and the penetration of the bullet into the gelatin are some results that can be evaluated to determine the actual firearm and bullet used at the crime. While ballistic gelatin is still used primarily for testing the performances of firearm ammunition, it can still be extremely useful in the process of solving firearm related crimes.