Sometimes termed as “wound ballistics”, terminal ballistics is the study of a projectile's behaviour and effects when it impacts a target. It focuses on how the projectile transfers its energy, deforms, fragments, and ultimately causes damage. This field is essential for understanding the damage a bullet or projectile can inflict on a target, whether in forensic investigations or in assessing the capability of different types of ammunition.

Ballistic gel is a gelatinous substance engineered to simulate the properties of human tissue. It accurately replicates how flesh reacts to bullet impacts, making it a crucial tool in forensic investigations, medical research, and testing the safety of products like vehicle components. By imitating human tissue, ballistic gel enables experts to analyse factors such as wound channel formation, bullet fragmentation, penetration depth, and other ballistic effects.

Synthetic ballistic gel is an artificially formulated substance designed to mimic the density and behaviour of human tissue, offering enhanced features over natural ballistic gel. Its transparent nature allows for easy observation of projectile impacts, making it ideal for educational demonstrations and forensic analysis, while its temperature resilience ensures consistent performance regardless of environmental conditions. Additionally, being completely water-insoluble, it performs reliably in various settings, including outdoor scenarios where water is present. Its ability to be melted and reshaped for multiple tests also makes it a reusable and cost-effective solution for accurate ballistic testing and analysis.

Ballistic soap is a calibrated, ready-to-use substance designed to assess the penetration and damage caused by projectiles such as pistol or rifle rounds. Unlike ballistic gel, ballistic soap expands upon impact, preserving the temporary cavity for further analysis. This preserved cavity can be visually examined or filled with a casting powder mixture to create a cast, allowing for detailed weight and volume comparisons of different ammunition types over various ranges. It is particularly useful in fields like law enforcement, forensic science, and firearm development, where understanding terminal ballistics and projectile performance is essential, and its versatile configuration, such as arranging multiple blocks for larger calibers, provides an in-depth view of a projectile's behaviour.

Ballistic Sims (Heads, Torsos, Hands and Bodies/dummies) are life-size, complex combinations of ballistic gels and ballistic soaps that have been brought together to provide a simulated human form that can be used for a number of technical applications; such as forensic analysis, sniper training and PPE evaluation.

The Forensic Standard/FBI protocol refers to a specific calibration method for ballistic gel used in police and forensic testing. In this protocol, ballistic gel is prepared to a density of 10% by casting 250-260 Type A gel and maintaining it at 4.5°C (±1.5°C). A .177 caliber (4.5mm) steel BB is fired at a velocity of 590 fps (±15 fps) into the gel, and the resulting penetration is measured. The standard requires that the BB penetrate to a depth of 8.5 cm (±1 cm). This medium is meant to simulate an average density between muscle and fat.

The NATO standard density is a calibration used generally for military purposes where the target is more muscular. In this protocol, ballistic gel is prepared to a density of 20% by casting 250-260 Type A gel and maintaining it at 14°C (±1.5°C). This medium is meant to simulate muscle only and is firmer and more resistant to penetration.