FIELD: criminalistics. SUBSTANCE: essence of new method of determining sequence of shooting resided in that experts examined soot deposited on external surfaces of used cartridge cases to judge sequence of shooting from obtained results. Soot was removed from surfaces of each used cartridge case with the aid of ashless filter wetted by nitric acid solution (10 percent by mass), each filter was ashed and content of antimony, tin and lead in obtained residue was estimated. Sequence of shooting was determined based on incremental values of concentration of identified elements. EFFECT: higher effectiveness of determining sequence of first three shots made from clean and smeared fire-arms due to enhanced accuracy. 1 tbl
