A double-barreled muzzle-loading pistol was used to kill the former Japanese prime minister, an expert believes.

FORMER JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was killed with what was believed to be a self-made firearm on Friday near the Nara train station. The police were still quite silent about the details of the weapon at their press conference on Friday.

It was reported at the event that it was a double-barreled weapon and similar pistol-like objects were found in the suspect's home. An unknown suspect bought the gun parts on the internet.

According to the police, the suspect has said that he shot Abe with a self-made gun.

Some pictures of the weapon used by the suspect were also recorded from the shooting incident that took place at noon Japan time. At Ilta- Sanomi 's request, weapons engineer Tapio Suihko assessed what kind of weapon it was.

Suihko is a retired engineer lieutenant colonel of Kuopio Armory 1, gunsmith, weapon custodian, and repairer. He has also written Finnish-language textbooks on weapon technology.

The technology of the gun was best revealed to Suihko from the photo of the Associated Press news agency, where the gun can be seen from the side with the handles.

- Judging from the picture, it is a double-barreled, muzzle-loading pistol assembled from non-rifled pieces of pipe, Suihko estimates.

- The rear end of the pistol seems to have metal caps as the impact base and batteries under the gun.

Based on the picture, you can also estimate what kind of ammunition was possibly used in the weapon.

- From the power cords visible under the gun, it can be concluded that the gunpowder charge is loaded from the mouth of the barrel, then the intermediate plug and the bullet.

According to Suihko, this is not the only option for the dream in question.

- Both barrels of the pistol could have been loaded with one or several metal balls and then a plug that kept them inside.

The powder in the gun is apparently ignited by an electrically ignited teddy bear. The firepower of such a weapon is based on the rapid burning of gunpowder in a closed space. It creates a high pressure of powder gas, which propels the bullet to travel approximately 100-300 meters per second.

If it hits a person, the effect is fatal.

Nara University Hospital representatives told a news conference on Friday that the former prime minister died of massive bleeding and that a bullet had lodged in his heart.

ACCORDING TO AN EYEWITNESS INTERVIEWED BY THE JAPANESE public broadcaster NHK, Abe was shot twice with a gun. A first shot was fired from a "toy" gun and succeeded in deceiving the then-prime minister, but following the second shot, a larger gun was heard to be firing and caused more of a commotion. The witness said that the second shot was louder and more like an explosion than anything they had ever heard before.

Suihko concludes the following from this description of the event.

- The first Shot may have had less gunpowder or it did not burn quickly because it was not tightly loaded. In the Second Shot, the ignition and burning must have been more successful.

You can see with the naked eye that the gun looks like a piece of wood put together with black tape, with wires peeking out from the base of the handle.

- It doesn't seem like the work of a gunsmith, Suihko states.