A FIREARMS expert yesterday showed Lord Cullen the type of guns that Thomas Hamilton used to kill 16 children and their teacher at Dunblane Primary School on March 13.

His dramatic testimony on all types of handguns legally available in the UK underlined the likelihood that certain weapons - and perhaps ammunition - would be banned for civilian use.

Crown questioning on the three types of gun - single shot, semi-automatic, and revolver - appeared to suggest a particular antipathy towards those capable of firing more than one bullet without manual reloading each time. Semi-automatics, increasingly used by criminals, came over to the hushed galleries at the inquiry as the most fearsome of handguns on display, with little purpose other than to kill or maim in the fastest possible time.

There are revolvers which can be fired even more rapidly than the semi-automatics, but reloading is slower and their chambers hold six bullets compared with the 20-round magazines for automatics.

Mr Alistair Paton, 53, who was Scotland's senior police forensic firearms examiner until setting up independently, also gave demonstrations on how easy it was to disable all three types of gun.

It took only seconds to break them down, suggesting a law could be introduced requiring owners to keep the component parts in different locations when not in use.

However, he also spent considerable time advising Lord Cullen on how semi-automatics and revolvers can be ``inactivated'' - transformed into single shot guns, which are used mainly for target shooting.

Mr Paton, a former Strathclyde police inspector, said that single-shot guns took between 10 and 15 seconds to reload between firing rounds - compared with Hamilton's semi-automatic rate within the primary school gymnasium of 20 rounds in 5.4 seconds.

A 9mm Browning pistol and a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver similar to those Hamilton used were shown to the inquiry by Mr Paton.

Hamilton's Browning had an extended barrel and a muzzle-weight to minimise ``muzzle flip'' for accuracy, and the hammer-spur ground down - a tactic to prevent snagging in holsters.

His magazines contained three different types of ammunition, round nose, hollow point, and semi-wad cutter, which were loaded in a particular sequence.

Mr Paton, who said semi-wad cutters were used by target shooters, had never come across such a loading system before, and had no explanation for it.

But he confirmed the soft nosed hollow points would be for maximum damage because they ``mushroom'' on entry.

Mr Paton acknowledged they were similar to ``dum-dum'' bullets outlawed for military use by the Hague Convention.

However, the soft-nosed hollow points are legal ammunition, often used in hunting, and, in particular, by American police forces.

Mr Paton, who also showed inert ammunition, said that rounds could be bought commercially with a firearms certificate or produced more cheaply at home.

The four components could be purchased separately without need for a firearms certificate. His evidence will continue on Monday.