Quote:
Originally Posted by copeab
Caseless ammo has bigger problems.
(1) Fragile: dropping a caseless round (even in a magazine) can cause the propellant to crack or completely break, leading to a malfunction.
(2) Malfunctions: to clear a malfunction on the G11 you essentially had to field strip the gun. For regular cased ammo, operating the bolt manually (to eject the unfired round and chamber a fresh round) is usually sufficient.
(3) Overheating: Brass cases absorb heat from the propellant exploding and are then ejected out of the gun. Caseless rounds don have this to get rid of some of the heat from firing and will overheat much faster.
No, caseless ammo is really a dead end.
(Talking about small arms here, not the ammo for larger cannons and howitzers)
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I think MetalStorm's digitally/electrically detonated caseless propellant is really the wave of the future. The US Navy successfully deployed a number of 40mm MetalStorm units as a close combat weapon on ships. The ammunition is reliable and the rate of fire is INSANE.