Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: military@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Caseless ammo
Message-ID: <10311@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 18 Oct 89 02:48:44 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 19
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: att!utzoo!henry
>From: wdstarr@athena.mit.edu (William December Starr)
>... "caseless" ammo or rounds.  Does anyone know anything
>about the general specifications of the stuff? ...

The idea has been around for a good many years:  cartridge cases are
expensive to make, and having to eject them from the gun is a considerable
design headache, so why not make the propellant durable enough to hold
its shape without a case?  It generally hasn't worked well in practice,
though:  the propellants have not proved durable enough for realistic
handling in a wide range of conditions, and there have been problems with
things like chamber leakage (one significant function of the case is to
expand slightly during firing and seal the breech tightly).  People keep
trying; somebody will eventually make it work.

                                     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
                                 uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu