Caseless Ammunition by VOID
Open full image in new tab Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.
Description
Some people sent me some questions about caseless ammunition because of my last two weapons pictures so I decided to clarify that with some explanations.
Caseless ammunition means that there is no brass casing around the propellant charge. The bullet, as seen on the glass model above and the cut model, is placed inside the propellant block. Everything but the bullet is burnt during the firing cycle, so there is no case to eject. This eliminates one part of the automatic firing cycle.
The normal cycle is as follows:
1. Ammo is chambered
2. Ammo is fired
3. Case is ejected
4. Mechanism recocks
Caseless ammunition eliminates the case ejection, thus eliminating one of the most problemativ issues with firearm reliability. It also speeds up the loading cycle dramatically and makes it possible to raise the rate of fire significantly. It also eliminates the neccessaty of an ejection ports. The mechanism of the weapon, means barrel, chamber and magazine, can be mounted inside the weapon on a hydraulically compensated rail, moving backwards while firing and delaying the recoil of the first 1-2 shots till the last has left the barrel. That improves reliability a lot.
However, caseless ammunition has its drawbacks. It is more complicated to remove a dull cartridge from the chamber and the quality of the ammo is much more important since propellant residues can endanger the weapons functionality.
Comments (18)
maciek
All clear now :) Thx and excellent work again :)
ShellShock
Cool! Thanks for the info!
SuperDrey69
thats pretty cool, but what exactly pushes the bullet out of the barrel? is the propellant included with the bullet, or is it loaded separately? plase clarify
VOID
The brown stuff around the bullet IS the propellant. The whole bullet is nearly completely encased in it.
BenN
Nice explenation for all the people that don't know that much about firearms, and of course (as you can expect ;) nicely done bullets.
VOID
Thanks. I hope this answers most peoples questions I had in my email and since I had the picture on my disc anyway, I thought it was a good idea to post it. :D
Silicium
One of the problems for caseless ammunition is the controlled burndown for the propellant. The burndown of powder in a brass cartridge is not that timecritical and so caseless ammunition is a rather late development in firearms history. The brass cartridge also protects the propellant against destructive mechanical and chemical influences. This mechanical protection is normally provided by the clip and you cant buy loose ammunition like brass cartridges. So caseless ammunition only makes sense for semiautomatic or automatic weapons.
tallpindo
It is good to see your interpretation of the all-up-round that can live for years unused and then spring into certain action at a moments notice.
tempest2001
So let me get this straight. The bullet is encased with a hardened type of powder that burns up in the chamber when fired. Where does the heat go and how is this propellent charged. Is there a primer like a standard bullet. I am kind of curious are these actually used or are these just your really good imagination.
nomenes
oh man... its always about weapons ha ?!?!? Whats next, possible a serious of silencer ??? Well, where the heck do you know so much about this destructive tools?
Moebius87
Need I say more?... :o)
pakled
since the only exit is the barrell, it all goes forward..;)
ravenwing75
Nice write up, it also means less sign that someone fired a weapon there and less chance of starting a fire with wayward shells, last two are a very nice side effect. Third is a silencer is more like to keep the weapon quiet as there is no 3. Case is ejected 4. Mechanism recocks to clatter and give you away.
VOID
X-Actly! ^_^
Charley2020
Great work.
harada
WoW!!! Great Render! Great design! Excellent work!!! Keep it up!! You are a weapons modeling Master!
Lifebane
Hey, thanks for explaining. I dont know if I can use such knowledge for something, but it is never possible to know too much, while it is possible to lack some piece of information.
pixeldump
Yeah, there are times when you need to fire FAST. And you can use small-cal ammo that is fired in very fast salvos of two or three rounds, which can really improve the stopping power of such weapon (imagine being hit in two places at once instead of just one). Check out the specs on the Russian Nikonov assault rifle. That's what it does.