Inspired by Nolo's thread, I decided to get my designs for a caseless munition on the computer and show it to you all; and ask your opinions.  Constructive critisism is good!


1. 7mm bullet, 25.4mm length, steel core--non armor piercing, copper FMJBT.
2. Colored tip for identification.
3. Strong 'powder' charge encases part of the bullet and holds it securely in place.
4. Grooves in bullet increase charge's grip on the bullet.
5. Combustion channel. (Where everything goes boom)
6. Propellant charge.  Hard, compact substance, extremely clean burning; resistant to moisure; non-britle.
7. Groove in charge, may be omited from design depending on the design of the firearm.
8. Primer charge.  Impact explosive; the firing pin with have a large flat head.  Primer charge will ignite the inside area of the propellant charge.

The entire charge (cartridge) will be about 45-50mm, depending on the bullet used.  There is no case, everything but the bullet will burn off cleanly.  From this design, the charge should be durable so that it does not break in half.  The firearm that I have roughly design to fire this charge has a bolt design which will be recoil operated; the bolt head will be shaped in such a way that it will keep the chamber sealed to allow complete burning of the charge during the beginning part of the bolt's reward movement during recoil.  No ejection port, ejector or extractor; YAY!

When the primer is impacted by the firing pin, a spark/flame will be sent into the hollow channel in the propellant charge, thus igniting the internal area of the propellant charge.  When this happens, the charge will 'quickly' burn similar to a rocket engine, thus propelling the bullet out of the barrel.

What happens to your primer?  And have you made allowance for a "kicker" or do you not need one?

What happens to your primer?  And have you made allowance for a "kicker" or do you not need one?

What I need to do is shorten the length of the charge that is contacting the bullet; this way the point of maximum outer diameter on the bullet will be stabalized in an unrifled breach.  Read below for the primer.

I don't understand the reasoning behind a firing pin with a "large flat head".  Crushing the combustible primer to fire will take more of a blow than indenting it with a regular firing pin which shears the granular structure of the initiator.

The primer consists of one solid material, which is ignited upon hard impact (the firing pin).  After the priper does what it does best, there will be nothing left of it.  Having a large flat head will cause more of the primer material to ignite at once.

the trick is the compositon of the propellant block to burn like gunpowder and be strong enough to stand handling

That is the trick, isn't it; I am going to need to make good friends with a chemist.

The problems with caseless ammo are numerous and big.
Can they be solved? I happen to think so. However, IMO, plastic-cased ammo is where it's at. There's a lot of good things to be said about plastic-cased ammo, and it gives you 90% of the advantages of caseless ammo (when done properly) with about 10% of the problems.

You're right, but, I think the thought of caseless ammunition is more attractive; if it is accomplished.  The largest problem I see is making a propellant which will burn very cleanly (to prevent jamming), be very solid and flexable, and I need to develop a reliable action.  That'll take some doing.

I look forward to working to resolve those problems.