[jsalcedo]

If a major ammunition company asked you to develop a cartridge so that they could put it into a new commercial firearm to boost sales and spark renewed interest in "fill in the blank" shooting.

What would it be?
Caliber, velocity, projectile type platform, purpose, packaging, price.
What would you name it?

I'm wondering if any of us have similar ideas.

[4v50 Gary]

Caseless, electronically fired ammunition. Magazine? Well, how about adapting some sort of house hold container that is readily available so as to escape any high capacity ban? Say you have a 16 oz water bottle with an insert. Being electronically fired, batteries could be bought at the hardware store or Radio Shack or Supermarket.

[jsalcedo]

I was thinking along the lines of a .60 caliber straight-walled rimfire.
aluminum cased firing a 500 grain bullet at around 450 to 500 FPS.

The round could be used in a 4 shot shot revolver or maybe a carbine.

The ammo would be cheap to manufacture and could be loaded with multiple tuna cans of 100 grains each, prefragmented, heavy shot load or
one giant slug.

I would call it .600 brunswick (because it would hit like a bowling ball)

[hammer4nc]

A variety of micro-miniature HE shaped charge projectiles...for different applications. Terminal energy not merely a product of mass and velocity. Imagine the lowly .22lr being suitable for infantry warfare (vastly increase soldier's ammo capacity); or big game hunting. .45acp packing the punch of a .50bmg. It sounds so obvious, I can't imagine why it hasn't been invented yet!

[gbran]

How about a bottlenecked .224 for semi-auto pistols. Maybe a slow and easy FN or SWC for small game or plinking and a 50-55 gr JHP screamer for protection and a FMJ for penetration. I'd use a compact SA platform with a 4" and interchangeable 6" bbl for different shooting needs. It would have a full length scope rail to accept red dots or other scopes. It would have a capacity of 10+1 min. I'd hope for 2,000+ fps and maybe 600+ ft/lbs

[C.R.Sam]

A variety of micro-miniature HE shaped charge projectiles...for different applications. Terminal energy not merely a product of mass and velocity....It sounds so obvious, I can't imagine why it hasn't been invented yet! Sorta has. The S&W 17-2 uses RamSet .22 blanks to propell .53 caliber projectiles. Several types. Amongst them are shaped charges and HE.

Sam

[Andrew Wyatt]

a 10mm case lengthened to 35 or 40mm, necked down to 6mm.

[sensop]

A cartridge that has exactly the same dimensions as a .22 LR, but that takes a small pistol primer. Those heeled bullets could still be a problem though. I can't see reloading a .22 LR becoming economically feasible, with bulk prices the way they are, but precision handloads might be possible and fun. Anyone that has paid for "match" .22 ammo knows.

[Hand_Rifle_Guy]

I want a .50 ACP. I'd call it .50 ACP.

Great big bullets, loafing along at 650-750 fps. 285-300 grains, or so?

Big is good. Bigger is better.

[MagKnightX]

Hmmm. What about commercially manufacturing and selling .30 Tokarev necked down to .223? We could have our own little Five-seveNs. I'll need to ponder this...

[FireInTheHole]

Ill second the caseless project. Maybe use a liquid propellent? "15mL high-cap mags!"

[AJ Dual]

Hmmm. What about commercially manufacturing and selling .30 Tokarev necked down to .223? We could have our own little Five-seveNs. I'll need to ponder this...

Sorry, it's been done. :o

Called the .223 Timbs from Quality Cartridge. It's 7.62x25 loaded with .223 in a .30/.22 plastic accelerator sabot.

The FPS is smokin. :D

[MagKnightX]

So lose the sabot and just neck it down.

[seeker_two]

I wouldn't develop a NEW cartridge as much as improve the performance of the CURRENT ones. Imagine...

...a .25ACP w/ the energy of a .22mag/.32ACP...

...a .32ACP w/ the energy of a .38spl +P...

...a 9mmP w/ the energy of a .38Super+P...

...a .357mag loaded like the original loads...

...and a .45ACP that would run even w/ the Norma 10mm loads.

Enough to make a guy giddy...:evil:

[jsalcedo]

A cartridge that has exactly the same dimensions as a .22 LR, but that takes a small pistol primer.

It would be cool just to get the empty rimfire cases and a bottle of priming compound.

I don't think retrieving .22lr shell cases, resizing and reloading them would be fun at all ;)

[Destructo6]

7.62x45 and call it something cool, like ".308 Improved" so people think it's a new cartridge.

[Mikul]

1) I'm with Seeker_two. Why not pump the pressures of the .380 up until we reach 9mm velocities? It could be done with the right powder and high quality steel in the barrels.

2) Variable bullet/charge gun. Separate the projectile from the propellant. The projectile supply would be the consistency of coarse sand. The composition would dump into the chamber and when fired would pressure-weld together to form a solid slug. The propellant could be in any state and fed into it's own chamber. Slug weight and propellant charge could be selected on the fly. I envision a partitioned chamber with room for the projectile material up front, the propellant behind it and a glorified spark plug at the rear to ignite the propellant. The partition would have to get out of the way once the "round" was ready. A smoothbore version would be the most flexible and the easiest to engineer, but longer range, rifled versions seem possible.

[Dionysusigma]

Redevelop the 7.62x39, make the sides parallel instead of tapered, and call it something like .308 AE or whatever.

[Standing Wolf]

I'd like to see a slightly stretched .38 special loadable to higher pressures.

Oh. Wait. Sorry. I guess it's been thought of already.

Well, in that case, I'd like to see a slightly stretched .44 special loadable to higher...

That, too, eh?

[duckfoot]

A .22lr necked down to .10cal 10grain btfmj call it the Pixie 10

[furetto7]

.221 Elmo, a .50 BMG case necked down to .221, fired from a single shot, bolt action rifle. Muzzle velocity of 4.5 miles per second designed to kill prairie dogs around the curature of the earth.

[spacemanspiff]

7.62x25

[MessedUpMike]

A way to convert modern firing weapons to a reliable caseless

[Sean Smith]

Picture a .45 Glock case, but with small rifle primers & made with a thicker web area. Then neck it down to accept .400" bullets.

10mm UltraShortMagnum (USM). :evil: