The future of rifle ammunition

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Nature Boy

Nature Boy

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Saw this article today. Also saw Sierra promoting it on social media

https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/true-velocitys-new-polymer-cased-ammunition/247607

From the article

I spent the good part of a morning doing accuracy testing with an Accuracy International AXMC rifle chambered in .308 Winchester. I tried everything I could think of to make this ammunition fail — and it didn't. The best five-shot group at 100 yards measured .33 inch.

Most telling for me was the chronograph data that I recorded on a LabRadar. The five-shot string I measured had an extreme spread (ES) of 8 feet per second (fps) and a standard deviation (SD) of 3.7. Those are exceptionally low numbers and evidence that all the effort in creating such a consistent case was worth it.
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I know the concept of polymer cased ammo has been around for a while and never panned out, but people are continuing to invest a lot of effort and resources into it to make it successful. My bet is eventually they will be successful.
 
The most interesting step, I believe, will be the transition to a cartridge specifically designed to optimize polymer case performance for a given caliber. The efficiency and performance dynamic we’ve seen in metallic cartridge design may not necessarily hold true as we shift into a world of polymer cases.

Naturally, the other questions a guy has to have: What happens to the reloader? What happens to the wildcatter?
 
Can the cases be reloaded? If not, I can see the tree huggers arguing it causes more pollution. I know that most people don’t reload. But guns can be finicky about what they like. And brass cases can be custom loaded to produce the best consistency. That goes for basic AR’s, to hunting rifles, to long range custom rifles.

Another concern is what chemicals can break the cases down. Being a polymer, it is susceptible to chemicals. And talk about a mess if one melted in your chamber because of residual cleaning product! They melted a round in a hot barrel. That gun then becomes completely useless. Because now you have a chamber, bolt, and mechanisms with polymers in them that will cause a failure. There’s no belt break, barrel change and cooling off.

From a military standpoint, I DEFINITELY see the benefit in weight reduction. But that’s the only advantage I see. Others may disagree.
 
I hope it works, Brass is heavy and expensive. I doubt that the cases can be reused but they should be available new very cheaply and more consistent than brass for reloaders. Time will tell.
 
saiga308 said:
Russian steel ammo rusts up in a months out in the field and dissolve in a year or 2 this stuff may last 10 years out in the field not good bad eye sore for us shooters
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There are plenty of biodegradable and UV-degradable polymers on the market. These could selectively last thousands of years, or last less than a few months.
 
Varminterror said:
Naturally, the other questions a guy has to have: What happens to the reloader? What happens to the wildcatter?
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That’s my concern. Will all my investment in reloading gear become obsolete when off the shelf ammo holds 1/3 MOA and has an ES less than 10 fps?

Also, the re-use of the case is what makes reloading relatively cost effective.
 
Used to order in PMC poly-cased by the pallet for re-sale and test firing.

ABSO-FRIKKEN-LUTELY LOVED that stuff.
Couldn't keep it in the shop and had to cut customers off every month when we ran low.

I'd love to have a half a pallet in my garage right now.

Semi-auto, full-auto, hot, cold.... Never failed us in any chamber of any gun. Lighter, less expensive and I never kidded myself about saving it for re-loading either.


Todd.
 
For the military it's a big plus, it can be a lot lighter and their new 6.8 cartridge does 80000+ psi. For a civilian I don't think so. Can't reload it, aren't carrying hundreds of rounds on their person and therefore don't care about the weight, and most people don't need, or necessarily want, 80000+ psi cartridges. Gun enthusiasts can also be quite conservative about new developments.
 
I just want to see a case. I somehow doubt that it’s mechanically fired (primer strike) because that has become too easy to replicate and reverse engineer. If it is still primer fired I don’t know how they will be holding a primer in because I have not yet seen a polymer that could hold something that small in place with that much force on it.

And there is already some scuttlebutt about it. Range workers are griping about extending m4 qual ranges to accommodate the new requirements and fussing about layouts. It may legitimately happen, at least in a select few units.
 
Varminterror said:
The most interesting step, I believe, will be the transition to a cartridge specifically designed to optimize polymer case performance for a given caliber. The efficiency and performance dynamic we’ve seen in metallic cartridge design may not necessarily hold true as we shift into a world of polymer cases.

Naturally, the other questions a guy has to have: What happens to the reloader? What happens to the wildcatter?
Click to expand...

Along those lines, the 6.8mm ammunition design that True Velocity submitted for the NGSW program seems to be optimized specifically for polymer cases and definitely looks a little different.

True-Velocity-6-8mm-770.jpg

https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/true-velocity-68mm-ammo-selected-army-program/367551
 
WestKentucky said:
If it is still primer fired I don’t know how they will be holding a primer in because I have not yet seen a polymer that could hold something that small in place with that much force on it.
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According to the article, the case head is steel. I assume it is insert molded with the polymer. It also looks like the shoulder and neck are formed separately and joined to the rest of the case in a secondary step
 
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In order to be useful, a polymer casing has to retain some of its, well, plastic nature. And we already know that shot shells (even with a metal base) don’t do so well when left loaded in a box magazine, due to ovalization of the case caused by the pressure of the round stack. This tells me that, as Varminterror has suggested, polymer cased ammo will become most viable when we change the shape of the case (e.g. move to a square cross section, as a possible example) to account for the polymer’s unique properties.
 
tbh the biggest problem with this seems to be the gun overheating. if someone could think of a way to have polymer absorb heat and take it out of the action like brass does, it would be great.
 
Garandimal said:
The metallic cartridge may go the way of the flint-lock... but it won't be because of a polymer cased round.

It will be from an ejectionless, enclosed bolt system consumable cased round.

Not really a today problem.




GR
Click to expand...


This, also with some sort of electronic ignition.
 
One thing I have always wanted to see for the handloaders is disposable cases. I think it would be neat if I could buy a bag of new primed steel or poly cases at an economical price that I could just my powder and bullet of choice in and shoot it. Steel cases would be perfect for this.
 
taliv said:
tbh the biggest problem with this seems to be the gun overheating. if someone could think of a way to have polymer absorb heat and take it out of the action like brass does, it would be great.
Click to expand...

According to the guns and ammo article, the polymer case results in lower chamber temperatures because the polymer doesn’t allow as much heat to conduct to the chamber. They give an example of a mini gun in the article, they could get a round to cook off after shooting brass but not after shooting polymer cartridges.
 
FWIW, True Velocity stated that they may have a civilian product offering sometime in 2019.

True Velocity currently is focused primarily on the international and domestic defense and law enforcement markets, but we recognize and appreciate the support our product is receiving from the civilian commercial market. We are exploring a number of options regarding commercial availability within the United States, and we anticipate announcements in that regard later in 2019. Stay tuned!
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If the ammo is lighter, more consistent, and less expensive then I can’t see a reason not to switch. Excepting nostalgia of course, I couldn’t go deer hunting with Grandpa’s pre-64 Model 70 Featherweight in 270 and load a polymer case into the chamber, that just seems out of place.
 
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