Modern Caseless Firearms
One of the first caseless firearm and ammunition systems produced was actually made by Daisy, the airgun maker, in 1968. The V/L Rifle used a .22 caliber (5.5 mm) low powered caseless round with no primer. The rifle was basically a spring-piston air rifle, but when used with the V/L ammunition the energy from the compression of the piston heated the air behind the caseless cartridge enough to ignite the propellant, and this generated the bulk of the energy of firing. The Daisy V/L Rifle system was discontinued in 1969 after the ATF ruled that it was not an airgun, but a firearm, which Daisy was not licensed to produce.
Several assault rifles have used caseless ammunition. One of the better-known weapons of this type is the G11 made by Heckler & Koch. Although the rifle never entered full production, it went through a number of prototype stages as well as field testing before being put aside in favour of a more conventional firearm, the G36, which was also cheaper.
The first commercial caseless rifle featuring electronic firing was the Voere VEC-91.
In January 1969 the US Army deployed their then new aluminum built M551 Sheridan tanks to Vietnam. The Sheridan fired combustible-cased ammunition from its 152mm main gun. When the breech was opened after firing, only smoke exited from the chamber.
The Rheinmetall RMK30 was designed to use 30x250mm caseless rounds.
Read more about this topic: Caseless Ammunition
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