Plastic Case Ammunition

[Bojo]

Questions are always popping up on this sit about either storing ammo or asking how low components last in storage.

I’d be 100% sure that any sort of plastic which would be even remotely affordable would more than likely deteriorate beyond safe use in just a pretty short time.
Think of plastic lawn chairs and how short lived they are.

 

[shoobe01]

Plastic outdoors degrades in UV light. There are stabilizers and lots of plastic things that are outside working well for decades. Go start whacking on stuff and notice that many of those telephone and electrical enclosures are plastic. The cheapest Walmart lawn furniture is: cheap.

Also "plastic" is a catch all. Like saying something is made of "metal." You pick the right material.

They are talked about plenty, but within military procurement circles. True Velocity is, apparently, very busy with military contracts for the NGSW. Here's one press release about it

True Velocity Extends Performance Benefits of 'Next Gen' 6.8 TVCM Cartridge to Currently Fielded Weapons

/PRNewswire/ -- Texas-based ammunition manufacturer True Velocity released a video today detailing the performance advantages of its proprietary 6.8 TVCM...

www.prnewswire.com

Civilian shooters will not care, reloaders will hate it. Individual soldiers may not care either way as weight reductions in one thing are always replaced with more things to carry. Entire armies care a lot because even a 10% reduction in weight is a massive windfall. Can go further, faster, or carry more stuff. Lighter small arms ammo is a good thing and transport costs are so high it's worth being more expensive, even.

 

[lb-ft]

Picked up a couple of the empty cases @ range a few months back. White plastic with what appeared to be steel heads. They're here, they're real and people are shooting them.

 

[hogpatrol]

Years ago, .223 ammo in plastic cases was all the rage. IIRC, that idea flopped too. Article from 2004.

Polymer-Cased .223 Rem. AR-15 Ammo: Fantastic, or Just Plastic? - Gun Tests

Gun Tests evaluates today’s most talked about handguns, rifles, shotguns and shooting accessories with utter, ruthless impartiality.

www.gun-tests.com

 

[wkdickinson]

Wasnt HK experimenting with composite cases some years ago. Mabie they still are. Seems like this is not new and there have been a few companies try but none have been successful so far.

They were working on "caseless" ammo. Big issue there as I recall was getting rid of the heat.

 

[Bojo]

A shift to non reloadable plastic cases in the civilian market would most definitely give those in power far more control of what we have availability to.

 

[hpshooter]

I remember a guy showing me some “experimental” plastic case ammo back in the ‘70s. They were triangular in shape with rounded corners.

If memory serves me correctly those rounds were called "Trounds" believe they were used in the Dardick pistol. I think the company also experimented with a light machine gun in which the rounds were feed from a hopper .

Also

 

[tommeboy]

Guy on YouTube bought a bunch. Has shot it out of about 7 guns. Gas and bolt. It is 1.5-2.25 MOA ammo. Had a few no fires trying to shoot them out of a ruger precision.

No thanks. Heck, Mexican matching Sierra matchking in a Russian steel case will get you moa

 

[Herzo]

Friend has some Textron 308, haven't fired it yet, reports are that in mini-guns it is more reliable than brass. Tested 7.62 x 51, 20 mm & 25 mm. Also produced in 105 mm.
Save your brass!

 

[Timmis2]

70 bucks for 20rds. No limit if you are so inclined.

Wasted a year at a company called "Polycase" and now called Inceptor. They originated polymer case ammunition (pistol ammo) and it flopped. They then began making a projectile with a cintered copper and polymer mix that has also gone nowhere.

there's a lot of online chatter about the Inceptor projo's now, but however much demand there may be seems to exceed the supply. I just got 500 56gr .355's to reload 380 and 9mm with them for range fun. Price is right. Some guys are getting 2300FPS in their 9mm carbines.