(vanity) NATEC polymer cased ammunition...the future?

NATEC ammunition ^ | 3/22/2005 | Dr Nabil Hussaini

[Sender]

Yeah caseless ammo posed some considerable problems. It was a nice idea, but flawed. Water and mechanical damage were obvious threats, as well as the idea of having extremely flammable propellant exposed to ??? Plastic-cased ammo solves all those flaws.

[Echo Talon]

how much weight asvings do you get with the new ammo? have you weighed 1 bullet of the new stuff and one bullet of the old stuff... with the same powder charge and projectile. or hell weight both empty cases :P

[Sender]

I will weigh them both...let me find my powder scale...

[Echo Talon]

Not sure if you can reload these, probably not... do they use Berdan primer's? Seems to me that it would only make sense as they are cheaper.

[Sender]

Brass-cased standard military 55-grain ball ammo weighs about 176 grains or 0.366 Troy ounces.

Polymer-cased standard military 55-grain ball ammo weighs about 136 grains or 0.283 Troy ounces.

So in round terms, if a soldier can carry a loadout of 200 rounds of brass-cased ammo, he can carry about 260 rounds of polymer-cased ammo at the same weight. 60 extra rounds is a nice feeling. And if they eliminate the brass end cap, figure about 300 rounds instead of 200 for the same weight.

[Sender]

I think they are regular boxer primed since the end plug is brass, but no, they cannot be reloaded. "Loading" them involves molding the case around a bullet...only once.

[Echo Talon]

thanks for the numbers :D I wonder if they will switch to berdan primers to save some cost. I mean why not.

[Paperpusher]

Some feeding problems have been noticed in some rifles and the Gov did not go for plastic ammo that was not almost 100% able to go bang, so Natec went out of business. This ammo is now selling for .20 a round. Anyone here have problems with it? If one or two per 1000 ftf or fte I would still like some for plinking.

[Sender]

The NATEC website is still up and I see some of the ammo sellers have it for reasonable prices. Are you sure they went out of business?

[ExSES]

NATEC polymer cased ammunition...the future?

Looks like it will prosper far more than the "Tround" of many decades ago! For those interested..., do a google search. It was a triangular cased round made of (I think) nylon. It allowed a greater number of rounds in a magazine due to eliminating the waste space between traditional "round" rounds!

[Sender]

I did see a bad review of the early ammo where several case necks cracked and one completely separated, keeping the next round from chambering.

I think if they haven't worked it out yet, they will soon.

[ExSES]

See:

http://www.smallarmsreview.com/pdf/Natecammo.pdf

For info on a test last year...

[Paperpusher]

Yes, they went bankrupt. Equipment was sold in March. Get plastic ammo now if you want some.