[elmer fudd]

The Germans spent decades trying to perfect caseless cartridges and even had a working prototype rifle. They finally gave up on it in the early 90's. There are a lot of advantages to caseless ammunition, but there are some major problems too. The Ammo was fragile and the guns tended to overheat. It seems that an overlooked benefit of cased ammo is that it serves to help cool the rifle. The hot brass that is ejected contains heat energy that would otherwise overheat the rifle. The Germans had to use ceramics and some tricky chemistry to avoid cookoffs and meltdowns.

[RadioAstronomer]

Thanks. :-) I knew there were a lot of folks here smarter than I am on this issue. :-)

[Axenolith]

Wasn't that the G-12? I have a solid brass model of one of the rounds and a white paper on it from the 80's. Neat concept would be cool if it worked...

[Poohbah]

The Germans spent decades trying to perfect caseless cartridges and even had a working prototype rifle. They finally gave up on it in the early 90's.

Actually, the G11-K2 was ready for issue in 1990. The budget got axed when German reunification hit--the need was less urgent, and money was needed elsewhere.