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I believe its time to think way over this and basically rethink what we really need in the future. Future handheld lightweight arms should not have to rely upon chemical components to achieve pressures designed to accelerate sometimes limited amounts of materials such as copper, lead and steel,tungsten,DU etc. Increased battle loads per weight the main criteria that evolved modern days ammunition from .78 minnie ball, 45-70, 30-40 Krag. 300-06 Springfield, .308 Nato and current 5.56 Nato and other calibers in same size class, smaller cartridges relate to more rounds available for the soldier. What we need is caseless rounds of common materials such as aluminum, glass or ceramics boosted to hypervelocity speeds, portable railguns come to mind such as used in Hollywood movies like The Eraser Or the development of close quarter armaments using pressure waves such as in the futuristic movie Minority Report. 1 billion rounds in a heavy conflict such as like mass warfare seen in WW2 would be shot out in a few days especially with the use of modern rotary cannons. The days of the "bullet" are numbered.