Exploring Technology in a Wizard World-Chapter 539 - 537: Shellless Magic Bullet Power Test

Eden, several days later.

Mechanical Processing Sector, Laboratory.

With a "snap," amid the flames, the extremely sturdy alloy cartridge shattered once again, and Richard slightly shook his head in disappointment.

This was one of his many experiments that had solved some problems, but was stuck on the material of the cartridge.

The cartridge was loaded with Magic Salt, a super high-energy material whose destructive power far exceeded that of conventional explosives, and could even shatter an alloy cartridge. In this case, during firearm shooting, not only would the cartridge fail to eject, but it would also leave metal fragments in the barrel, which, in severe cases, might cause the barrel to explode with subsequent shots.

To solve this problem, there were indeed solutions, such as reinforcing the thickness of the cartridge or changing to a sturdier alloy material.

But this would inevitably increase the volume and weight of the bullet. If a single bullet was as big as a shell, why would we need bullets at all? Wouldn’t it be easier just to produce shells?

Richard sat in front of the processing table in the laboratory, tapping the surface of the table with his fingers, producing a "tap tap tap" sound, continuously pondering.

What he urgently needed now was a light and incredibly sturdy metal material to make the cartridge for Magic Bullets. But such material was difficult to find, or difficult to produce if it met the criteria.

So what to do?

Would he be stuck here?

After thinking for a long time, Richard suddenly had a change of thought, raised his eyebrows, and muttered to himself, "Am I, perhaps, too fixated on this? If many metals can’t meet the requirements of Magic Bullets, would it be so bad to go without a cartridge?"

Right, without a cartridge.

Caseless Bullet!

If bullets in this world were classified by function, they could be divided into many types: Ordinary Bullet, Dual Bullet, Armor-piercing Bullet, Tracers, Incendiary Bomb, Explosive Bullet, Blank Bullet, Strongly Loaded Bullet, Signal Flare... and so on.

But if classified by the presence or absence of a cartridge, it was very simple: there were only two types - cased and caseless.

The majority of bullets popular on Earth are cased bullets, but according to history, the first to appear were caseless bullets.

Caseless ammunition refers to discarding the cartridge and directly forming the bullet propellant into a solid block that connects to or encases the bullet.

During the early development of firearms—during the American Civil War, when front-loading smoothbore guns were popular—a way to improve firing speed and simplify loading was to pack the propellant and primer together into a paper cartridge. When fired, the paper cartridge would burn with the propellant, eliminating the need to eject the cartridge, which could be considered a rudimentary form of caseless ammunition.

Later as firearms continued to evolve, due to reliability and other reasons, cased ammunition gradually replaced caseless ammunition. However, after World War II, many countries, including the United States and Germany, invested significant efforts in researching caseless ammunition.

This is because caseless bullets, compared to cased bullets, have many irreplaceable advantages.

The caseless ammunition developed after World War II was not the paper cartridge from the American Civil War, but instead involved mixing a certain proportion of combustible binder with no residue into the propellant, first forming a complete, solid propellant column with a certain strength. Then, a bullet was fixed to the end of the propellant column, and a primer was fixed in another step, completing the manufacture.

The major advantage of this method is that it results in a smaller volume and lighter weight, reducing more than half. Additionally, because of the smaller volume, lighter weight, and no need for case ejection, the firing system’s rate of fire would be greatly improved, and the recoil drastically reduced.

Taking the influential German HK Company’s G11 caseless ammunition rifle as an example, it could reach a sustained firing rate of 600 rounds per minute. And if it’s a three-round burst, the short-term rate of fire could even soar to 2200 rounds per minute, meaning that in 0.08 seconds, three bullets could be successively fired. Because the recoil was minimal, the point of impact for these three bullets was very concentrated, extremely precise, and far exceeded the accuracy of ordinary rifles firing cased ammunition.

Of course, caseless ammunition had many drawbacks, otherwise, cased ammunition would not be the norm.

Firstly, in terms of storage and transportation, it was relatively dangerous; after all, it was a propellant column construction, not as sturdy as a metal cartridge. Upon impact, it could easily break and explode.

And in the event of an explosion, with the exposed propellant columns all around, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Furthermore, there was the issue of the propellant igniting by itself.

Generally speaking, cased bullets can remove some of the heat generated after firing by ejecting the casing, thereby reducing the temperature of the gun barrel. Caseless bullets don’t eject casings and naturally lack this effect, leading to a continuous rise in gun barrel temperature during rapid-fire, eventually becoming extremely hot.

Caseless bullets, lacking the protection of a casing, have their propellant exposed directly to the outside. If the gun barrel temperature is excessive, it’s very easy for the propellant to ignite spontaneously, causing it to fire on its own.

However, these problems, in Richard’s view, weren’t really problems.

For example, regarding the conservation issue, he could perfectly store the ammunition in a Space Iron Ring, taking them out only when needed. This approach was sufficiently convenient, completely eliminating concerns about collision.

As for the excessive temperature of the gun barrel, a cooling system could be created to solve the issue. There was no need for complicated water or air cooling; using a Magic Rune to simulate the spell effect of a Shape-shifting Water Element Ice Branch would suffice. After all, if the bullets were upgraded to Magic Bullets, it was only natural for firearms to evolve into Magic Guns.

Since that was the case...

Richard stood up and began to get busy.

...

In the blink of an eye, several days later.

Still in Eden.

The Magic Testing Field of Eden.

After the catastrophe during the last test of the 237 alloy’s power, Richard learned from the experience and completely remodeled the Magic Testing Field.

The most significant change was the reduction of the overall height of the testing field.

In other words, Richard dug a massive pit and installed the Magic Testing Field inside it. This way, even if the residual forces from the magic tests managed to escape the pit, they would be greatly weakened, making it quite difficult to flatten the many buildings of Eden once again.

At that moment, at the bottom of the pit in the Magic Testing Field of Eden, Richard stood looking toward a spot more than thirty meters away where there was an alloy humanoid metal target, extremely sturdy.

After a long look, Richard pulled out a pistol.

The pistol was incredibly crude in design, with a notably long and thick barrel at the front and a small, delicate handle attached behind.

Beyond that, there was nothing.

Indeed, nothing—no trigger, no firing pin, nothing at all. This was because the caseless bullet design that Richard had developed was somewhat different from those on Earth.

The bullet was made of 315 alloy, which wasn’t worth mentioning.

Behind the bullet, a column of propellant made from Magic Salt and a special kind of mucus.

The mucus was called Molten Rock Blood, derived from the secretions of a Demonized Toad, widely used by Wizards as casting materials for Fire Magic.

This mucus was extremely viscous, hardening into an incredibly resilient solid. Upon the injection of even a minute amount of Mana or Free Energy Elements, it could combust completely in a remarkably short time.

Richard combined this mucus with Magic Salt without setting any primer, intending to use Free Energy Elements to directly initiate the reaction. This would result in lower recoil, and if the target was stationary, there was a high chance of hitting the target with subsequent bullets if the first shot landed.

Of course, for Richard, the most critical aspect was the power of the caseless bullet.

Richard continued to hold the pistol with an oversized barrel in one hand, while the other hand produced a caseless bullet. He opened a slot at the back of the pistol, inserted it, and then closed it.

Ready to go, Richard lifted his hand, holding the Magic Pistol, and aimed at the humanoid metal target.

...

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