PCP ammo - polymer cases

[dmh]

Has anyone looked at this yet? This could either suck real bad or be really cool .. if they were expensive but lasted forever that would be amazing. Probably don't have to trim too, ha

http://www.pcpammo.com/products.html

Lightweight Polymer Cased Ammunition has been developed using a patent pending process and design and will soon be availablefor purchase. PCP Ammunition continues to solve many of the issues plaguing previous technology developmental attempts of producing a polymer based cartridge through new patented designs and material selection. Ongoing performance evaluation and assessments has produced comparable performance to brass cartridges with weight savings of over 50% for the case alone or 25%-30% of loaded brass ammunition.
These state of the art cartridges can be loaded using standard loading equipment using a wide range of bullets to meet the needs of ground and air tactical units. Early performance evaluation both ballistic and environmental has shown the potential for greater accuracy, reduced weapon wear, and higher reliability over conventional brass ammunition. PCP Ammunition is in continuous development of new cartridge calibers and additionally, polymer links for belt fed individual and crew served weapons to enhance operator performance and mobility of all warfighters.

[JLA]

I used to make plastics many years ago when i worked in thermal plastics. youd be suprised how strong some of that stuff is.

[dmh]

oh heck yeah. I can't even break damn tupperware these days. you think it will fatigue from sealing the chamber and eventually wear out though?

[JLA]

oh sure, especially in the higher pressure rounds. I bet they have used some sort of reinforced impact grade polymer. 'Impacts' like nylon, exxelon, kydex, etc have an extreme elasticity, that why they call them impact grade, and some of them can be formulated to flex without stressing at all, kydex is one that comes to mind, you can bend it plum in two and it will spring back. but under the heat and pressure in a firearms chamber its bound to give sooner ro later... heat is plastic's only weakness IMO

[woolleyworm]

Originally Posted by dmh

oh heck yeah. I can't even break damn tupperware these days. you think it will fatigue from sealing the chamber and eventually wear out though?

I am pretty certain that they're only a one shot deal, reloading them would be out of the question IMO. Great for weight savings and corrosion resistance though!

[johnlives4christ]

the article says they are reloadable. pretty neat in a way. i would think it would eliminate the problems of case lengthening and brass flow. imagine being able to make target ammo and reload the cases 100+ times.

dunno so much that i like the idea of more plastic stuff though. always something they're converting to plastic. wonder if powder would eat into it over time. like over decades

[JLA]

I doubt it, they have been using plastic powder containers for about the last 20 years or so and none have been eaten thru

[old semperfi]

i dont know about that particular brand,but there was a plastic reloadable 38 special over twenty years ago.it had a white case and a real wierd gilded bullet.the bullet was round and had a flat end like a wad cutter.the end of the bullet had a notch that locked into the case.