Kraut Space Magic: the H&K G11
Why Hacker News recommends it
Cited as an example of overly ambitious engineering, such as brittle caseless ammunition and heat-ejection problems.
What it is
Forgotten Weapons examines the Heckler & Koch G11, a West German experimental rifle built around a caseless cartridge. The video covers the G11K2 and its unusual technology before its cancellation for political and economic reasons.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2019 to 2019.
What Hacker News said
Cites ajmarsh · 2019-01 · on “The Overloaded Soldier: Why U.S. Infantry Now Carry More Weight Than Ever”
Yep, the G11. Turns out with all its other problems caseless ammo is brittle, so if you drop a round it breaks. Not super practical in the field. [this video]
Cites Balgair · 2019-06 · on “US Navy's Railgun Now Undergoing Tests in New Mexico”
One important difference is heat management. Electric weapons are super neat. Their specs can put the projectile very kenetic, they can uitilize more exotic energy sources, etc. However, in terms of a man portable gun, they just really don't have the specs needed. Sure, we can make them more ruggeded and more effective at lower KE output. But a major issue for a man portable gun is heat. Heat causes expansions and affects ductility, ductility and expansion cause jams. Jams mean you're dead. It turns out that the brass cartridge is really really good at getting hot and then taking that heat with it as it is ejected. The HK-G11 is a good example of the issues that the lack of heat ejection can
Cites natmaka · 2019-12 · on “Centrifugal Machine Guns”
In a similar vein the H&K G11 also had ambitious objectives and was shock-full of clever ideas, however such beasts make the KISS principle (rather decisive for a weapon) difficult to follow. [this video]