[Ultra Tech] Increased Firearm Power with TL

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Are modern small arms using propellants at this limit? I know there has been talk of using high explosives as propellants, but maybe those aren't shelf-stable or are otherwise unfeasible, and we're stuck with modern smokeless. Or maybe there could be a dramatic breakthrough of some flavor.

Not 'talk of' - stabilised high explosive was the propellant for the G11's careless ammo, and it was accepted for service. The compound they came up with has a much higher cook-off temperature than conventional smokeless propellant, which solved the problems they were having with cook-offs due to the loss of heat sinking via metal cases (and also possibly because of the sealed nature of the mechanism).