40mm Grenade vs Alien Head

[Gr33n M4n]

The spent casings were not supposed to be seen, and the ammunition is caseless in lore. There are shell casings coming out of the M56 Smartguns, to.

[Local Trouble]

Also spent propellant casts.

[Xenomrph]

The point of caseless ammo is to save weight and not have anything to eject. If it's ejecting casings, it's not caseless ammo.

But they're not casings, they're spent propellant casts. 

Wouldn't that negate the purpose of casings (less weight, nothing to eject), then?

[[cancerblack]]

Technically no, but practically yes.

[Gr33n M4n]

Propellant casts are lighter.

[Local Trouble]

The point of caseless ammo is to save weight and not have anything to eject. If it's ejecting casings, it's not caseless ammo.

But they're not casings, they're spent propellant casts. 

Wouldn't that negate the purpose of casings (less weight, nothing to eject), then?

Not necessarily.

If the propellant casts themselves are made of a heavier substance than modern-day nitrocellulose, then maybe it makes sense to eject them like brass casings. 

You still get the other benefits of caseless ammo like a higher magazine capacity and the power of a rifle cartridge.

[Xenomrph]

Huh, interesting. Thanks!

[Darth Rinzler]

Isn't it supposed to be some kind of railgun though?

I'm sure the CMTM has gone into great detail about it, but I don't invest nearly as much confidence in its authority as some do.

My own theory is that the M-41A pulse rifle and the "phased plasma pulse rifle" that Hudson bragged about in his ultimate badass monologue are the same thing; meaning the bullets are actually propelled by "phased plasma" (whatever that is).

Maybe the aforementioned propellant casts are actually made of "phased plasma" instead of the more problematic nitrocellulose used for modern-day caseless ammo.

It's really just a matter of Cameron's signature technobabble being defined and combined to explain a technical mystery in one of his own films.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Phased Plasma Pulse Rifle mentioned in "ALIENS" is the "XM-99A Plasma Pulse Rifle," it looks like a mix between the M41A and the Phased Plasma Pulse Rifles used by Skynet, and in addition, it has a large scope on it.   Its clearly an "Anti-Material Rifle" besides gibing mulitple armored human combatants with a single plasma bolt, it was able to destroy Anti-Air/Star Craft turrets and was the only weapon that could hurt a Crusher shooting it in the head, everything else easily bounced off the head.

Isn't it supposed to be some kind of railgun though?

No, it uses an electric pulse to ignite the propellant, it can also be used in space because of how it does it.  A rail gun doesnt require igniting propellant to propel projectiles.

[Local Trouble]

I guess I didn't make it clear that I was ignoring the EU.

[Darth Rinzler]

I guess I didn't make it clear that I was ignoring the EU.

Colonial Marines was made to be a direct squeal, not that EU isnt canon, I wouldn't consider Colonial Marines to be EU at that point.

Besides it would be really pointless to use phased plasma as a propellant instead of the actual ballistic, unless you are in space, in a very cold place, or underwater, which the M41 is also designed to work in.

[Local Trouble]

Fox is never going to detail what's canon and what's not.

But A:CM is not.

[Darth Rinzler]

Fox is never going to detail what's canon and what's not.

But A:CM is not.

Except the interviews about ACM confirmed it is, let alone apparently some rpg writer leaking internal documents on what is, ACM is not on that list of things non-canon. 

[[cancerblack]]

Your info is out of date.

[Xenomrph]

Fox is never going to detail what's canon and what's not.

But A:CM is not.

Except the interviews about ACM confirmed it is, let alone apparently some rpg writer leaking internal documents on what is, ACM is not on that list of things non-canon. 

I'm pretty sure Gaska's list specifically says that the events of A:CM aren't canon but the weapons and other things are.

[razeak]

Fox is never going to detail what's canon and what's not.

But A:CM is not.

Except the interviews about ACM confirmed it is, let alone apparently some rpg writer leaking internal documents on what is, ACM is not on that list of things non-canon. 

I'm pretty sure Gaska's list specifically says that the events of A:CM aren't canon but the weapons and other things are.

Sounds like a win/win to me.