Basic Bullet Information
The rounds are all coated in a
Tombac full metal jacket and given a slight
Molybdenum disulfide coating to ease the movement of the round through the barrel and with loading. While "Teflon" (Really Molybdenum Disulfide) is said to have or give special armor piercing qualities to a bullet, it truthfully just eases the passage of the round through the barrel and decreases barrel wear, which can also increase velocity or accuracy depending on the type of barrel. Becuase of it's Molybdenum Disulfide coating, all rounds thus appear black, except for their tips (which are left revealed to help signify the type of round). The Molybdenum Disulfide is crucial in the fact that is does not wear off or leave behind substantial amounts of residue when fired, and that it can resist temperatures of over 350 degrees Celsius. The cartridge is around 3 grams in weight, with the bullet being approximately 2 grams and the powder and Hexagon binder being approximately 1 gram total. The propellant is held together with a Hexagon or RDX binder, which causes the propellant to be far less sensitive then it would otherwise be (reducing the chance of a cook-off tremendously).
Twice as much ammo can be carried in terms of weight when compared to the old cartridge, and it's possible to carry around four times as much ammunition as standard 5.56mm NATO weapons; this means that a magazine, with the same spring strength, could potentially carry around 120 rounds of 5.7mm caseless ammunition, and a standard 50 round magazine in a P90 could potentially carry around 100 rounds.
