The assault rifle

[tinmeigut]

Now Anno really had some insight into the future. Do you guys discover that the assault rifle used by the Evas are rifles with caseless rounds? I know that the US Military are developing such kind of rifles that uses caseless rounds, like the Crye MR-C. When the Evas shoot no cartridges come out from the gun. It seems the writer had done some research about weapons mechanics.

[The Eva Monkey]

Now Anno really had some insight into the future.

Anno is a big science fiction fan, as evidenced by a number of things incorporated into Evangelion. The idea of caseless rounds had been around for some time. I recall in Aliens the pulse rifles the colonial marines used were caseless. And presumably the idea existed even before that in other storys. Anno probably took the idea as he said he had borrowed from everywhere. In the instance of Evangelion, it really is functional for the Evas to fire caseless shells, because those shells can fly into buildings and cars and cause unneccessary collateral damage.

[BLACKANGEL32076]

Also note the use of H&K G11s by the JSSDF troops which use caseless ammo.

[BobBQ]

I thought the G11s were a nice touch, even though it's a little odd that they depicted an intermediate prototype model and not the final G11K2, which had been around for several years when EoE was made.

It is well known that the pallet rifle is essentially an upsized Steyr ACR. While the ACR's distinct and futuristic looks were no doubt an incentive (as with all the other Eva weapons) for its adoption as the apparent standard among Eva firearms, I wouldn't be surprised if it was also picked in part because of the real ACR's good armor-penetrating ability.

On the topic of caseless ammunition, the supersized Desert Eagle carried by Unit 01 in episode 16 (and featured several times in NGE bonus artwork) appears to fire conventional cased rounds. Evidently NERV is not overly concerned by the potential risks associated with having really big brass flying around.

Unit 00's semiautomatic Arctic Warfare Magnum clone, on the other hand, does appear to fire caseless rounds. Go figure.

[tinmeigut]

Caseless rifles are good, but they're not using NATO rounds and the impact is usually smaller than normal assault rifles.

Concerning Eva-01's supersized Desert Eagle, I couldn't understand why Nerv was so mean that they didn't allow her to carry extra magazines... Poor Eva-01, she shouldn't have got into the Sea of Dirac.

[BobBQ]

The 4.73x33mm DM11 round would probably have become a NATO standard had the G11 seen any significant adoption by European states, though the round's small size does, as you pointed out, raise questions concerning actual combat effectiveness.

As for the Desert Eagle's spare mags, I assumed they were stored in one of Unit 01's shoulder pylons like Unit 02's nail cannon in EoE. The pylons' contents are almost certainly interchageable, though we hardly ever get to see anything but prog blades being carried in them.

[Titus]

Repeat after me:

"This is my rifle"

"There are many like it, but this one is myne"

"Without my rifle I am nothing"

"Without me, my rifle is nothing"

8)

I am still in the fucking desert.

[BLACKANGEL32076]

What surprises me is that H&K didn’t use a 5.56X45mm caseless for NATO use.

Titus, good luck and good hunting in the desert my man.

[BobBQ]

The final round was small because H&K's intent was to increase hit probability by having the G11 fire three rounds fast, with the last one leaving the barrel before the recoil forces hit the user's shoulder and disrupt his aim. n order to do that, they designed the G11 so that the action, barrel and magazine all slide backwards inside the blocky outer case. the first shot in a burst pushes the entire mechanism backwards, and it continues to move as the second and third rounds are fired.

Because the magazine is part of the assembly that moves, round weight and size have a major effect on reliability. Additionally, the position of the magazine and action feed angle are such that use of a round with dimensions like those of 5.56 NATO would be cumbersome and uncomfortable, at best. The nature of most 5.56 assault rifle designs is such that adapting them for caseless ammunition would be significantly more costly than simply ordering a new weapon with a new caliber to go with it.

That said, I'd rather take my chances with a G3A3.

[BLACKANGEL32076]

That is the first time I've ever heard of 5.56X45mm being too big.