Re: Metal Storm

> And you will still have to zero the weapon. The sigting system on the
> Bradly is a pretty good sized set of kit.

This system is not suitable for co-ax work from under armour. It is way
suitable for replacing the pintle mount on top.

> >Take barrel out of shipping container.
> 
> takes 2 guys I bet.

Why? How much do 10 25mm rounds weigh? The barrel is about as heavy as
the 25mm cartridge cases.
This is hypothetical: the only experimental models have been 80mm, 40mm,
9mm, 20mm AFAICR.

MST is working on a hybrid system - basically a Steyr (similar to M-16)
with a 10-round 20mm MST system on top.
Think of it as an M-203 which can fire 10 20mm rounds instead of one
40mm. Individually or as a burst.
Here's where I get things on-topic: take a look at the metalstorm
website under "military applications" for a picture of this thing, and
the even more futuristic-looking follow-on.
 
> Its still a 25mm barrel. It still has to be of a certain size that is
> able to hold that powder charge. Now instead of being tapered at the
> front and only thick at the breech end, its thick all along it's
> length. 

No, it's as thin as a cartridge case along its whole length. Almost.
Actually rather thicker, but made of something quite a bit stronger and
very much lighter than brass.

Take a look at the web site!

>Each one of those
> rounds will have a different muzzle velocity because they will have
> traveled down a different length barrel. Sure you might be able to
> vary the powder portion per round,

Correct, this is what they do.

> but, you've still got issues with
> the front rounds are going to be traveling down a shorter barrel and
> will still have differences in velocity from those in the back.

It's more complex: this thing fires so fast that you can (and do) have 2
slugs travelling down the barrel simultaneously - the rear one moves
slower with the same charge as it's fighting its way through the hot
propellant gasses still in the tube from the leading one. After exiting
the barrel though, it slows down less, travelling in the near-vacuum
produced by the first one.
This property makes it great for long range sniping: for a given recoil,
you get a greatly increased range. Once the train of bullets catches up
with each other, the ones at the back "push" the ones at the front
(actually they act more like a single long boat-tail or base-bleed
round, there's certainly no physical contact, but suffice to say they go
faster for longer).

> You are still going to have a big slug of metal where your breech is
> in the back are you not?

I think you're labouring under a misapprehension: There's no breech.
Take a look at the web site.