Re: Metal Storm

> Yes, it fires a lot of ammo. But you throw away the barrels and load
> a new magazine/barrel assembly every time you have to reload the
> mother. 

But as the barrel needs only a limited lifetime, it can be very light.
And there's no separate magazine to carry.
So you're on the 4th or 5th mag/barrel change before the weight becomes
equal to a conventional weapon with the same amount of ammo. And anyone
who's carried around an M-60 or heavier weapon knows that you need spare
barrels even for those after a few thousand rounds, and they weigh a
LOT.

Of course the Metal Storm ammo/barrel/mag loads may not weigh a lot, but
they're bulky. And its very easy to burn thousands of rounds very
quickly.

>I'd hate to have one of them mis-fire too.

This has been very difficult to test: compared to conventional weapons,
they're very difficult indeed to make misfire. IIRC from the last
shareholders
report I got they still hadn't been able to make one of their systems
misfire (ie frun away or fire without command) without destroying it
before it could even start to.

Hang-fires are dealt with by just removing the barrel, and putting it in
a safe place - usually sticking it in the ground, muzzle-down. Just as
nerve-wracking as removing a conventional cartridge with a dent in the
primer, not for the feint-hearted.