The invention relates to cartridged ammunition for a grenade pistol, the ammunition being of the type that includes a casing having an opening, a projectile which is disposed in the opening and which includes a payload and a transfer charge (such as a tracer charge and/or a delayed-action charge) for the payload, and primer and propelling charges disposed in a cup at the base of the casing.
Cartridged ammunition for a grenade pistol is disclosed in German Offenlegungsschrift (unexamined laid-open application) 3,149,430. The prior art ammunition includes a metal propelling charge container or casing (made, for example, of aluminum) with which the grenade body or the projectile is crimped together. Primer and propelling charges are disposed in a cup-shaped propelling charge cartridge which is screwed into the base of the casing. Radially extending discharge openings permit, after firing of the propelling charge, propagation of the propellant gases into the interior of the casing and charge the tail of the projectile with propellant gas pressure.
To save costs, the casing of cartridged practice ammunition is preferably made of plastic and, since crimping is then not possible, the casing must be connected with the generally metal projectile body by glue.
However, glue connections have the drawback that, in spite of careful matching and monitoring of all manufacturing parameters, even within one and the same lot, different degrees of extraction forces are observed. Additionally, the extraction force is a function of temperature and aging. Since, moreover, a considerably smaller propelling charge is employed for practice ammunition compared to combat ammunition, a particularly disadvantageous temperature dependency of the propellant gas pressure results when the propellant gases exit from the propelling charge cartridge or the propelling charge cup into the large-volume interior of the propelling charge casing. Both effects have the drawback of producing greatly deviating values for the initial velocity (V.sub.0) of the projectile, and reproducible firing results are almost impossible to attain. In connection with prior art projectiles it was additionally noted that, due to the escape of propellant gases into the interior of the casing, the tracer or delayed-action charge disposed in the tail section of the projectile is not fired with sufficient reliability.