This article was first published in the

IAA Journal
Issue 406 March - April 1999
International Ammunition Association Inc.
PRESSURE - SUSTAINING CARTRIDGES
• an Overview of the Design and Construction of Pressure-Sustaining Small Arms Cartridges
by David Tucker
INTRODUCTION
Silent firearms 1 can be divided in
two groups based on the method used
to ‘silence’ the firearm:
1. the gun method - where a device, a
‘silencer’, is attached to the barrel
and used to reduce the muzzle
blast by controlling the flow of
propellant gases from the gun.
2. the ammunition method - where
the peculiar construction of the
ammunition retains the propellant
gases within the cartridge case
thereby reducing or eliminating
the muzzle blast.
Cartridges for the ammunition
method have been variously referred to
as captive-piston, pressure-sustaining,
and closed-system propellant-
expansion. All have the same basic
operating principal of retaining the
propellant gases within the cartridge
case and differ only in the detail
design of the cartridge.
HISTORY
Pressure-sustaining firearms and
cartridges have a long, but thin history
with Bissell 2 in 1900 proposing the
use of an outwardly conventional gun
and cartridge whereby the sudden
expansion of the gases at the muzzle
of the gun is prevented, thereby
insuring a noiseless discharge.
A cartridge [ Figure 1 ] contained a
projectile in the cartridge neck and a
propellant charge to the rear beneath a
piston.. A non-compressible medium,
which may be formed from a liquid,
such as water, interposed between the
projectile and piston. When the
cartridge was fired the piston was
driven forward by the expanding
propellant gases, the movement being
transferred to the projectile by the
liquid-transmitter.
Bissell did not propose to seal the
bore, but rather arranged for a slow,
controlled release of the propellant
gases. Teat 9 rather than piston 3 was
the gas seal where the teat was made
sufficiently long to project when the
piston is in its front position into the
barrel and is made of such external
diameter as to closely, but not tightly,
fit the bore of the barrel or the
contacted end of the shell 6, and
thereby permit a slow flow of gases
through the barrel.
Although it is not disclosed in the
patent, Bissell may have permitted a
slow, controlled release of the
propellant gases from the cartridge to
ease extraction of the fired cartridge
case from the gun chamber and to
clear the barrel of the liquid-
transmitter. The proposed cartridge
was to be of such a size as to contain
in addition to the piston and explosive
material sufficient liquid to at least
fill barrel 1, so that the projectile will
be subject constantly to a propulsive
force until it passes from the barrel.
A second shot was therefore not a
possibility until the barrel had been
cleared of the non-compressible
medium.
Hutfless 3 in 1901 disclosing a
captive-piston design for a silent
firearm where a piston, used to push
the projectile, was captured and
retained within the barrel by a
constriction at the muzzle. The
propellant gases did not exit the barrel
through the muzzle; instead the gases
were bled off through holes in the side
of the barrel to a silencing device and
then vented to the atmosphere.
Hutfless did not describe a
pressure-sustaining cartridge and only
disclosed that … special shells are
used to load this weapon. They consist
of two parts … loosely connected to
one another. No information is
provided as to how the shells [ piston
and projectile ] are assembled together
as a unit [ cartridge ].
While the Hutfless weapon system
may have provided a silent discharge,
the design was not very practical as the
piston, remaining in the barrel, is
removed by driving it out with a
rammer. A rapid second shot was not a
possibility.
Holmes 4 in 1922 disclosed a
similar silent firearm where a piston
was used to propel a projectile, the
piston being retained within the barrel
by a constriction at the muzzle. As in
Hutfless, the propellant gases were
bled off from the barrel and vented to
the atmosphere through a silencer. The
design would have provided a silent
discharge but again was not very
practical, indeed it is doubtful that
some parts of the Holmes design
would have functioned as described in
the patent.
 FIGURE 1 – from United States patent 692,819 Bissell

Gun and cartridge for silent discharge where the cartridge contained a liquid-transmitter
between projectile and piston. The cartridge contained sufficient liquid-transmitter to fill the barrel
so that the projectile will be subject constantly to a propulsive force until it passes from the barrel.

In a second patent 5 [ Figure 2 ]
Holmes described two pressure-
sustaining cartridges that are similar in
basic design but differ in how the
propellant gases were contained within
the cartridge [ or vented to the
atmosphere ].
For the first variant, the cartridge
case 1 was not strong enough to
contain the gas pressure and the case
relied upon the barrel 15 as in a
conventional firearm. Projectile 8 was
attached to piston 6 by a rivet 9 and,
when the piston struck the buffer 12;
the rivet pulled through the piston to
create a small hole that vented the
propellant gases to the atmosphere.
The second variant proposed a
cartridge case of sufficient strength to
contain the gas pressure by itself and
the piston did not perforate. Propellant
gases were retained within the
cartridge case for a silent discharge.
Aside from these differences, both
of the cartridges had the same design
features where a hollow piston formed
the powder chamber and was used to
push the projectile. A groove 7 located
the piston and had to be over-ridden by
the piston to provide ‘shot start’
resistance for consistent propellant
ignition and burning.
A buffer 12 located by a groove 14
was used to cushion the piston at the
end of the acceleration stroke and a
diaphragm 13a between the buffer and
the case13 waterproofed the cartridge.
For a small arms cartridge Holmes
disclosed an expanding dart … the
forward end is formed with a conical
orifice 10 having its base at the
forward end of the projectile, which is
split at 11 so that on hitting its target
the forward ends open out on the splits
thus giving it the disruptive effect of an
explosive bullet and enabling a long
thin projectile to execute great
damage and shocking power.
While some aspects of the design
of the Holmes gun [ first patent ] may
not have been practical, the proposed
pressure-sustaining cartridges [ second
patent ] contained design features that
would re-appear later in practical,
pressure-sustaining cartridges.
 FIGURE 2 – from United States patent 1,416,428 Holmes

In Fig 2 the propellant gases are vented to the atmosphere when rivet 9 was pulled through
and perforated piston 6. Fig 3 shows a pressure-sustaining cartridge where the propellant
gases were retained within the cartridge case for a silent, flashless and smokeless gun.

WHISPER
During the 1950’s the United States
Army had established program
WHISPER 6 to develop a completely
noiseless, flashless, and smokeless
small arms round of ammunition for
existing conventional firearms.
As part of the Whisper program,
Frankford Arsenal is known to have
developed at least two pressure-
sustaining cartridges:
1. Cartridge, Calibre .30, XM76 was
intended for use in the M1
‘Garand’ rifle and fired an 85
grain bullet at 800 fps; the
normally semi-automatic rifle
functioned as a manual repeater.
2. a calibre .38 cartridge for use in a
revolver that fired a 125 grain
bullet at 400 fps. Nomenclature of
this cartridge is not known.
Whisper cartridges were for use in
existing small arms and therefore had
an outwardly conventional appearance
to assist feeding cartridges from
magazine to gun chamber. The
cartridge case was made of steel, with
thick walls for sufficient strength to
contain the gas pressure after the
cartridge had been fired and could not
‘crush up’ for a correct fit in the gun
chamber. To overcome this the case
was made in two parts, the sliding fit
between the case body 1 and the case
head 2 permitted the case to crush up
for correct headspace.
 FIGURE 3 - From United States patent 4,173,186 Dunham.

FIG 1 and FIG 2 show the operation of the cartridge with a mechanical or solid piston
that pushes the bullet from the case. FIG 3 describes an alternate hydraulic piston.

Grooves 8 provided a means of
locking the two parts of the case
together under pressure from the
propellant gases after the cartridge was
fired. A similar groove 9 locked the
primer 23 [ and 13 ] in the case.
The bullet 3 was pushed from the
case by a long piston 4, the length of
the piston being limited by the overall
length of a fired round which had to
remain short enough to extract and
eject from the firearm.
Dunham also disclosed the use of a
hydraulic piston to replace the
mechanical or solid type. A pusher 21
and piston 22 of a fluid, soft wax or
other material replaced the mechanical
piston. The hydraulic piston was
apparently more efficient as
experimental firing data shows a
significant increase in velocity over
the solid piston when both are fired
with the same propellant charge and
the same weight projectile. The
seemingly complicated piston seal was
the result of the failure of a neoprene
O-ring in a groove on the piston to
provide an adequate gas seal. Slow
reaction time of the O-ring to gas
pressure allowed propellant gases to
escape around the piston before the O-
ring expanded sufficiently to seal the
gap between piston and case.
An effective seal was obtained by
using gas pressure acting on the base
cup 7 to compress the O-ring 6 against
the back-up washer 5. Dimensions of
the base cup were such that the cup 7
could not seat against the base of the
piston 19 and the force generated by
the burning propellant was transmitted
to the piston through the compressed
O-ring.
[ In the early 1970’s the US Navy
designed a pressure-sustaining weapon
 FIGURE 4 - Silent Weapon System - ALPHA 3 cartridge

The cartridge case was 4 inches in length and made of steel, the piston of titanium and the
buffer-guides of cellular aluminium. The cartridge fired a 450-grain bullet at 1,000 fps.

system 7 and the gas seal was a
neoprene O-ring located in a groove on
the piston. The lower ballistic
performance of the Navy weapon may
have made the complex Whisper
piston gas seal unnecessary. ]
A means of buffering the piston at
the end of the acceleration stroke was
provided by the interaction of the
piston shoulder 14 and the internal
case shoulder 15. The piston shoulder
14 deformed to decelerate the piston
and to provide a seal between the
piston and case.
Metal from the piston shoulder 14
was not only displaced inward to space
20, but also rearwards to space 17 on
the piston. The rearward displacement
of shoulder 14 was to prevent the
piston from being ‘pinched off’ at
about 25. Even so the piston had a
taper 27 to 28 and a similar taper
inside the case to retain the piston in
the event that the piston did fail.
SILENT WEAPON SYSTEM
- ALPHA
Trials of the cartridges developed
under the WHISPER program led to a
request in 1961 from US Special
Warfare Forces for the development of
a semi-automatic, silent weapon
system.
US Army Ordnance Corps 8
established project SILENT WEAPON
SYSTEM - ALPHA 9 to develop the
proposed weapon system with
Springfield Armory given the
responsibility for the design and
development of the gun and Frankford
Arsenal the pressure-sustaining
cartridge. Frankford Arsenal was
successful in developing an
experimental cartridge 10 [ Alpha 3 ]
that proved the feasibility of the
ammunition system [ Figure 4 ] when
fired in a test fixture.
While there are common design
characteristics with the earlier
Whisper cartridges, there are also
differences.
The most obvious difference was
the change in the shape of the cartridge
to that of a cylinder with the bullet
telescoped inside the cartridge case.
Without the need for the cartridge to
function through existing firearms, the
case design was orientated towards the
ballistic need of a long piston stroke
within the allowed case length.
The combined buffer-seal-guide-
support for the bullet and piston was
made from a form of cellular
aluminium that crushed to form the
buffer. The support initially guided the
projectile, was then stripped from the
projectile by the bushing and crushed
to provide a buffer to decelerate the
piston and a seal between piston and
bushing at the case mouth.
While functionally the same as the
Whisper design, the piston seal of the
Alpha 3 cartridge used a simplified
arrangement where a washer replaced
the more complex base cup of the
Whisper cartridge. As in the Whisper
cartridges, copper pins were used to
locate the projectile and piston within
the cartridge case and to provide ‘shot
start’ resistance for more consistent
interior ballistics.
The subject of lethality was also
addressed in the design of the Alpha 3
cartridge. Drawing on wound ballistic
research carried out at Frankford
Arsenal and elsewhere, a projectile
with a right-circular cylindrical body
of Elkonite with a hemispherical nose
of aluminum … it is fired with a
minimum spin so as to be just
sufficiently stable in flight. The heavy
body-light nose design increases the
moment of coefficient and decreases
the traverse moment of inertia to
ensure instability in the target
medium. Or, in plain language, the
projectile was designed to tumble on
impact causing a larger, more
destructive wound.
UNDERWATER AMMUNITION
AAI Corporation of Cockeysville,
Maryland developed this cartridge as
part of an underwater weapon system
that had the form of a revolver.
Firing conventional small arms
underwater involved several problems
including the functioning of the
weapon, limited range and the ‘noise’
that could seriously effect a diver. AAI
sought to overcome these problems
with a silent weapon that fired a fin
stabilised steel dart weighing 155
grains at 700 fps 11.
The cartridge [ Figure 5 ] was of
cylindrical form for a long piston
acceleration stroke and to hold the dart
telescoped within the cartridge.

FIGURE 5 - from United States patent 3,476,048 Barr and Critcher

Developed by AAI Corporation for an underwater weapon system of their design. Several features
were carried over to ammunition for the Tunnel Weapon developed for the United States Army.
 A compressed neoprene O-ring gas
seal was not used instead grooves and
threads on the piston acted as a gas
seal and a means of buffering the
piston at the end of the acceleration
stroke. A close fit of the piston in the
case together with grooves 17a
provided a piston-case seal as
propellant gases leaking pass the
piston were retarded by adiabatic
expansion and temperature reduction
as the compressed gases entered the
grooves and expanded.
Threads 17b and 17c on the
forward portion of the piston acted as
buffer-seals by shearing and deforming
when the piston struck the lip 13c to
slow the piston and to seal the case
and retain the propellant gases. In the
second patent, the forward portion of
the threads was filled with soft, copper
wire that was deformed along with the
threads to decelerate the piston and
provide a gas seal.
As well as being supported at the
front and rear ends, the dart 15 was
also supported and guided at the mid-
section by supports 31, 33 and 35 that
centred and prevented the slim dart
from bending under acceleration
forces. Front guides 37, 39 and 41 not
only centred and supported the dart but
also acted as seals to exclude water
from the interior of the case. Water
inside the case would have slowed the
acceleration stroke of the piston and
reduced the velocity of the dart.
It is not known if AAI developed
this underwater weapon system at the
request of a Government Agency or if
the work was a Company initiative.
Patents for both the ammunition and
the proposed underwater pistols were
assigned to AAI and not to a
Government Agency.
TUNNEL WEAPON
In December 1967 the Military
Assistance Command, Vietnam
identified a need for a low-noise,
multiprojectile weapon and
ammunition to be used by tunnel
exploration personal. The dark,
cramped conditions of tunnel searches
dictated the need for a handy, compact
weapon that was silent and flashless in
operation.
The Tunnel Weapon 12 or Quiet
Special Purpose Revolver [ QSPR ]
was a project of the US Army Limited
Warfare Laboratory 13, the design and
development work carried out by AAI

FIGURE 6 - from United States patent 3,602,143 Critcher

Quiet Special Purpose Revolver or Tunnel Weapon cartridge

cartridge case steel

length 1.87”
body diameter 0.523”
projectile 15 steel pellets [ in a sabot ]
velocity 730 fps
effective range approximately 25 feet
Corporation. use in unintended roles. Criticism striking the primer directly in the later
The gun was a modified Smith and related to a lack of lethality, unreliable arrangements. A spring washer was
Wesson .44 Magnum revolver; the ammunition traced to the priming incorporated in to the cartridge
barrel shortened to 1 3/8”, the rifling system, and a gun problem where the between the piston and the case head
removed and the cylinder bored out to hammer nose ‘mushroomed’ after to hold the piston flange 15 against the
accept the new cartridge. Ammunition about 25 rounds had been fired 15. shoulder 26 to positively locate the
for the Tunnel Weapon was similar to AAI did further development work hollow piston for more reliable
that in the patent 14 [ Figure 6 ] and using a different priming system in an ignition.
carried over several design features effort to improve the reliability of the Longitudinal slots were also added
from the Underwater Ammunition. ammunition and four variations of the to the threads 3 at the case mouth.
A hollow piston was the propellant cartridge are known. While the purpose of the slotted
chamber and maximised the length of The separate firing pin 6 was threads is not known for certain, it is
the piston stroke, provided a means of abandoned with the gun hammer likely that the slots were to allow air,
obtaining ‘shot start’ resistance and a
mechanical piston seal. Flange 14
abutted shoulder 26 and retained the
piston in the rearward position until
the cartridge was fired. Interaction of
the flange and shoulder provided the
necessary ‘shot start’ resistance before
the flange sheared and the piston
pushed the sabot out of the case.
At the end of the acceleration
stroke, the piston struck the threads at
the mouth of the case and the threads
deformed to decelerate the piston. The
piston jammed in the threaded portion
of the case to form a piston-case seal
and retain the propellant gases within
the cartridge case.
Sound level of the Tunnel Weapon
was reported to be 120 decibels at one
metre from the muzzle, which is
comparable to the silenced .22 caliber
pistol. The effective range was short at
about 25 feet but not unrealistic given
the engagement ranges inside tunnels
systems.
Ten guns and 992 rounds were sent
to Vietnam in 1969 for evaluation and
the weapons were actually used during
combat operations. Not only were the
weapons used as intended for tunnel
searches, but the silent and handy
nature of the weapon loaned it to
unintended uses clearing bunkers and
spider holes, and during ambushes.
Most users are reported to have
expressed enthusiasm for the weapon
system as a whole and especially for
from inside the cartridge case, to
escape around the sabot during the
acceleration stroke. Air trapped in the
case would have retarded the piston
acceleration stroke and reduced
velocity.
The ACTIV report also
recommended that a slug and
improved multipellet cartridge be
adopted for use in the Tunnel Weapon
that will be lethal at 25 feet, when
fired into a vital part of the body.
There is an unsubstantiated report of a
four-segment bullet being used to
improve lethality.

NAVY 12-GAUGE SHOTGUN

AAI also developed silent 12-gauge

shotgun ammunition that did not use
the captive-piston method of the
Tunnel Weapon but a flexible metal
membrane or diaphragm.
During the 1950’s AAI had
developed a method of forming a
flexible metal diaphragm that unfolded
under propellant gas pressure. How the
system works is best understood from
the patent drawings 16 [ Figure 7 ]. Gas
pressure, generated by the burning
propellant, unfolds the steel diaphragm
40 and ‘fires’ the payload from the
‘cartridge case’.
The diaphragm system was not at
first used for silent ammunition but in
various devices where the reliability
and power of burning propellant was
required without the possibility of
explosive damage or chemical
contamination [ the patent illustrates
an ‘explosive bolt’ used to separate the
stages of a rocket ].
In 1967 the United States Navy FIGURE 7 - from United States patent 3,119,302 Barr
requested a silent, flashless,
smokeless, 12-gauge shotgun round In 1967 AAI Corporation applied the diaphragm system to silent, flashless,
and AAI applied the diaphragm system smokeless, 12- gauge shotgun ammunition for the United States Navy
to ammunition. A steel cartridge case
contained a plastic ‘pusher’,
corresponding to 34, and was loaded
with 12 No. 4 lead buckshot [ diameter
0.24” ] that were fired at 450 fps.
Reportedly only one lot of 200 rounds
of ‘Teleshot’ ammunition was made
for testing by the US Navy 17.
The ‘Teleshot’ system of a flexible
metal diaphragm was later applied by
AAI to silent ammunition for the
40mm grenade launcher that used a
rifled cartridge case in place of the
usual gun barrel.
NOTE
A private individual has produced
silent ammunition for the 12-gauge
shotgun using a simplified version of
the Alpha 3 - AAI captive piston
design 18 . The cartridge shows how
ingenuity can overcome the technical
problems involved and the level of
ballistic performance possible from
pressure-sustaining ammunition.
A metal cartridge case contained a
piston in the form of a simple disk of
Nylon a ¼” thick. The piston was also
the gas seal as it interacted with a ‘lip’
at the case mouth to retain the
propellant gases inside the case.
The projectile was a steel dart;
body diameter of 0.310” with four
bore size plastic fins and weighing 240
grains. Reported velocity was 585 fps
using a charge of 6.0 grains of
Hercules Bullseye propellant.
1
pneumatic and spring-powered guns
and similar devices that are ‘silent’ in
operation are ignored, as are the
various types of spigot-launch guns.
2
United States patent 692,819 Bissell
11 February 1902
3
Austria patent 5478 of 1901 Hutfless.
4
United States patent 1,416,827
Holmes 23 May, 1922.
5
United States patent 1,416,428
Holmes 23 May, 1922
6
United States patent 4,173,186
Dunham assigned to the US Army.
The patent application is dated 7 July,
1960 but was not granted for 19 years
until 6 November, 1979.
7
United States patent 3,837,107
Swaim and Widmayer 24 September,
1974 assigned to the US Navy.
8
later US Army Materiel Command
9
Ordnance Weapon Command, Report
613301.
10
Army Munitions Command,
Frankford Arsenal Report R-1654.
11
United States patent 3,476,048 Barr
and Critcher 4 November, 1967 and
3,585,934 Mueller and Critcher 22
June, 1971 assigned to AAI
Corporation.
12
Limited Warfare Laboratory Task
No. 02-F-68.
13
later Land Warfare Laboratory
14
United States patent 3,602,143
Critcher assigned to the US Army.
15
Army Concept Team in Vietnam
ACTIV Project No.ACG-25/691, Final
Report, November 1969.
16
United States patent 3,119,302 Barr
28 January 1964 assigned to Aircraft
Armaments Corporation later AAI
Corporation. One of a series of related
patents for diaphragm ‘cartridges’.
17
The World’s Fighting Shotguns,
Thomas F. Swearengen.
18
The Silent Shotgun Shell, Alan
Clendinen, Firepower, November
1987.