Well, the fact is that just because you feel it is prone to malfunction doesn’t mean it has to. If you also read the background material, you would see that each marine is responsible for the care of their gear. This includes chainswords. So, while cleaning old blood and gore from the blades of the chainsword, he would notice if there is any wear on the motor and other bits. In turn he would go and get the right part to fix it, rig it on his own or get a new one and turn in the old one so it could be salvaged and the working part reintroduced in the form of a new blade. This also goes for armour.
The armies of the Emperor still use tread vehicles because that’s what they know. There were centuries of war on earth, so they basically blew themselves back to the Stone Age. That is why the tech priest of Mars get so excited when they hear news of lost templates (blue prints). For example, my wife is an excellent cook, but she can’t make phyllo dough from the top of her head. She could keep trying over and over. But when your job is to keep punching out cookie cutter weapons and vehicles for a constant war, you don’t get too much time to figure out things through trial and error. Not to mention, anything too alien would not be accepted by the Imperium.
I found this talk of ‘caseless self propellent projectile’ was never heard of by me. So I did some research.
“Bolter ammunition (a bolt) is primarily a solid slug. Conventional solid slugs utilize a propellant charge contained in a casing that, when ignited, forces the bullet out of the barrel. In contrast, a bolt is self-propelled; it features its own integrated solid propellant which propels the bolt at high speeds, essentially acting like a miniature rocket. The propellant itself is shaped to control the bolt's direction and speed; however, this method of rocket propulsion would normally warp the barrel due to gas pressure. The Bolter uses an ingenious method to prevent this.
As well as the rocket propellant, a tiny amount of conventional charge is also utilized. This charge is just strong enough to force the bolt out of the barrel and ignite the bolt's propellant. The rocket-propellant is carefully fused to ignite just after leaving the barrel, alleviating any possibility of pressure build-up. The bolt then accelerates away towards the target under its own power.”
The Emperor Protects
Iron Father Buddha
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