History Main / UniversalAmmunition

An odd phenomena in some video games with guns in that any ammunition you pick up works with either any gun whatsoever or an entire class of guns. In the real world, cartridges have a variety of different calibers and lengths based on a number of factors, including stopping power, penetration, and recoil. These cartridges are then loaded into clips and magazines designed for a variety of specific weapons, so that even if the ammunition is identical between two weapons, you'll probably have to unload and load said magazines one painstaking round at a time before you can take advantage of it. [[UnderStatement Not always an option in a pitched firefight]], but always an AcceptableBreakFromReality.

See Also: BottomlessMagazines

** Played straight with the "Scavenger" perk in ''ModernWarfare 2'' and ''[[CallOfDutyBlackOps Black Ops]]'' - every casualty will drop a backpack with one magazine/explosive for whatever guns you're carrying. In ''[=MW2=]'', this backpack also contains a 40mm grenade or four shotgun shells if your gun has the grenade launcher/shotgun attachment, another piece of your primary equipment, and one special grenade. Yeesh, good thing the enemy didn't know they were carrying all this stuff...

** What's really the DarthWiki/WallBanger in this situation is that US soldiers only use M4 rifles, they rarely, if ever, resort to [=MP5s=]. So the switch to using the M4 made sense. However, even though there are [[http://dynamicarmament.com/items/ar-15~ar-10-rifles/cmmg/cmmg-m4-9mm-16-32-round-ar-15-rifle-cmmgm49mm-detail.htm 9mm versions of the M4 rifle]], again the US military would never use this version and the weapon still loads using 5.56mm STANAG magazines.
*** This was finally fixed in the PS2 port, which used the hi-def models and had separate ammo pools for the pistol and M4.

* In ''{{Enemy Territory Quake Wars}}'', the Strogg use the exact same pickup for all their ammo and their health restoration. This would normally fall under Justified Examples... except that the pickup in question was established in ''{{Quake}} 4'' to be a specially treated slurry of liquefied human remains, and could not conceivably function as ammunition for ''anything'' except a particularly disgusting squirt-gun.

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An odd phenomena in some video games with guns in that any ammunition you pick up works with either any gun whatsoever or an entire class of guns. In the real world, cartridges have a variety of different calibers and lengths based on a number of factors, including stopping power, penetration, and recoil. These cartridges are then loaded into clips and magazines designed for a variety of specific weapons, so that even if the ammunition is identical between two weapons, you're going to have to unload and load clips or magazines one painstaking round at a time before you can take advantage of it. [[UnderStatement Not always an option in a pitched firefight]], but always an AcceptableBreakFromReality.

An odd phenomena in some video games with guns in that any ammunition you pick up works with either any gun whatsoever or an entire class of guns. In the real world, cartridges have a variety of different calibers and lengths based on a number of factors, including stopping power, penetration, and recoil. These cartridges are then loaded into clips and magazines designed for a variety of specific weapons. This is usually an AcceptableBreakFromReality.

In fictional settings, such as science fiction, this is sometimes purposely justified under varying combinations of worldwide standardization causing an actual adoption of universal ammunition or some sort of literally universal ammunition that's capable of reconfiguring itself to completely differing weapons.

Note that most energy weapons are a given. Usually it's just pop in a battery and they're good to go.

* ''GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas''' normal and silenced 9mm pistols don't share ammunition (presumably the silenced one uses lower-velocity ammo), but the [=SMGs=] and shotguns can take ammo from other weapons in their class.

** Played straight with the "Scavenger" perk in ''ModernWarfare 2'' and ''[[CallOfDutyBlackOps Black Ops]]'' - every casualty will drop a backpack with one magazine/explosive for whatever guns you're carrying, a grenade or four shotgun shells if said gun has the grenade launcher/shotgun attachment (only in ''[=MW2=]''), another piece of your primary equipment, and one special grenade. Yeesh, good thing the enemy didn't know they were carrying all this stuff...

** ''ModernWarfare'' would allow you to take ammo from any dropped weapon if it fired the same kind of bullet as what you already had, and if it isn't already the exact same gun you're using, the gun itself would stay on the ground in case you wanted to swap for it. In the first game as well, you can increase the amount of maximum ammo for a gun by carrying another one that fires the same kind (such as the 5.56x45mm M16, M4, and/or [=G36C=]).
** Played straight with the "Scavenger" perk in ''ModernWarfare 2'' - every casualty will drop a backpack with one magazine/explosive for whatever gun you're carrying, a grenade or four shotgun shells if said gun has the grenade launcher/shotgun attachment, another piece of your primary equipment, and one special grenade. Yeesh, good thing the enemy didn't know they were carrying all this stuff...

* Tends to be averted in ''FarCry'', where even OICW and [=AG36=] grenade launchers do not share ammo, an error that was very likely to be done. However, is played straight with [=MP5=] and P90. In fact, boxed "SMG" ammo found in the game has "9x19" written on it. Right ammo for the [=MP5=], but absolutely wrong fot the P90, being chambered for 5.7x28mm.

** What's really the DarthWiki/WallBanger in this situation is that US soldiers only use M4 rifles, they rarely, if ever, resort to [=MP5s=]. So the switch to using the M4 made sense. However, even though there are [[http://dynamicarmament.com/items/ar-15~ar-10-rifles/cmmg/cmmg-m4-9mm-16-32-round-ar-15-rifle-cmmgm49mm-detail.htm 9mm versions of the M4 rifle]], again the US military would never use this version and the weapon still loads using 5.56mm Stanag magazines.

* The first ''ParasiteEve'' game had this. The only unique ammo was the rocket launcher. Otherwise, you just had generic bullets. 9mm Parabellum = .45 = 12 gauge = 7.62x51mm = 5.56x45mm = 40mm. For those who don't know ammo, pistol ammo = bigger ammo = shotgun shell = rifle ammo = smaller rifle ammo = grenade.

* This is the main reason for adoption of assault-rifle caliber "squad automatic weapons" vice battle-rifle caliber "light machine guns." Note that the former were valid examples of this trope when battle rifles were general issue.

* In ''JaggedAlliance 2'' all 7.62mm calibre weapons of WarPac/ChiCom origin use the same ammunition - 7.62mm, which would be logical, except there are three kinds of 7.62mm Warsaw Pact ammunition in real life: 7.62x54mm, as used by the Dragunov and most of their [=MGs=], 7.62x39mm as used by the [=AK47=] / AKM and their relatives and 7.62x25 used by the [=PPSh=]/Type 65 and other pistol type weapons. They are definitely NOT interchangeable. This was eventually fixed in the [=v1.13=] modification.

* Tends to be averted in ''FarCry'', where even OICW and AG36 grenade launchers do not share ammo, an error that was very likely to be done. However, is played straight with [=MP5=] and P90. In fact, boxed "SMG" ammo found in the game has "9x19" written on it. Right ammo for the [=MP5=], but absolutely wrong fot the P90, being chambered for 5.7x28mm.

* Tends to be averted in ''FarCry'', where even OICW and AG36 grenade launchers do not share ammo, an error that was very likely to be done. However, is played straight with MP5 and P90. In fact, boxed "SMG" ammo found in the game has "9x19" written on it. Right ammo for the MP5, but absolutely wrong fot the P90, being chambered for 5.7x28mm.

* The Colt Single Action Army Revolver or "Peacemaker" was available in .44-40 Winchestor, which made it's ammunition interchangeable with the Winchestor Model 1873 lever action rifle. A useful trait in the wild west.

** This aversion is taken to a ridiculous extreme with ''ModernWarfare'', obstensibly for multiplayer balance purposes. Your character would only pick up ammo if he ran over the exact same gun he was carrying. And they mean exact - a stock MP5 and an MP5 with a red dot sight apparently use completely different ammunition. Even two identical guns with different ''camoflague'' schemes are considered ammo-incompatible.
*** Only in Modern Warfare 2, however. The first MW game shared ammo between guns that used the same caliber (e.g., the 9mm M9 and MP5, or the 5.56x45 M16, M4 and G36C)... except for the M249 SAW and M60E4 LMGs.
** Played straight with the "Scavenger" perk in ''ModernWarfare 2'' - every casuality will drop a backpack with one magazine/explosive for whatever gun you're carrying, a grenade or four shotgun shells if said gun has the grenade launcher/shotgun attachment, another piece of your primary equipment, and one special grenade. Yeesh, good thing the enemy didn't know they were carrying all this stuff...

* ''{{Half-Life}}'''s pistol and submachine gun use the same ammunition. Now, this isn't a problem with regards to the Glock and [=MP5=], using 9mm pistol ammo, although FridgeLogic arises in how Gordon transfers the ammo between guns. However, the Hi-Def pack - an overall graphical upgrade - changes the Glock into a Beretta and the [=MP5=] into an M4 assault rifle, the latter making more sense due to the underslung grenade launcher, which MP5s do not have. However, that creates a new problem - the M4 uses rifle ammo, not pistol ammo.

*** The original PSX game averted this for pistols and sub-machine guns (salvaged 9mm MP40s would not give you ammo for your .45 Thompson), but played it straight with rifles.

** ''MassEffect 2'' kept the unlimited ammunition, but added "thermal clips" that absorb heat from the weapon and eventually need to be discarded. Essentially, they act just like ammunition. The clips are universal - pick one up and it adds more total shots to all of your weapons.

** This aversion is taken to a ridiclous extreme with ''ModernWarfare'', obstensibly for multiplayer balance purposes. Your character would only pick up ammo if he ran over the exact same gun he was carrying. And they mean exact - a stock MP5 and an MP5 with a red dot sight apparently use completely different ammunition. Even two identical guns with different ''camoflague'' schemes are considered ammo-incompatible.

*''GoldenEye'' has two main types of ammo, pistol and rifle. No matter what pistol or submachine gun you use, it'll take the same ammo. Likewise, no matter what rifle you pick up, it'll take whatever rifle ammo you have. However, there are unique types of ammunition specific to certain weapons such as rocket ammunition for the rocket launcher or shotgun shells for the shotgun.
**''MedalOfHonor: Allied Assault'' is in the same boat, with wildly different guns from four nations all accepting the same carts and mags if they're the same "type" (pistol, rifle, etc.).
**''PerfectDark'' added a category for SMG ammo, but otherwise retained the same ammunition setup as in GoldenEye. Even funnier is that there are some alien weapons in the game with draw from these pools (and some of them even have reloading animations of putting an extra glob of goob into the gun!) - good thing the Skedar chambered their handguns for 9mm, right?
**''TimeSplitters'' also used a similar system (since the game was developed by the same people as ''GoldenEye'').
*In JaggedAlliance2 all 7.62mm calibre weapons of WarPac/ChiCom origin use the same ammunition - 7.62mm, which would be logical, except there are three kinds of 7.62mm Warsaw Pact ammunition in real life: 7.62x54mm, as used by the Dragunov and most of their [=MGs=], 7.62x39mm as used by the [=AK47=] / AKM and their relatives and 7.62x25 used by the [=PPSh=]/Type 65 and other pistol type weapons. They are definitely NOT interchangeable. This was eventually fixed in the [=v1.13=] modification.
*In ''XenoGears'', you have to buy ammo for TheGunslinger Billy, but you don't need to change this if you equip a new gun for him.
*Irvine in ''FinalFantasyVIII'' has ammo for his LimitBreak, but these work for all the guns he can equip in the game.
** Averted, since you custom-make all of his weapons yourself, with the exception of his starting weapon, which the first upgrade is created from by using it as a base. In this case, you're modding the rifle to the ammo, most of which you can make yourself as well. Double averted?

* All weapons in ''{{Fallout}}'' that use the same caliber take the same ammunition. The issue of different cartridges in the same caliber is ignored, magazines/clips/belt links don't need to be kept track of, and characters seem to load mags in the heat of combat.
**Due to a [[GoodBadBugs bug]] in ''Fallout 2'', the P90 {{expy}} gun was originally loaded with 9mm ammo, which was extremely rare and only (designed) to be used in this one gun (it wasn't even the only specialized 9mm ammo, either - elsewhere in the game is a Mauser that takes 9mm (ball) ammo). However, once emptied, it then took extremely common 10mm ammo.
**In ''Fallout 3'', the .32 Caliber pistol and Hunting Rifle both use .32 caliber ammo, however the rifle is much more powerful than the pistol. The pistol is probably the weakest weapon in the game.
*''ResidentEvil 4''. The ''Broken Butterfly'' is a revolver, whereas the ''Killer7'' takes magazines, which both use the same ammo. The ammo for the more basic handguns changes color to match the gun it's being loaded into.
**Furthermore, the magazines are the same size for each gun, but the ammo cap for each gun can be upgraded. Is Leon putting two mags in on top of each other?
*Though {{justified|Trope}} in the main game of ''Resident Evil 2'' (both Leon and Claire's starting handguns '''do''', in fact, use the same type of ammunition in real life), it is invoked poorly with Claire's bonus weapon, the Colt .45 revolver. Granted, it's to fit the whole "cowgirl" theme along with [[AndYourRewardIsClothes her outfit]], but as its name suggests, the revolver uses .45 LC caliber rounds, not 9 mm rounds.
*Averted to a slightly unrealistic degree at times in the ''CallOfDuty''. Even the normal and sniper versions of a weapon did not have interchangeable ammunition; while in some cases like the Springfield this was accurate since a scoped Springfield cannot reload using stripper clips, it was even the case when the weapons ''should'' have used exactly the same ammunition loaded exactly the same way.
*The first ''ParasiteEve'' game had this. The only unique ammo was the rocket launcher. Otherwise, you just had generic bullets. 9mm Parabellum = .45 = 12 gauge = 7.62x51mm = 5.56x45mm = 40mm. For those who don't know ammo, pistol ammo = bigger ammo = shotgun shell = rifle ammo = smaller rifle ammo = grenade.

*In ''Enemy Territory {{Quake}} Wars'', the Strogg use the exact same pickup for all their ammo and their health restoration. This would normally fall under Justified Examples... except that the pickup in question was established in ''{{Quake}} 4'' to be a specially treated slurry of liquefied human remains, and could not conceivably function as ammunition for ''anything'' except a particularly disgusting squirt-gun.

*Tends to be averted in FarCry, where even OICW and AG36 grenade launchers do not share ammo, an error that was very likely to be done. However, is played straight with MP5 and P90. In fact, boxed "SMG" ammo found in the game has "9x19" written on it. Right ammo for the MP5, but absolutely wrong fot the P90, being chambered for 5.7x28mm.

*In ''DarkSector'' this is played pretty much straight with everything but the starting pistol; the Klin [=PP9=] (9mm PMM), AKS-74U (5.45x39mm) and [=G36K=] (5.56x45mm) all share an ammo pool, as do the Webley Mark IV revolver (really a .38, but supposed to be a Nagant, firing 7.62x38mm rimmed) and the SOCOM 16 rifle (firing 7.62x51mm NATO).

**Averted in the first game, and wasn't an issue because ammo didn't need space in the GridInventory. That said, pistol ammo was always loaded in magazines, despite ammo capacity upgrade weapon mods, and the regular and stealth pistols having different base maximums. That's OneBulletClips for you.
*''MassEffect'' also takes this to the extreme. Ammunition in the game is nothing more than a metal block that gets shaved into the proper form. However, unlike above where it's crippling, this game has as-good-as-unlimited ammo. The block in a standard assault rifle is about 5,000 shots, which is more than enough to fight a war. In Wrex's back story, he once fought a duel that lasted for a number of days. He ran out of ammo and had to take a gun from a merc he'd killed in the process.
**''MassEffect 2'' kept the unlimited ammunition, but added "thermal clips" that absorb heat from the weapon and eventually need to be discarded. Essentially, they act just like ammunition. The clips are universal - pick one up and it adds more total shots to all of your weapons.
*This was earlier implemented to much less outrage upon reception in ''{{Oni}}''. ''Oni'' has two kinds of ammunition: Kinetic, which supposedly consisted of explosives/propellant and slugs, usable for everything from [=SMGs=] to rocket launchers; and energy, which was for things like typical plasma blasters and tasers.
*''{{Metroid}} Prime Hunters'' have actual Universal Ammo that fits all of your special weapons. Only the missile launcher use different ammo. Since all the guns are energy weapons, it's a bit more believable, though, as the ammo itself would probably not need to be reshaped to fit the barrel.

*The Doom Trilogy has gone from a prime example in the first two games by not only acceptably using the same ammo for the Plasma Gun and BFG, but also having the pistol and the chain gun use the same ammo - to the complete opposite in Doom 3 which not only had specific ammo for each normal weapon, but also had specific Plasma Gun and BFG ammo.
*''GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas''' normal and silenced 9mm pistols don't share ammunition (presumably the silenced one uses lower-velocity ammo), but the [=SMGs=] and shotguns can take ammo from other weapons in their class.
**However, the AK-47 and M4 both share ammo.

*Most [[FrickinLaserBeams blasters]] in the ''StarWars'' universe use a substance called Tibanna Gas and Power Packs. Apparently power packs come in a universal format too.
**''[[KnightsOfTheOldRepublic KoTOR 2]]'' had you run a across a ProudWarriorRaceGuy who was hiding from some predators. If you choose to mock him for managing to run out of ammo, he will ask if you have ''ever'' emptied a blaster and needed to reload.
**In canon powerpacks for blasters are standardized, all standard rifles and pistols use one model of powerpack. Different weapons get different numbers of shots out of a standard blasterpack, however (it helps that the packs are essentially just containers for tibanna gas, a larger 'caliber' blaster shot is just more gas so standardization is easy).
**The ''DarkForcesSaga'' had one type of blaster ammo in the first game, and two in later games, both of which could be recharged from the same power stations.
*The tabletop RPG ''{{Shadowrun}}'' suggests handling ammo this way: all weapons of the same class use the same ammo, for simplicity.
**Then again, its Sega Genesis game fits the above Inexplicable Example table, as Ares Universal clips not only fit any gun they're loaded into (regardless of class), but ''round themselves off'' to maintain a roughly equal percentage of ammo remaining across unequal magazine sizes.
*Similar to the ''Invisible War'' example in above, in John Scalzi's ''Old Man's War'', the rifles used by the Colonial forces use nanotechnology-based ammo that reconfigures itself into whatever you're asking for--including rockets, grenades, bullets, and ''microwaves''. You can even create your own custom firing macros (eg., fire a grenade followed by a blast of flame for good measure)

*[[NerfBrand Nerf darts]] ''do'' fit with the majority of Nerf guns, it's when you have a non-Nerf brand gun that you run into problems...
**Of course, darts come in a variety of diameters, which obviously won't fit smaller weapons.
**Guns like the Recon and Longshot however can only take streamlined darts designed to work in their clips. These same streamlined darts will work in most other nerf guns, but not as well as the darts that are meant to be used with them.

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