History Main / CartridgesInFlight

%% * In ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', Beelzemon's bullets were always shown this way.

* Averted in ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'' during the Phantom Bullet arc. It specifically goes to show several bullets in flight sans casing, and even shows the comparative calibers correctly (Sinon's .50 BMG versus the .338 Lapua Magnum round from Death Gun in the scope snipe).

* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistBrotherhood'' has a tank shell fired at Sloth land on and get stuck in his face, casing and all.

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* Tyrell in ''Film/TheMask'' [[BulletSeed spits bullets]] that his body absorbed after being shot, to kill his BadBoss Niko. Given that the eponymous mask's explicit power is to grant ToonPhysics to its wearer, it's an extremely rare instance of this being a JustifiedTrope.

* Averted in ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' during the Phantom Bullet arc. It specifically goes to show several bullets in flight sans casing, and even shows the comparative calibers correctly (Sinon's .50 BMG versus the .338 Lapua Magnum round from Death Gun in the scope snipe).

* Implied with the description for the Minigun in ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament2004'', where its SecondaryFire (slower fire rate, but with explosive rounds that deal doubled damage) is noted as because the weapon is capable of firing both caseless and cased rounds; apparently Epic mistook the difference between the two in reality (e.g. the M16's 5.56x45mm round is more powerful than the G11's caseless 4.7x33mm in reality, but that's not because the 5.56mm somehow [[MadeOfExplodium blows up when it hits something]]).

* In ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', Beelzemon's bullets were always shown this way.
* Done in the title sequence to ''Anime/SandsOfDestruction'' when Rhia fires her revolvers at Morte.

* The opening for ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood'' shows the police firing upon Dio for [[spoiler:killing George Joestar]]. The camera pans around the bullets and show the primer and casing despite being fired just seconds before.

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' this happens due to the bullets being sentient, sapient and self-propelling. Cartoon logic at its finest.

* Tyrell in ''Film/TheMask'' does almost the same thing as above to kill his BadBoss Niko. Given that the eponymous mask's explicit power is to grant ToonPhysics to its wearer, it's an extremely rare instance of this being a JustifiedTrope.

* One of Gabe Kaplan's jokes about his high school was his assertion that his school was so tough, they didn't use guns: they inserted the bullets ''manually''. This may explain the Wolverine cover of ''Wizard'', mentioned above.

* Given its {{Troperiffic}} presentation, it's no surprise ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' does this with the Demoman's Grenade Launcher--each grenade round is launched with some kind of chemical propellant given that it's got a muzzle flash, but the projectile that flies out is exactly the same as the projectile that's loaded--in fact, the back of each one displays a dimpled primer even before they're loaded, nor are any casings ever ejected. Interestingly, Valve managed to get it right with the image for the "Artful Dodger" Scout achievement only showing bullets mid-flight, yet flub it with the later "Hipshot" Sniper achievement image that clearly shows intact rimmed cartridges being fired.

* Pick an old-school cartoon. Shotguns would usually release a cloud of little round pellets, but with very few exceptions, any other guns would fire whole cartridges.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror episode segment "Homer³", Chief Wiggum fires his pistol into the third dimension. The bullets appear in 3d, casing and all, before being sucked into the black hole.
** Also, in Who Shot Mr Burns, the bullet they remove from Mr Burns is an unfired cartridge.

** Some grenade launchers implement this, with the propellant being contained in a compartment inside the projectile, as opposed to a casing containing the projectile and propellant separately. There was a Japanese aircraft cannon that worked like this too, and some experimental personal weapons like the Gerasimenko pistol.
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* Implied with the description for the Minigun in ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament2004'', where its SecondaryFire (slower fire rate, but with explosive rounds that deal doubled damage) is noted as because the weapon is capable of firing both caseless and cased rounds; apparently Epic mistook the difference between the two in reality (e.g. the M16's 5.56x45mm round is more powerful than the [[RareGuns/AssaultRifles G11's]] caseless 4.7x33mm in reality, but that's not because the 5.56mm somehow [[MadeOfExplodium blows up when it hits something]]).

Some works of fiction, particularly illustrations, will show the entire cartridge in flight during BulletTime - casing, primer, and all. This could be a simple error, but it could also be a case of TheCoconutEffect; fiction shows whole bullets in flight because that's what audiences ''expect'' to see and because a realistic bullet would be less recognizable.

Not all artists understand this.

Some works of fiction, particularly illustrations, will show the entire cartridge in flight during BulletTime... casing, primer, and all. This is a blatant mistake to anyone who knows how guns work.

* This would make sense actually with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrojet Gyrojet]], considering Wiki/TheOtherWiki defines a cartridge as a single metallic case housing a bullet, primer, and propellant (the bullet is the case... in this case). Depending on how strictly this definition is applied, the earlier [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Ball Rocket Ball]] type ammunition used by the lever-action Volcanic weapons (predecessors to the more famous Winchester and Henry rifles) qualifies as well.

In RealLife, there are four components to an ammunition round: a casing, an explosive primer, the propellant, and the projectile bullet. Only the last of these is expected to leave the barrel through the muzzle. The other components either burn up (as with the propellant, which provides the explosive force to hurl the bullet down the barrel) or are removed from the chamber to make room for the next round (as with the casing itself and the primer at the bottom of it). Some guns retain the spent casing in a [[RevolversAreJustBetter rotating cylinder]], others rely on a manually operated mechanism to eject it, and semi- and full automatics use the recoil or pressure from firing to [[SpentShellsShower eject the casing themselves]]. There are also guns with "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caseless_ammunition caseless ammunition]]", which use a solid propellant that doesn't need a metal casing to hold it.

In RealLife, there are four components to an ammunition round: a casing, an explosive primer, the propellant, and the projectile bullet. Only the last of these is expected to leave the barrel through the muzzle. The other components either burn up (as with the propellant, which provides the explosive force to hurl the bullet down the barrel) or are removed from the chamber to make room for the next round (as with the casing itself and the primer at the bottom of it). Some guns retain the spent casing in a [[RevolversAreJustBetter rotating cylinder]], others rely on a manually operated mechanism to eject it, and semi- and full automatics use the recoil from firing to [[SpentShellsShower eject the casing themselves]]. There are also guns with "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caseless_ammunition caseless ammunition]]", which use a solid propellant that doesn't need a metal casing to hold it.

* The opening for ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood'' shows the police firing upon Dio for [[spoiler:killing George Joestar]]. The camera pans around the bullets and show the primer and casing despite being fired just seconds before.

* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistBrotherhood'' does this with tank shells fired at Sloth. Since this series has generally realistic firearm portrayal (the show has an accurate pistol disassembly and cleaning scene), this is an egregious mistake.

* Done in the first opening of the ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' 2012-13 anime where the police fire upon [[spoiler:Dio]] for [[spoiler:killing George Joestar]]. The camera pans around the bullets and show the primer and casing despite being fired just seconds before.

* {{Justified|Trope}} in the ''VideoGame/Portal2'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i-nMWgBUp0 turret trailer,]] quoted above, where it is shown that the turrets are specifically '''designed''' to launch whole cartridges as a result of [[IncompetenceInc Aperture's management being totally insane]] (see, for instance, their insistence that their turrets are good because they fire "65% more bullet per bullet"). The munitions are launched using a powerful spring mechanism rather than by actually firing the propellant. Consequently, [[WeakTurretGun they're much weaker than than they would be if fired normally]], to the point where Chell, who doesn't wear much more than a cloth jumpsuit, can take several rounds to the body in a relatively short period and survive long enough to get to cover and [[RegeneratingHealth heal up]]. One wonders where the muzzle flash comes from, though. That they fired actual bullets at all came as a surprise to veteran players, since ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' turrets were based (down to the firing sounds and projectile graphic assets) on ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' turrets, which [[RayGun fire "pulse rifle" ammo]].