Munitions round for barrel-type weapons

A munitions round for a barrel-type weapon, comprising:

• an elongated casing having a closed rear end and an open forward end;
• a fin-stabilizing subcaliber elongated projectile wholly disposed in said casing with clearance, said projectile having a large length/diameter ratio, a center of gravity between its ends, a leading end terminating in a plane of said open forward end, and a fin assembly at a tail and guided on an inner wall of said casing;
• a gas-generating propellant charge in said casing at least partly surrounding said projectile;
• and
• an elongated drive body form-fittingly engaging said projectile and disposed at least in part forwardly of said center of gravity in the direction of propulsion of said projectile, said drive body being formed with:
• a plurality of segments mutually contacting at angularly spaced confronting contact surfaces at which said segments separate upon emergence of the projectile from the barrel of said weapon,
• a forwardly concave air-encountering surface formed by said segments and defined between a leading outer edge spaced radially from the periphery of said projectile but lying in said plane and a trailing inner edge proximal to said periphery of said projectile and rearwardly of said outer edge,
• an outer periphery of said body formed by said segments having a diameter substantially equal to the caliber of said barrel and engaged by said forward end of said casing,
• at least one sealing member bridging the mutually confronting contacting surfaces, and
• a pressure-receiving surface extending rearwardly from said outer periphery of said body at a circular outer edge thereof to an inner edge proximal to the periphery of said projectile and axially rearwardly of said outer edge of said body, said pressure-receiving surface being of progressively decreasing diameter rearwardly and defining a space with said casing receiving a portion of said charge, said pressure-receiving surface being outwardly concave at least in the region of said outer periphery of said body, said drive body being formed in the region of said inner edge of said pressure-receiving surface with a plurality of radially outwardly extending projections having free ends lying along circular arcs of substantially the diameter of the caliber of said barrel, said air-encountering surface defining a pocket receiving a static quantity of air and extending rearwardly of said inner edge of said air-encountering surface.