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Even as of 2025, there has been somewhat of a longstanding conflict between boltgun ammunition being cased or caseless:
====Caseless====
*In [[1st Edition]] (Rogue Trader), bolts are described as self-propelled explosives akin to small missiles.{{Fn|1b}} This is reiterated in later publications.{{Fn|33}} This by definition makes them [[Wikipedia:Caseless_ammunition#Internal-propellant_caseless_ammunition|internal-propellant caseless ammunition]].{{Fn|1b}} According to both the [[Liber Astartes (2nd Edition)|2nd]]{{Fn|20}} and [[Liber Astartes (3rd Edition)|3rd editions]] of ''[[Liber Astartes]]'', bolt weapons fire caseless ammunition.{{fn|24}} This description depiction is depicted continued in ''[[Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie]]''{{Fn|32}} as well as ''[[Secret Level]]''.{{Fn|34}}
<gallery mode="nolines" heights="150" widths="150">
Bolt.JPG|<sup><small>Bolt round depicted as a self-propelled caseless munition</small></sup>
</gallery>
Bolt Shells 2mb.gif|<sup><small>Bolt cases from [[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2]]</small></sup>
Bolt Shell Adepta Sororitas Penitence.jpg|<sup><small>Bolt cases from [[Adepta Sororitas: Penitence]]</small></sup>
Bolt Ultramarines A Warhammer 40,000 Movie.jpg|<sup><small>Bolt round in [[Ultramarines - A Warhammer 40,000 Movie]] maintains its self propelled motion, yet expends spent shells{{fn|32}}</small></sup>
Standard Bolter Round - Ultramarines - A Warhammer 40,000 Movie Poster.jpg|<sup><small>[[Ultramarines - A Warhammer 40,000 Movie]] standard bolt round with spent shell{{fn|32}}</small></sup>
</gallery>
====Reconciliation====
*A potential reconciliation is offered in [[Imperial Armour Volume Two - Space Marines and Forces of the Inquisition]]. According to the book, each bolt is contained in a "cartridge" loaded with a small conventional powder charge, which initially launches while igniting its solid fuel propellant, which is timed to do so once it is clear of the barrel. The cartridge is then ejected. It is feasible that spent bolt "casings" as depicted/described are instead these cartridges.{{fn|4}}
{{QuoteBox
|quote = <small>"Bloody Bolters! 'Mass-Reactive Caseless Ammuntion' says it right there in 40k, [[Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader|Rogue Trader]], right from the get go: caseless. What do artists always do with boltguns? Cases flying everywhere! Because it looks awesome, alright. Anybody whose seen particularly late 80-90s action movies - 'Dakka-dakka-dakka' brass flying everywhere - knows its one of those things that conveys kinetic violence happening. So when it comes to doing a static image that you're trying to show a guy firing a big rapid fire gun of course an artist is going to reach for having casings flying out of it or it's a heavy battle so there's loads of brass on the ground and things like that, because it's a visual key for people to clue into even subconsciously about what's happening. So actually 'caseless' was useless as a term to describe them because it fought against what the art wanted to do. So eventually we kind of lampshaded it basically, or I did, and wrote in that they use a little kind of like sabot thing to launch them out of the barrel kind of like RPG-7s do. So at that point it's fine, I no longer have to shout at artists whenever I see brass coming out of bolters cause it's fine, we need it, and it looks good."{{Fn|25}}</small>
