Brandon Herrera tests a Gyrojet pistol against ballistic gel, a ballistic head, and does some shooting caught on super-slow motion camera before having a catastrophic failure where the barrel exited the front of the weapon. The ballistic results were actually pretty good (not counting the first shot where the rocket motor apparently didn't ignite). The nice thing about this video is that he shot the pistol several times--normally, because the ammunition is so hard to find and, therefore, so expensive, the most you will see is an owner shooting but a single round.
Developed in the 1960s, the Gyrojet uses a rocket motor to propel a projectile rather than using the explosive force of gunpowder contained in a cartridge case. The result, which you can see in these tests, is that the motor may still be burning after it has pierced and exited its target. This also means that the projectile continues to accelerate after leaving the barrel until the fuel is exhausted, so you muzzle velocity and energy may be much less than farther down range. Both a pistol and carbine version was produced. This article at the National Interest has a good photo showing both the pistol and carbine versions of the weapon.
While it did not catch on with the military or the public, it did catch the attention of authors and film writers. It is not uncommon to find characters in spy thrillers (including one of the Bond books and films) and science fiction stories of the 1960s and 1970s making use of Gyrojet pistols. I know of at least one science fiction TTRPG (Star Frontiers) that included Gyrojet weapons.
Good video. Hope he gets elected.
ReplyDeleteHe'd be infinitely better than the Congress-critter who thought adding a pistol brace made a weapon automatic.
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