Gyrojet - never caught on with any of the services

[trader]

shoots underwater though, so there could have been a base case for its' adoption. It was odd indeed. From the article-

The Gyrojet’s action was very different. Its firing pin was fixed in place behind the round. When the trigger was pulled, a hammer pushed the bullet onto the firing pin. The tiny rocket bullet wasn’t filled with primer and powder, however. It was filled with solid-state rocket fuel, the same nitrocellulose-nitroglycerin mixture used in bazookas. The Gyrojet hammer held the round in place just long enough for thrust to build, then pushed the hammer out of its way and off toward its target. Thrust from the round went the hammer back into place inside the weapon, cocking it for the next semi-automatic round to fire

Who Wants a Tiny Rocket Shooting Gyrojet?

The 1960s were a wild, unpredictable time for America and for American weapons. The swinging sixties saw the country over

athlonoutdoors.com

 

[Sld1959]

I remember those things. I remember reading at rhe time they were notoriously unreliable, inaccurate the projectiles were considered too slow and under powered. There were big reasons thry never went over.

 

[Shibadog]

I also remember . I seem to recall it took some distance to reach peak velocity (plus there were supposed to be accuracy issues). Cool concept though..

 

[FNFAN]

In 1990 Bob Mainhardt who was a partner with the actual designer of the GyroJet platform came into the gun store I was a manager at in Vegas. He was in town looking for a place to manufacture his latest idea, a less lethal beanbag launcher. We talked about an hour as I had always been impressed with the system over the years. He actually ended up coming over for dinner the next evening and was a pleasure to speak with and a true gentleman to the wife & kids.