eraser movie : The MBA Gyrojet was conceived by Robert Mainhardt and Art Biehl. Theyformed MBAssociates or MBA. First off, The gyrojet is not a firearm in theconventional sense. It's ammo was a 13mm stainless steel armor piercingrocket. Later models were made in 12mm to comply with civilian guns havinga max of .50 cal. Both pistol and carbine versions were available indifferent finish/price levels. The pistol (well use that for our purposes here) is about the same sizeas a Colt 45, but it is very light, about 22 oz.When holding it, the stamped steel/alloy construction combined with all thevent holes make you feel as if this were a toy and incapable of holding upto the pressure of being a firearm. Well, you're right, because the Gyrojetisn't a firearm in the conventional sense.

eraser movie : When a conventional gun is fired, all the pressure from the explodingpowder is held in the chamber/barrel. This pressure is what pushes thebullet forward and why as soon as a bullet leaves the barrel, it startsloosing velocity. The Gyrojet round is pushed by burning solid rocket propellant that iscontained within the projectile, so therefore all the pressure is containedby the "bullet" and not by the gun. This also means that muzzlevelocity/energy sucks, about 860 ft/sec. Like most rockets however, thelonger the burn, the faster the projectile goes. This means at about 100yards, the velocity is screaming supposedly at 100 yards it is about 50%more powerful than the .45. Loading/shooting the Gryojet is an experience. To load it, one slidesthe top cover of the receiver, pushed all 6 rounds in from the top andquickly slid the door shut again. there ew no magazine or feed lips like asemi auto, so all the rounds want to fly back in your face if you are notfast. For anyone familiar with the M-1 Garand, imagine trying to load itwithout the EN-Bloc clip to hold the bullets in place.

eraser movie : With rockets in place, the pistol is cocked for the first shot via acocking lever that is pushed forward and down.This lever is on the left side of the frame just above the trigger. Therocket leaving the barrel cocks the hammer for the subsequent shots. Whenthe trigger is pulled, there is not the noticeable bang of a gun. TheGyrojet just makes a small crack then a hiss as the rocket goes off. Shakeand open beer can to hear this noise. Reports of the time show the gyrojet had some decent accuracy amongthose who tested (note: I have held these guns, but never fired one due tolack of 12/13mm rockets at my local Wal-Mart). Instead of conventionalrifling,the Gyrojet used multiple angled exhaust ports to spin theprojectile as it traveled thru the smooth barrel. this produced greataccuracy, but it was also one of the downfalls of the design.

eraser movie : MBA originally produced this weapon for use in Vietnam, and that'swhere some of the downfalls were seen. Rocket fuel (solid type) didn'talways like humid weather, so misfires or not getting a 100% burn was aproblem, though an infrequent one. Another problem was the slight chance offouling of the exhaust ports. Remember they provided the rifling, so afouled port could cause a wobbling path and nasty accuracy problems. Thebiggest drawback was that the rocket burning could leave a trail back to theshooter. Not good in combat.I saw a documentary on this on one of the Discovery/Learning/Historychannels, complete with videos of the gun firing. You are forewarned:Yep in fact it was a mere 860 FPS or so at the barrel--however it contin uedto accelerate along it's range which meant it gre to decent lethality at midranges--before losing power at long ranges...

eraser movie : AT 860 FPS, I'd recommend against sticking your finger in the barrel. I'vebeen hit by paintballs at ~350 FPS, and they do damage. I'd hazard aguessthat 860 would break the finger.860 fps is 259 meters per second. That's the velocity of Federal's 230 grain jacketed hollow point bullets in .45ACP. That'd do more than break a finger.Nice write up. There are two points I'd like to add. First, ammunitionsize should be bigger than a conventional pistol. Second, I'd heardaccuracy was not so hot due to wobble - that rocket leaves the muzzletraveling relatively slowly, and that's going to magnify the effects of anywobble.--- Wardwardcb at earthlink dot net"Computer programmers don't byte, they just nybble a bit."Not mine unfortunately--I found it while trying to verify my own informationon the web--dimly remembered articles I'd read somewhere