MBA Gyrojet

In the latest edition of the Gunlist they had a small article about the MBA Gyrojets current value. I was wondering if anyone has ever seen or fired one of these weapons. What were your impressions?

I'd been reading about them since I was a kid (in gun books and in Larry Niven! :D ), but I only saw one last year in Ron Peterson's gun store in ABQ. IIRC, it was $650 and came with some ammo. Frankly, it was priced a lot cheaper than "market" but it languished in the store nevertheless (sold eventually).

It was very interesting to see in the flesh, though. Stupid idea (got full velocity 50-odd feet out, and a fired round could be kept safely in the gun by putting a finger over the muzzle), but interesting to see that someone actually brought it to market - the '60s were a bolder, more forward-thinking (and silly) time than the present. :)

I have not fired one, but I remember when they came out. They are small rocket launchers. The "bullets" are small rockets. The distance to motor burn out and full velocity is something approaching 25 yds.
The gun itself is an aluminum casting, as I recall. Interesting, but not practical. There seems to be quite a bit of info on the 'net.

Handled but never fired one. Big, clunky, and "cheap" feeling. Reported to be very inaccurate. Who could afford to practice?!?

The Gyrojet isn't a weapon, not in the practical sense of the word. It's a toy or novelty. Yes, it is dangerous if fired at a human, but the general unreliability and unavailability of the rockets takes it out of the "Practical weapon" category.

It was an interesting idea, but the practical application was lacking. In the end, it showed why traditional cartridges were a better idea.

The National Firearms Museum has several of the Gyrojet pistols, and carbines on display, in their Inventions section of the museum (next to some other truly fascinating concepts).

Personally, I've always wondered what it would be like if the Gyrojet were revisited in present times, using modern technology to improve the design. If a major manufacturer put some serious developement into the concept and actually made it viable..

Well lets see. Heat seeking would be feasable if you could scale it up to 12ga. And radar guidance would then be possible, it would be the passive type depending on an illuminator. You might actually be able to target with a laser site and have the round home in on it or with the other two sensors 'lock' on it. I think 100 per round should do it after 2 billion in R&D. :neener:

The military tried something similar, it's a dead horse now but they keep beating on it. :banghead:

I shot one back around '85..twice. Funnier'n a room fulla cross-eyed cats chasin' a three-legged rat. Makes a screamin' WHEEEEEE sound...like one of the old Whistling Jupiter rockets that we used to buy twofer a quarter... followed by a sonic crack about 25 feet out. You can track it by the contrail.
Trajectory about like a 5-cent bottle rocket, and I couldn't have hit the lake with it if I'd been standin' in a boat. Funnier'n hell though...:D

Reminds me a movie I can't remember the name of. Bad guy shoots people with miniature heat-seeking cruise missiles fired from a pistol.

I'd like one that could home in on the thumping subwoofers of the idiots cruising around my block...

I visited the Gyrojet company in Mountain View, California in '66 (at the time, I was on orders for Viet Nam, and attending the Defense Language School at Monterey, CA.)

Firing the gyrojet was an interesting experience -- you could feel the hair on your arms stand up from the air currents generated by the little rockets. Of course you couldn't actually hit anything with it -- I tried to hit a man-sized silhouette at 50 feet with less than sterling results, but they were "working on that."

The president of the company (I forget his name now) did his famous demonstration of pressing the "muzzle" of a Gyrojet pistol to the surface of his desk and pulling the trigger. The little rocket would spin and smoke, and leave a tiny dent in the desk -- I can remember thinking what a dumb stunt that was for a man trying to sell the pistol!!

Gyrojet had some interesting small rocket applications, including some really neat assassination weapons, but they just had to concentrate on the "rifle" and pistol applications, and that was a major mistake.

Reminds me a movie I can't remember the name of. Bad guy shoots people with miniature heat-seeking cruise missiles fired from a pistol.

The movie is Runaway: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088024/

I was at a gun show a few years back where an ammo collector had a few rounds of gyrojet ammunition for about $50 each. I'd love to have the chance to fire one a couple of times, just for the cool experience. It's too bad they didn't work out.

I don't know.... It may be stupid and pointless, but if its fun, why not? Massad Ayoob justified an AR pistol in the last issue of American handgunner for basically that same reason, so why not a rocket launching pistol? I applaud whoever the people were that came up with it, for at least trying to make something new.

This guy (http://www.deathwind.com/project.htm) is trying to revive the gyrojet concept. Supposedly the inaccuracy of the original was due to poor manufacturing rather than any inherent flaw. I'm not holding my breath but it would be cool if it worked out :D

Is a Greek sandwich...:cool:

If I remember correctly...The Gyrojet made the BATF's No-No list because it was determined that is was quiet enough to be labeled a "Silenced Firearm."
:rolleyes:

WHIZZZZZBANG! Yeah...Silent as Saturday mornin' Romper Room.:D

Did the Gyrojet round have fire coming out of the rear end while in flight, like a rocket would? Did it explode when striking a target?:confused:

Fire--yes, kaboom--no.

Gyrojet's are fascinating. I almost bought one at a gunshow 10 years back or so, but I talked myself out of it. Didn't make sense to spend that much money for something that would sit unfired forever in my safe. There's a lot of articles on the net about them. All good reading.

I handled one at a OGCA show a while back. Neat idea, but as so many others have already said it was so impractical....

I guess I might be showing my age if I mention my first memory of these is in the old James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice". Bond is being given a tour of the Ninja training camp and "Tiger Tanaka" shows him a Gyro Jet and then fires it at a target......with dramatic effect...Pinewood Studios magic no doubt...but to my young fevered mind a gun I wanted bad..Glad I outgrew that desire. lol.:D

I disagree that it's impractical. The only serious problem I see with it is that the velocity varies over the first 75 yards. I don't think there's any inherent reason why gyrojet rockets have to be more expensive than regular cartridges, it's just a matter of economies of scale. The company just ran out of principal and couldn't recover from the switch away from 13mm.

I've handled both the pistol and carbine versions.

Aside from terrible accuracy, the muzzle velocity was only about 100fps and would reach 1300fps at about 20 meters.

This made it pretty useless for normal pistol combat ranges.

It was recoilless though.

I haven't seen one of those since the 70,s. When I was a kid I use to see one in a pawn shop and it never seem to sell. I always thought it was an interesting idea and wanted one back then.

Since I was a kid then there was no way I was going to get one. I settled for my own version made from Estes model rockets and a pipe.

I too think that a modern revival of this concept would be cool. Make the projectiles about .45 caliber, pack 'em with explosives, and increase accuracy. Sounds like a winner to me!:)

Modern gyrojet ammo would benefit from improved CNC machining, better rocket formula mixes and with all that you could probably stuff a gyroscopically stabilization system in there.

I remember seeing an article about a German mechanical stabilization system using a gyroscope tied to movable fins.

Now if you're willing to increase the size to 40mm....

If one day astronaunt-to-astronaunt combat occurs in space, the need for a weapon that does not recoil will be extremely useful.

If one day astronaunt-to-astronaunt combat occurs in space, the need for a weapon that does not recoil will be extremely useful.

But Zolgarshian Lunch Eaters are immune to kinetic energy weapons.:D

If the gyrojet was a viable design in this day and age, it would be interesting to see it deployed in Iraq. Maybe it would scare the bejesus out of the terrorists there, making them forget all about their 72 virigins or such!:)