We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 16:06:48 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification If you need to refresh yourself on the question... go here. Many good guesses, not just in the comments, but in email, from people who were afraid they might get ridiculed for being wrong... (this is *not* that kind of site - unless you get stupid and snarky first!). Lots of people (22 in all) played this time, and much good logic and knowledge was on display. Pretty much everybody fell victim to what Douglas Adams spoke of in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: '.....where due to a tragic miscalculation of scale, the entire battlefleet was swallowed by a small... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html Sat, 28 Aug 2004 10:21:20 -0600 Two things: first, the whole concept of rocket bullets is unbelievably neato. I would even go so far as to say it's nifty. I didn't even know such a weapon had ever been developed. Second thing, #6 is what's known as a "pig." It's a big wodge of metal for raming down a pipe. They serve various purposes, from pipe cleaning, pipe wall thickness checking for QC, and even pipe expanding. When I worked at Shell Oil, I helped develop technology for a pig that could be rammed down solid well pipe at enormous pressure & thereby expand the pipe diameter by ~20%. Since such enormous abuse to metal combined with high pressure meant absolutely rediculous amounts of friction, heat, and stress, accidents were extraordinarily messy to clean up. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html#comment-6297 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html#comment-6297 Sun, 29 Aug 2004 01:54:00 -0600 I wonder if the price of unshot Gyrojet ammo is now high enough to justify going into new production. Think about it. Fewer legal hassles than making actual gun ammo; it's a rocket with less than four ounces of propellant, and thus completely (Federally, at least) unregulated. I don't even think the G-j launcher qualifies as a gun under the Fed regs. If it did, you could certainly cobble up one for yourself more easily than rifling a steel barrel, etc. I do wonder what the guy used for propellant, and of course there's always the issue of the development work he must have done, and how to duplicate and/or acquire it. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html#comment-6294 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html#comment-6294 Sun, 29 Aug 2004 00:37:35 -0600 John, you spoilsport. Jack - I've been tempted, many times, but haven't yet broken out the bucks for a Gyrojet. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html#comment-6288 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html#comment-6288 Sat, 28 Aug 2004 20:45:41 -0600 Neat! I hate guessing!!! Cheers JMH http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html#comment-6286 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html#comment-6286 Sat, 28 Aug 2004 20:06:14 -0600 Gyrocs are cool sounding, but the practical limitations really kind of kill them. First off, they are not close in weapons, the 'bullet' has to accellerate out of the barrel a pretty decent distance I recall. Thus, in the kind of combat one expects with pistols, its a bit useless (Close in, tight fighting.) That said, I'd think the Gyroc from RunAway would be cool, heat seeking bullets. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html#comment-6285 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html#comment-6285 Sat, 28 Aug 2004 19:54:12 -0600 OK, I'm not up on your collection. Do you have a gyrojet pistol? That is the ultimate in old Science Fiction cool!!!! It was used as a murder weapon in an old Larry Niven story, and probably a lot of other stories from the early, glory days of SF pulp fiction. If you have one, post a photo, please!!!! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html#comment-6282 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/08/the_answer_to_the_question.html#comment-6282 Sat, 28 Aug 2004 12:46:40 -0600