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Back to the drawing board: The worst firearms ever made

See the most ill-conceived weapons of ever made.

The Gyrojet Mark1 is a unique firearm developed in the 1960s named for the method of gyroscopically stabilizing its projectiles. Rather than inert bullets, Gyrojets fire small rockets called Microjets which have little recoil and do not require a heavy barrel to resist the pressure of the combustion gases. Velocity on leaving the tube was very low, but increased to around 1,250 feet per second (380 m/s) at 30 feet (9.1 m). The result is a very lightweight weapon. The rocket leaves the barrel with low energy, and accelerates until the fuel is exhausted at about 60 feet (18 meters), at which point the rocket has a velocity of about 1250 feet per second (FPS), slightly greater than Mach one, with about 50% more energy than the common .45 ACP round. While test figures vary greatly, testers report that there was a sonic crack from some rounds, but only a hissing sound from others, suggesting that the maximum velocity varied from slightly below to slightly above Mach 1. In 1965, the manufacturer of the pistol claimed 5-mil accuracy (about 17 MOA, or about 4.5 inches at 25 yards), worse than conventional pistols of the time. However, in later tests accuracy was very poor; the difference seems to have been due to a manufacturing flaw in later production runs which partially blocked one of the exhaust ports, creating asymmetrical thrust that caused the projectile to corkscrew through the air.
The Gyrojet Mark1 is a unique firearm developed in the 1960s named for the method of gyroscopically stabilizing its projectiles. Rather than inert bullets, Gyrojets fire small rockets called Microjets which have little recoil and do not require a heavy barrel to resist the pressure of the combustion gases. Velocity on leaving the tube was very low, but increased to around 1,250 feet per second (380 m/s) at 30 feet (9.1 m). The result is a very lightweight weapon. The rocket leaves the barrel with low energy, and accelerates until the fuel is exhausted at about 60 feet (18 meters), at which point the rocket has a velocity of about 1250 feet per second (FPS), slightly greater than Mach one, with about 50% more energy than the common .45 ACP round. While test figures vary greatly, testers report that there was a sonic crack from some rounds, but only a hissing sound from others, suggesting that the maximum velocity varied from slightly below to slightly above Mach 1. In 1965, the manufacturer of the pistol claimed 5-mil accuracy (about 17 MOA, or about 4.5 inches at 25 yards), worse than conventional pistols of the time. However, in later tests accuracy was very poor; the difference seems to have been due to a manufacturing flaw in later production runs which partially blocked one of the exhaust ports, creating asymmetrical thrust that caused the projectile to corkscrew through the air.

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