The Incredible Retro GyroJet Rocket Gun!

Used both in secret agent movies and by real-life black ops teams, the Gyrojet Rocket Pistol was ultra-cool but ultimately unsuccessful.

Invented about the same time as The Jetsons were a hit TV show, nuclear weapons researcher Bob Mainhardt and arms designer Art Biehl came together to form MB Associates (after their initials) to explore rocket projects. In addition to a reasonably popular handheld flare projector, they also looked to produce a series or rocket-firing weapons with an eye towards military contracts.

These guns– both pistols, and rifles– would be incredibly light (as low as 16-ounces), near recoilless, and powerful. In effect, they would be multi-shot rocket launchers that could be carried and fired by virtually anyone.

Had the theory behind the MBA Gyrojet series been better proven, it would have likely changed firearm history. However, the end result was a rocket-firing small arm that looked like a flare gun, sounded like a starter pistol, and was almost as accurate.

In the end, while they appeared on screens big and small at the time– notably in the hands of “Tiger Tanaka” and assorted ninjas in 1967’s Bond film You Only Live Twice, they never gained widespread acceptance. Nonetheless, there is some evidence they were used to some extent by MAC-V-SOG personnel in Southeast Asia.

While we never got jetpacks or moon bases out of the 1960s, we do still have their rocket gun.