I just read a previous thread regarding the Jennings Rocket Ball ammunition. I was very surprised that as a longtime caplock shooter, I have not heard of it until now and had to do a search too.
The original Rocket Ball had a problem of being weak and anemic, and it was the same reason that it's later offspring, the Gyrojet, never went popular.
WHAT IF: We made the new rocket-ball round to hold a reasonable amount of propellant in it's base, but load the round above a charge of regular propellant in the cylinder?
The rocket-propelled grenade uses a booster charge to launch the grenade out of the tube, and when it is a safe distance away from the shooter, the rocket motor ignites.
In a caplock pistol, the main charge inside the cylinder would propel the Rocket Ball out of the gun at the normal velocity that a standard hardball projectile operates at. Once the bullet has the left the barrel, the propellant inside the slug should then ignite in time and give the bullet a much added impetus which would increase the velocity by a long shot. As a result, you get much more performance out of a handgun or rifle bullet and projectiles fly much flatter.
For example, the Rocket Ball slug leaves the barrel via normal firing at 800-1000 feet/second, but a split second later, the powder inside the same ball burns and gives the round an added 600-900 feet/second.
That kind of combination would give the guns a far more vast performance.
What do you think?
The original Rocket Ball had a problem of being weak and anemic, and it was the same reason that it's later offspring, the Gyrojet, never went popular.
WHAT IF: We made the new rocket-ball round to hold a reasonable amount of propellant in it's base, but load the round above a charge of regular propellant in the cylinder?
The rocket-propelled grenade uses a booster charge to launch the grenade out of the tube, and when it is a safe distance away from the shooter, the rocket motor ignites.
In a caplock pistol, the main charge inside the cylinder would propel the Rocket Ball out of the gun at the normal velocity that a standard hardball projectile operates at. Once the bullet has the left the barrel, the propellant inside the slug should then ignite in time and give the bullet a much added impetus which would increase the velocity by a long shot. As a result, you get much more performance out of a handgun or rifle bullet and projectiles fly much flatter.
For example, the Rocket Ball slug leaves the barrel via normal firing at 800-1000 feet/second, but a split second later, the powder inside the same ball burns and gives the round an added 600-900 feet/second.
That kind of combination would give the guns a far more vast performance.
What do you think?
.