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Do you remember? fletchetts
- Thread starter butchb243
- Start date
I made flechette rounds
When I returned from 101st in RVN I moved from NC to CA and got a job with Northrop Corp. in Anaheim. One job I had for a while was standing in a small enclosed room with a turntable in front of me. As the vibrating turntable would slowly turn, I would grab a flechette filled shell and set it on with one hand and reach over with the other hand and and take one off, and set it in another box.
The fresh empty shell would get a dose of red flour type powder, and the turntable's job was to shake it down into the shell. When the large bag of powder was empty over head. I would climb a ladder and hook up a new one. I had to take a shower before I could leave work. Even then, later I could wipe my finger on a wall and leave a red stripe.
I always heard the red powder was so that pilots could see where the shell hit, and make corrections. My question after remembering that job is:WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THE RED POWDER?? It had the consistency of flour....hmm....sure hope it wasn't agent orange or something. Yikes!!!!
When I returned from 101st in RVN I moved from NC to CA and got a job with Northrop Corp. in Anaheim. One job I had for a while was standing in a small enclosed room with a turntable in front of me. As the vibrating turntable would slowly turn, I would grab a flechette filled shell and set it on with one hand and reach over with the other hand and and take one off, and set it in another box.
The fresh empty shell would get a dose of red flour type powder, and the turntable's job was to shake it down into the shell. When the large bag of powder was empty over head. I would climb a ladder and hook up a new one. I had to take a shower before I could leave work. Even then, later I could wipe my finger on a wall and leave a red stripe.
I always heard the red powder was so that pilots could see where the shell hit, and make corrections. My question after remembering that job is:WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THE RED POWDER?? It had the consistency of flour....hmm....sure hope it wasn't agent orange or something. Yikes!!!!
Mike Irwin
Staff
In practice, flechettes were found to be a huge failure in Vietnam. Troops who were issued them clamored to get their buckshot back because the wounds they caused were often not enough to stop the slightly build Vietnamese enemy.
The Navy used to use them (and probably still does) for internal ship's security. When a ship goes to "security alert", arms are issued to the duty securty crew who disperses throughout the ship both inside and outside. Those inside the skin of the ship are usually issued pump 12ga shotguns. They are also issued an ammo bag containing ammo. When I was in, the shotgun ammo bags contained both buckshot and flachettes.
The idea behind the flachette was that it would do less collateral damage to the ship's internal structures.
The idea behind the flachette was that it would do less collateral damage to the ship's internal structures.
There were some experiments with loads in 12 gauge shotguns and 40mm grenades, but they were not very effective compared to buckshot rounds.
That's what I thought. Beside being unlawful in my state (and other states as well), the bottom line is that (my understanding is) they aren't as deadly as a bunch of lead buckshot.....at least in a 12 gauge round.
Mike Irwin
Staff
Good lord, I just realized that this thread is a decade old...
Sigh.
Oh well, the discussion is popping again.
The most successful use of flechettes was in artillery rounds. They would air burst, and were apparently quite effective, but obviously were much larger than anything that would go into a shotshell or even a 40mm grenade.
Sigh.
Oh well, the discussion is popping again.
The most successful use of flechettes was in artillery rounds. They would air burst, and were apparently quite effective, but obviously were much larger than anything that would go into a shotshell or even a 40mm grenade.
The Navy did as much damage in the Pacific around Iwo and Okinawa with small fire sticks dropped on the Japanese installlations. They were about the size of your forearm and would burn anything and everything on the ground.
They created terrible firestorms in Japan's big cities.
Your stories about fleshettes reminded me of this other weapon.
They created terrible firestorms in Japan's big cities.
Your stories about fleshettes reminded me of this other weapon.
Cheaperthandirt has flechettes for sale by the pound
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/BAM050-1.html
Good pics and additional info. as well.
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/BAM050-1.html
Good pics and additional info. as well.
Stevie-Ray
New member
I've got a bunch of em around here, look like nails with fins. I'll see if I can dig them up.
I have one around here somewhere if I can find it. It's about an inch and a half long and looks like a little arrow. When I got to my first duty station in '93 at FT. Drum we still had Cobras. One of the Cobra crew chiefs "accidentally" dropped one of the 2.75" rockets. Everyone in my cav troop had one as a memento.
Flechetts rounds have been made for just about every conventiall cannon, Howitzer and recoiless round that the Army has had in service.
For cannon and Howitzers the round was gennerally fired so that the round burst in the muzzle. This turned the gun into a big shot gun.
They were also loaded in the 2.75 inch rocket. Up until the mid 90s the rocket rounds were made by BEI at Camden AR.
The darts were made of a hardened steel and came in two lengths. I don't remember the length.
Most EOD detachments had a lot of them lying around. Being hardened steel you could drive them into a concrete wall. Top Adams hung pictures and shelves with them.
I used them for squirrel hunting. Took a roll of double stick tape laid it on a tabel and placed darts on the tape. Rolled the tape and darts into a bundle which would fit into a 12 gauge shell. Generally removed the pellets from a # 6 game load. Used my thumb to redo the crimp.
Hunted with a 12 gauge H&R break open single shot. The instructor who showed this method used some in his Kreigorh Double. The darts scratched his barrell and he had have it replaced.
They had excellent accuracy and held a tight group out to 100yds. Any game we shot was "tenderised" by the darts.
For cannon and Howitzers the round was gennerally fired so that the round burst in the muzzle. This turned the gun into a big shot gun.
They were also loaded in the 2.75 inch rocket. Up until the mid 90s the rocket rounds were made by BEI at Camden AR.
The darts were made of a hardened steel and came in two lengths. I don't remember the length.
Most EOD detachments had a lot of them lying around. Being hardened steel you could drive them into a concrete wall. Top Adams hung pictures and shelves with them.
I used them for squirrel hunting. Took a roll of double stick tape laid it on a tabel and placed darts on the tape. Rolled the tape and darts into a bundle which would fit into a 12 gauge shell. Generally removed the pellets from a # 6 game load. Used my thumb to redo the crimp.
Hunted with a 12 gauge H&R break open single shot. The instructor who showed this method used some in his Kreigorh Double. The darts scratched his barrell and he had have it replaced.
They had excellent accuracy and held a tight group out to 100yds. Any game we shot was "tenderised" by the darts.
They were used in vietnam. They were used during tet in artillery, fired horizontally
In wwii, IIRC, much of the bomb load was proximity charged, and HE.
In my thoughts, a bomb full of flechettes that projected all that shrapnel outward would be worse than useless against soldiers that were bunkered, foxholed, entrenched, or otherwise barricaded from horizontal fire. In the case of entrenched troops, a 400 pound HE bomb would be much more effective by blowing up the fortifications and releasing shrapnel than it would be to fill the bomber up with a payload that is more steel than it is explosives. But, in a war that even included the panjandrum, it would be wrong to deny something bases solely on whether or not it would be practical.
In wwii, IIRC, much of the bomb load was proximity charged, and HE.
In my thoughts, a bomb full of flechettes that projected all that shrapnel outward would be worse than useless against soldiers that were bunkered, foxholed, entrenched, or otherwise barricaded from horizontal fire. In the case of entrenched troops, a 400 pound HE bomb would be much more effective by blowing up the fortifications and releasing shrapnel than it would be to fill the bomber up with a payload that is more steel than it is explosives. But, in a war that even included the panjandrum, it would be wrong to deny something bases solely on whether or not it would be practical.