Flechettes

[Awoke]

So I recently heard of Flechettes.
What are they used for? They wouldn't be any good for hunting or anything, would they?

[Heimdhal]

THey are used by mall ninjas to sound bad ass.


Historicaly, they saw SOME action in jungle environments, like viet nam, where they went by a few names like Hornets Nest, Flechettes, Bee Hives, etc.

Ballisticaly they just arent that good. Their wounding properties are debatable at best, their killing and stopping power is severly reduced. Its odd because you would think a shot gun blast with a few dozen little darts would be devestating, but in practice, they dont hold up.

Their penetration is all over the scale. To fit into the shot gun shell, half are point forward and half are pointed rearward. At clsoe ranges what winds up happening is that those pointed reward will land flat on the target (on their sides) as they havent had enough time to flip around, point first. The others will tend to ice pick through the target, leaving dinky little holes.

The one advantage they have, the ONE is that they have armor peircing ability. Like needles, they have been known to go through level III kevlar vests. Again though, the problem goes back to stopping power. Ok, you got some rounds through the dudes armor, but the wounds arent fatal...now what? They simply dont have the mass behind them, like bird shot, to deliver the energy (foot pounds) on target and do damage.

I would pick up 00 buck any time and everytime over flechettes myself. If armored targets are a problem, aim for non armoed places like the groin, limbs, joints, head, etc.

Just .02, adjusted for inflation of course.

[big country]

they were deadly in the Star Wars: Jedi Knight series!!!
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/FC-1_flechette_launcher

in real life though...useless

[WebTech]

Worked good for clearing the bush Charlie was hiding behind so your buds could get a clean shot.

Oh and they sound cool buzzing by your ear. Like a bunch of bees

[Dave Thomas]

I was searching for Beehive round, and I found this! Holy Grenade launcher Batman! Anyone know if this is a fake or not?

Looks like a regular grenade canister for an M79 that takes a bunch of .22 LR Ammunition.

It's gotta be some april fools day joke, how does the firing pin crush all those rims?

The spoof website seals the deal for me.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Z4ehflEmhuc/Smqa90XJUkI/AAAAAAAAA50/5isyVdJE8bo/s800/40mmBeehiveRound.jpg

[Horn]

I imagine they take the energy and transfer it to it's own firing pins within the cartridge.

That would make for an interesting, and inaccurate barrage of copper paint. ;D