The strangest Spec-Ops firearms in SOCOM’s armory

[rangerrebew]

The strangest Spec-Ops firearms in SOCOM’s armory

Travis Pike | May 17, 2021

I love guns of all types, and I enjoy the art of marksmanship, the continuing education aspect, and the mechanical nature of firearms. I also just like really weird guns. Even if these firearms are impractical or somewhat crazy, I enjoy their overall weirdness. There has been a lot of weird guns in the world, so it’s necessary to categorize them, and as such, I’ve gathered five weird weapons aimed at special operations. Spec-ops firearms are, after all, the bleeding edge of military firearm technology.

Well, sometimes they are the bleeding edge; other times they are weird, a little crazy, and often fulfill a niche previous firearms simply couldn’t. These five weird spec-ops firearms sometimes fulfill a niche use, and sometimes they try to move firearms forward. Some of these firearms were used in various wars, and others never saw a fight. Either way, these firearms are as unusual as the problems they aimed to solve.
HK P11 – The Underwater pistol

For some reason, the head-sheds of special operations thought frogmen would be doing a lot of fighting underwater. Both the Russians and NATO forces produced a pistol designed for underwater combat. Heck, Soldier of Fortune Magazine wrote an entire article on underwater knife fighting.

https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/the-strangest-spec-ops-firearms-in-socoms-armory/

[sneakypete]

@rangerrebew

Bad link.

[GtHawk]

@rangerrebew

Bad link.

@sneakypete I don't know if was fixed but the link worked for me 

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete I don't know if was fixed but the link worked for me 

@GtHawk

It worked this time.

I was disappointing to not see the Gyrojet (rocket propelled) Pistol listed. It was a VN era experimental handgun. A SOG team leader (Squirrel Sprouse) thought it would be a good weapon to use for a POW snatch along the Ho Chi Mihn Trail,so he took one out and shot a NVA soldier in the leg with it to keep him from running away. IIRC,it took his leg off,leaving him to bleed out,and it also set the jungle on fire.

There is supposed to be one or two on exhibit at the Smithsonian.

[GtHawk]

@GtHawk

It worked this time.

I was disappointing to not see the Gyrojet (rocket propelled) Pistol listed. It was a VN era experimental handgun. A SOG team leader (Squirrel Sprouse) thought it would be a good weapon to use for a POW snatch along the Ho Chi Mihn Trail,so he took one out and shot a NVA soldier in the leg with it to keep him from running away. IIRC,it took his leg off,leaving him to bleed out,and it also set the jungle on fire.

There is supposed to be one or two on exhibit at the Smithsonian.

@sneakypete
I remember them, they were made famous in 1967's You Only Live Twice.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdW8Trh_MGg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwO4ohqkjb0