Have you heard of Fletchettes? Well if you haven't they are a specialty payload for shotshells.
A Fletchette is essentially a little Dart made from a 2d nail with fins stamped on it instead of a conventional nail head. They were loaded into 12 ga shotshells used in the Vietnam era. They were commonly known as "Beehive" rounds in deference to how they zipped thru a body in all directions like Bees buzzing around you..
What you got was 10 Fletchettes loaded point forward and 9 stuffed in point backwards. On meat at close range they were devastating!!! to say the least. Tales I heard from grunts said that all you had to do was yell "Beehive" and the gooks would run for their lives. Tests I've seen with these things show them slicing thru a body in totally random fashion in all directions. Hence the name "Beehive."
Which brings us to my real topic for this thread, and it is an article I read in "American Shooters Journal," I get in my emails every month or so. Lots of times the information in some of the articles is PURE BS and I always make a note to reply to the editor when I see it. This was one more example of pure BS.
Such was the case with the article on "Fletchettes" in the last issue. First the guy never mentioned the name "Beehive" which is the more common term for these rounds. For me this was the first Red Flag.
Then came the claims for accuracy and at distances like 100, 200 and yes 300 yards from a "Cylinder Bore Shotgun!!!!"
That's where I got off the train, as that was pure BS.
The guy was quoting some outfit that is supposed to be manufacturing these rounds for the military, and they quoted 1925 fps ! Have any of you ever loaded any 12 ga round to 1925 fps? I missed it if you did.
First: these are small darts that weigh almost nothing. I think they said 11 gr each. 209 gr total. There is not enough mass to deliver significant penetration beyond at most 50 yards. They are relatively streamlined.
Second: You aren't going to hit said target with all 19 darts. The 10 that are pointed forward will go in the general direction they were launched but still will not fly perfectly strait because a Dart will go which ever way it is pointed and that's all there is to it. However the ones pointed backwards are going to make a 180 as soon as the wad releases them, and they are NOT going to go along with the rest of them.
No need to test them as Taofledermaus already did it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMPOGYRZ3Hw
Their results were somewhat worse at 10 yards 2 hit the target head on and only 7 even hit the target. At 50 yards none hit the target at all.
He was purporting these as defensive rounds in Grizz country, and when he got to killing Grizzly Bears at 100 yards with these rounds I had to call Complete BS! I can see pissing a Bear off maybe, but killing it? You've got to hit the target first.
If anyone has any more information on Fletchette rounds please feel free to comment. Many of us are Vietnam Vets and might have had direct contact with these rounds. I was in the Air Force at that time, and I heard of these and actually saw some of the shells but nothing beyond the War Stories. They were simply OD Green 12 ga shells with Fletchette stamped on the side. I also remember CTD selling the darts by the pound a few years back. But further research showed many outfits still selling the darts. Sarco etc.
Are these allowed by the Geneva Convention? Not legal to even own in some states, like mine.
I also know that another use was about 10 lbs of these little darts in 105MM Howitzer Shells, and my imagination says that would make a mess!
Randy