Can someone explain this ballistic knife?

[JimBrown257]

Hello,

I have been interested in Ballistic Knives for a long time, though I've never actually seen one outside of pictures and videos. When I was a kid I saw the movie Commando with Arnold Schwarznegger in which he uses a Ballistic Knife. After that I made my own with a metal pipe and large spring. The knife was a standard spade shaped throwing knife. I sawed off half the handle then fitted it into a wood rod. The pin was just a nail attached to a piece of metal on a small see-saw type thing so when you pressed on it, the nail came up out of the hole in the wood. It was pretty cool; it went pretty far. Usually, it hit the target at an angle but about one out of ten times it would stick in.

Anyways, I was looking at some dealer's page and they had a link to "ballistic knives". Of course, when I clicked it, it only said they didn't have any. However, it did have this picture. It isn't the normal knife-spring-handle contaption. It kind of looks like it has the barrel of a .38 in it.

Does anyone have any experience with one of these or, at least, can you explain how it works?

Thanks,

-J

[Markco the Mad otter]

I have never seen one of those but to me it looks like the cylinder of a .22. I couldn't imagine using live ammunition to fire a blade out because the bullet would be following it. Maybe those are blanks and they fire the blade out. The whole thing seems sort of impractical. If you are going to have the noise from even a .22 blank going off why bother with shooting a blade out instead of a bullet?

[whippersnapper]

Are you sure it isn't a combination gun/knife? Bullet shoots out the barrel above or under (or to the side) of a fixed blade?

[Bill DeShivs]

That is a knife/gun combination. I believe it's called the "Grad."
BATFE classifies it as "Any Other Weapon" (AOW) and there is federal registration and a $5.00 tax on purchase.

[dark2023]

That is a TRUE ballistic knife, in that it has a 5 shot .22 gun inside the handle.
It shoots bullets like the REAL Spetsnaz ballistic knives do (the NRS-2 knife)

The TRUE ballistic knives do not shoot their blade.

The one you have a picture of is called the G.R.A.D, for Global Research And Development
http://www.selectfire.com/products/grad/

[Markco the Mad otter]

Ah, very interesting. Thanks for all the insight.

[JimBrown257]

Thanks for the feedback.

Is the idea so that you can have a hidden gun, like in case you get searched or so the bad guy doesn't know you actually have a gun?

Other than that, it seems kind of impractical. It would be difficult to aim, among other problems.

[dark2023]

Is the idea so that you can have a hidden gun, like in case you get searched or so the bad guy doesn't know you actually have a gun?

Well the basic idea seems to be that you have a knife or a weak gun as a backup. In-case the other person pulls a gun or maybe if there are multiple assailants.
Or possibly it's meant to be like a bayonet, just that you can shrink a gun, not a knife.

The Russian NRS-2 is meant for special operations, it shoots the sp-4 ammo, which uses a piston system to fire, making it near silent. Quieter than ANY suppressed weapon. The sp-4 ammo also has more muzzle energy than a typical .380 acp (aka: 9x17 browning). The point of the NRS-2 knife is for infintration, it has a gun facing the opposite direction and hold either 2 or 4 shots (I forget which it is exactly). It's for James Bond type work. This ammo is also used in the PSS pistol, asemi-auto 6 shot gun, that makes about as much noise as tapping a pen on a desk.

[JimBrown257]

It's for James Bond type work. This ammo is also used in the PSS pistol, asemi-auto 6 shot gun, that makes about as much noise as tapping a pen on a desk.

...It kind of reminds me of the single shot zip-guns they used in the movie Munich (in the scene where they realize the girl hitting on them in the bar was a spy). It was a simple device that was basically a short metal tube, I think from some sort of pump, with a single .22 round and a firing pin (see picture). They pushed in on it (like how you pump a small bicycle pump) and the pump pressure moved the pin hard enough to fire the round. From what I remember, it made a fairly soft, almost hollow, THUMP.

If you are into interesting homemade guns, and haven't done so already, you should check that scene out. It seemed to be a similar device as Benny Blanco used at the end of Carlito's Way. Of course, neither can compare to John Malkovich's homemade deal in the movie In the Line of Fire.

[dark2023]

I own munich, one of my favorites.


Here's a video that features the PSS firing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K73kKODFyzw

Also, here's one with the NRS-2 knife
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW3ZBLlPz_c

[JimBrown257]

Thanks for the links,

You guys weren't kidding; that PSS just makes the slightest click noise. It sounds like that noise is just the movement of the gun. If so, I bet you could make it even quieter with some sort of padding.

Those links made me do what I usually do when I follow a link to a cool Youtube video; I spent the last two hours clicking on all the "Homemade whatever cannons" and stuff like that. Now I've got twenty new projects.

[Belmont800]

I can explain it, It's illegal as hell! Large cool factor (I admit) even LARGER illegality factor. The ONLY OTF - ish knife that will allow police to ENTER YOUR HOME if they have reason to believe you own one --

[dark2023]

It's actually 100% legal, as long AS it is powered by a cartridge and registered as an "Any Other Weapon".

[JimBrown257]

The ONLY OTF - ish knife that will allow police to ENTER YOUR HOME if they have reason to believe you own one --

...But calling it a "Knife" is misleading, right? Because, essentially it is a gun. And they don't like people to have virtually silent guns. That's the issue, right?

[dark2023]

...But calling it a "Knife" is misleading, right? Because, essentially it is a gun. And they don't like people to have virtually silent guns. That's the issue, right?

No, the spring powered Pilum knives are illegal.

Suppressed weapons and suppressors are legal. Also, there are NO restrictions against soft-fire ammunition. so that means the PSS gun and the NRS-2 knife are both just as legal as any other pistol. Also, the G.R.A.D knife is legal as a pistol, since that's what it is.

Also, a pilum knife that uses an explosive charge would be an any-other weapon.