Original U.S. Vietnam War Era Experimental SPIW Special Purpose Individual Weapon Rifle Magazine - Very Rare

Original Item. Only One Available. The Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) was a long-running United States Army program to develop, in part, a flechette-firing "rifle", though other concepts were also involved. The concepts continued to be tested under the Future Rifle Program and again in the 1980s under the Advanced Combat Rifle program, but neither program resulted in a system useful enough to warrant replacing the M16.

This is an extremely scarce magazine for the experimental SPIW Rifle. The magazine is in great shape and has a myriad of markings and a sticker reading 103. It measures 4 ¾ x 6 x ¾”.

The idea of a flechette-firing individual weapon started in earnest during the Army's Project SALVO. SALVO had earlier concluded that a small weapon with a high rate of fire would be considerably deadlier than the large "full power" weapons being developed in the 1950s, and followed several lines of investigation to find the best way to provide high firing rates. SALVO had a small number of "duplex load" weapons developed, where two bullets were stacked, while Springfield Armory and Olin/Winchester both entered multiple barrel firearms.

This is a very scarce display piece for any Experimental collection! Ready for further research and display!