Jeffery Widder has taken inspiration from the Gyrojet of the 1960s. His non-lethal round, called the Pogojet, is said to be able to deliver consistent non-lethal energy not only at close distances but at longer range distances as well.

The Pogojet —whose official name is the Caseless Telescoping Less-lethal System—is unique in that the propellant burns inside the round, pushing on a piston that propels it forward. The action resembles a pogo stick, hence the name. Once the piston reaches its full extent, the exhaust gases can be vented sideways, so the round continues forward at the same speed, or directed through holes in the base of the round like rocket exhaust to give as much extra kick as required. This is the ‘jet’ aspect of the Pogojet, which Widder compares to the old 1960s Gyrojet rocket pistol.

According to Popular Mechanics, the Pogojet reaches a consistent average of 82 meters per second velocity. Which is about 267 fps and because of the adjustable velocity, this projectile is effective to 100 meters. Far beyond conventional non-lethal kinetic projectiles. Widder plans to link up a laser rangefinder and that will help control the velocity.

The Pogojet will use a laser rangefinder—technology that already exists for small arms, but is mainly used with military grenade launchers. The Pogojet will interface with a rangefinder to ensure that the right muzzle velocity is automatically selected without any manual control. Building the interface is one of the next steps in the project. But the key element, the variable velocity system, has already proven highly reliable.

Below is a picture of the Pogojet round pre-fired.

Here is the round after it is fired.

Rear shot of the Pogojet round.

Conventional non-lethal rounds are slow and large. They flatten to dissipate energy over a larger surface area so the force is not concentrated to one spot. The pogojet is designed to be small and shoot flat. But due to it’s regulated velocity it impacts with low energy.

“It’s like a bee sting. It’ s only over a small area, but it is intense enough to be effective.”

There is a risk of a small caliber projectile causing damage to eyes or mouth. However his argument is that the pogojet is accurate and since it is accurate it can be aimed at a less dangerous area like the torso.

His dream is that it can be utilized and mounted under AR15s and M4s used by Law Enforcement and Military. Another feature, due to the pogojet design, is that it is semi-automatic by nature. So faster follow-up shots can be made compared to conventional non-lethal devices.

Here is a short clip of him test firing it. The video does not show much other than it fired.