Well, they were actually quite effective at what they were designed for, ie killing water fowl on an industrial scale.
Which in turn is mind-bafflingly stupid unless there was some actual industrial purpose for it (which I have not been able to find). From what I can gather it was a bunch of guys who were of the "hurr durr I can kill moarz" mindset - and if that isn't tacti-cool I clearly don't know what is.