Specialty Ammo - Shotgun

The purpose of flash bangs and flares is not to "scare" people away. They can be dangerous to you by starting fires.

If you see people on your property you don't want simply go over and run them off. You can do it cordially or be less than cordial but going over and informing them they are on private property and you would like them to leave usually results in their exit and no return. If they don't leave call the sheriff and have them arrested. Afterwards post your property "no trespassing".

Steve C said:

If they don't leave call the sheriff and have them arrested.

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Some people live a long ways away from the nearest sheriff. I'm not condoning less than lethal ammunition just the fact that in most rural areas it can take quite a while for any type of law enforcement to show up.

Whenever someone mentions flares... it gets my attention since much of what's sold in stores is pretty puny, and when really really needed not worth whatever you paid for them. I work out of a small skiff and take customers into the back country of Everglades National Park with an average round trip of 60 to 70 miles into jungle type wilderness areas. The only flares on my skiff are called SOLAS flares in marine hardware stores.

SOLAS is a category not a brand- they're made by several different companies (the acronym stands for Safety of Life at Sea.. and they're required gear for ocean crossings). These type of flares aren't cheap at around 9-$10 per flare -but they'll fire off in a driving rainstorm, are roughly twice as powerful as a standard road flare, etc. The SOLAS parachute flare is quite expensive at $50 to $60 for just one but are about four times better than a 12ga para flare... They rise up double the distance, last quite a bit longer in the air and are much much brighter than that worthless 12ga flare... They're pretty much THE standard for rescue work (or for anyone really needing to be rescued...).

Great fun considering a "creative alternative" to ordinary buckshot - as long as you don't actually need it in real life - then you'll learn why buckshot has been around as long as it has...

At the end of the day, you are still firing a gun with something coming out of the end of it. I don't recommend using a gun in a confrontation with another person unless you "really mean it". I don't think I would ever use some weird "gadget round" to try and scare someone. With my luck, I would start a fire.

things might be a very strong way of saying beat it!

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That's what dogs are for; otherwise 00 buck works well for that same reason.................

Most of that crap is illegal in my state, the People's Republik of Prickster Illinois. So, no opinion

Paint ball gun works better. Pepper balls would be great not sure if us common folks can buy them. Failing that a decent can of pepper spray works.

Lets say you bought those fancy rounds to scare trespassers away. And you loaded lethal rounds and forgot. Mistakes happen.

If I find people mucking about on my property I'm going to find their vehicle and flatten all of their tires. And I will do that quietly. As they say in Jersey "now youse can't leave..."

I remember a number of years ago some people I knew had some expired 12 gauge flare and a single shot 12 gauge. The "brain surgeons" decided to see if the flare would fire and what the result would be. I remember the barrel of that gun being in quite poor condition as the heat from the flare caused some issues with the heat treat. 12 ga. flare guns have a short barrel for a reason, and magnesium flares burn HOT.

My personal shotgun is loaded with 00 buckshot or slugs for defense of self, gimmick loads are not on the menu.

Years ago Joe Biden told everyone to scare a burglar to put a shotgun out a window and pull the trigger. A guy in New Jersey tried that and the cops showed up and arrested the homeowner for disturbing the peace. True story. Most attorneys will tell you its not a good idea to fire any kind of warning shot.

Lol, just watched (again) the movie Southern Comfort. Maybe not a good idea to shoot blanks etc. at folks. Some may not like it. Might come back with real ammo.

I thought flash bangs were for use in an enclosed area.

film495 said:

Was curious if anyone has experience with flash bangs, or flares, or other? Was thinking in today's world, if there were people mucking around your property, these things might be a very strong way of saying beat it!

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Yes, I have experience with them, NO, it was not for that, and NO, I would not recommend them for such.

cdb1 said:

I thought flash bangs were for use in an enclosed area.

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They are more effective (and less dangerous!) indoors now that the current ones are made the way they are. Back in Dec. 1981, when I was on and FTX for ROTC, we had another cadet get knocked unconscious from one going off 5 feet from her. Blew her right up against a wall. 5 minutes before that, the same guy who threw that one tossed one into a cistern me and another guy were on guard duty in, hanging onto the ladders-it was about 6 feet deep. We started to climb out , but it went off when we were still two rungs down, it blew us both right up and out of it, we flipped onto the ground, relatively unharmed.These were military issue ones, where such casualties are less of a concern than in LE applications.
Those incidents kept him from becoming a Cadet officer, this was the start of his Senior Year, he ended the year Cadet SGM.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you pull a firearm out and you are not pulling LEO riot duty with LESS lethal munitions. DON'T mess with crappy gimmick crap.

A shop owner in Sonora we knew tried something like that. A rice/rock salt sort of warning shell. The guys trying to rob him VERY QUICKLY realized there was no threat and proceeded to beat the everliving tar outta the old guy.
We ran over and got them off of him with bats and 2x4s. And they still wanted to fight until the Manuel broke a wannabe gangbangers leg with a bat iirc.

Dogs and geese (surprisingly) are good deterrents.
And only lead/bismuth/tungsten and steel belong in a shotgun.

792mauser said:

Dogs and geese (surprisingly) are good deterrents.

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When I was a teenager my grandfather used a hay hauler who did not have a phone. My grandfather would occasionally send me over to the guys house with a message. The guy had a gander as a watch dog(goose). I never knew how big domestic geese got until then, the thing was huge. It was also mean as a snake and it’s bites were painful though I’d much rather be nailed by a goose than bitten by a dog.

I had one I dropped out of the sky, but not completely out, attack me at Lac Qui Parle, on a DNR ran shoot. You couldn't ground swat them, you couldn't bring a weapon (not even a knife) out of the blind to retrieve your goose. I went out to it, and it flat-out attacked. I was able to defeat it by feinting an attack with my right hand, and simultaneously kicking it's head with my steel-toed biker boot with my left, then quickly wringing it's neck.

Drail said:

If I find people mucking about on my property I'm going to find their vehicle and flatten all of their tires. And I will do that quietly. As they say in Jersey "now youse can't leave..."

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Is announcing on a public forum wise?