Tactics: Pepper Spray vs Pepper Foam

[Anthony]

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking to augment my street kit by adding some pepper spray and/or pepper foam to give me a non-lethal option.

I've done the brand research and am sold on Fox Labs.

Now I need some tactical advice. Although I have been trained in using pepper spray I have little knowledge of pepper foam.

What are the tactical differences in the deployment of a pepper spray versus a pepper foam aerosol device?

What is the practical difference in effective range?

My hunch is that the foam is for enclosed areas while the spray is for outdoors, but I am unsure.

Thanks for the help.

 

[carterbeauford]

I once read that the foam can be thrown back at you if you miss, or fail to disable the BG.

 

[Preacherman]

Manly men use the foam for shaving, and the spray as an underarm deodorant.

 

[ShackleMeNot]

Go with spray over foam.

Here's an article that my help with some of your questions:
http://www.TacticalResponse.com/media/articles/pepper.php

 

[Jenrick]

Another thing with foam, is that if they do close it'll stick to you and contaminate you a lot faster/better then just lose liquid.

-Jenrick

 

[Boom-stick]

The spray works well if you use it on certain salads and cooked meats, whilst the foam adds an interesting 'kick' to cakes and sweets

 

[mbt2001]

The Foam also represents a physical impedence.

Anyway, the best to get is the MACE triple action. It has pepper spray, tear gas and dye. The dye is of little practical value, but the tear gas / pepper spray combo is well worth it. I am a big fan of pepper spray.

Most people think about SHTF situations and think that they will be valiantly defending their family and supplies against virtual mutant thugs... In real life it is likely to be a meek and mild looking person that turn steadily more insistant or some other likely scenario. While having guns in important, have an extendable baton and pepper spray as part of your kit makes some sense...

That is of course, my opinion... It most likely is a rationalization to buy more tac gear.

 

[Medusa]

I have though to get a non-lethal weapon too, but know what - rubber batons are illegal here , all ones, telescopic, mace/spray combo etc. So spray it is. Foam might be handier in CQB, or erasing someone in a nightclub (I dunno what happened, he was allright and then collapsed ) . Otherwise spray gets farther.

 

[bigdog21]

never spray any pepper spray inside a builing or other encllosed area unless its foam the spray will vaporize and effect eveyrone. Benn there done that an idiot when i was in HS discharged a can of oc in a hallway they evacuated the floor.

 

[tellner]

The only Mace I trust for self defense has a flanged head and weighs three pounds

 

[Roadwild17]

Someone tried to spray a styrofoam paper plate, it has the same effect as gas and was labeled as "frozen pepper pee spray"????? I was upwind from the guy and got choked up.

 

[CraigJS]

Freeze +P spray...

 

[sacp81170a]

Jailers like the foam since they can spray it inside without having to clear the cell block. I carry stream on the street. More accurate and not as prone to wind dispersion as fog or spray.

 

[FedGunner]

My last class involving OC:

Target: the last time he had been through the course had taken a shot of Fox foam. this time he got the spray.

"Oh gawd!... this is way worse!... I'm so stupid.... oh gawd... I'm so [expletive] stupid"

The "stupid" remark referring to his volunteering for the spray.

YMMV (but I don't think so)

 

[tellner]

Hmm, yes, but was he enraged, terrified or sincerely motivated to tear the sprayer's head off and beat him to death with it? Context is everything.

 

[JMusic]

My latest version includes CS and OC. I've had both on me independently but not together. Actually had so many rookies sit on their CS canisters that I developed some immunity to it. Part of that is not rubbing it on everything and realising it has been dischaged. I don't know what the combo does. If you are looking for one thing that will stop everyone forget about it. I once saw a man shot several times with 12 guage slugs, knocked down a large flight of stairs. What did he almost die of? His dirty tee shirt that was drug inside with the slugs. All you can do is get good equipment and make sure you know how to use it. As long as you gain some time to escape you've won.
Jim

 

[tellner]

Words of wisdom, JMusic.

My first Silat and shooting instructor is a pessimist and has lived longer than he had any right to thereby. Motorcycles? He wore Kevlar before it was fashionable and lived when a buddy died because he pushed off the bike instead of hanging on (a truck dropped a ladder in front of them on the highway). Other things? Well, he has taken damage but is still there to enjoy the scars.

One of the first things he said about firearms was "All it will do is put holes in him at range. With any luck he'll lose blood pressure and you'll have an advantage in the knife fight you were going to get into anyway. If it stops him that's an unasked for gift from the gods."

 

[Dolomite]

One example of spray killing a lot of people

and one where using foam would have probably led to less tragedy.

Feb '93 in Chicago:

Twelve women and nine men, ranging in age from 21 to 43, died in the crush of people trying to exit down a flight of stairs from the night club "E2", in the city's Near South Side neighborhood.

More than 50 people were injured.

Witnesses said hundreds rushed for the door about 3 a.m. after security guards used pepper spray and Mace to break up a fight between two female patrons.

When some of the patrons began to vomit or pass out -- apparently from the chemical fumes -- the crowd scrambled to get down the club's single open staircase leading outside.

...use of pepper spray by a security guard would be legal, but he said using it in a crowded nightclub showed "very poor judgment."

 

[sacp81170a]

A bit off topic, but a good story nonetheless. I was part of an AF ABGD OPFOR Flight during Brim Frost '83 in January in Alaska up by Fort Greeley. Got attacked with CS at -40 and had to don masks. The CS stayed veeerrry close to the ground(snow) and seemed to dissipate rather quickly. Cool, we thought, until someone went into one of the nice warm tents without brushing all the snow off their boots and gear. CS on the snow warmed up, instant gas attack!

I wonder how pepper spray or foam works in extreme sub-zero conditions? Any LEO's from Alaska or the northern tier care to comment?

 

[c_yeager]

"frozen pepper pee spray"?????

Freeze +P spray...

This made my morning.