Bear Bangers....anyone used them?

Beendare

WKR
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New to me.
BEAR BANGERS

Seems like a good idea especially for Canucks that can't pack a pistol....any experience with these?

I saw James Baird use one on his Porcupine river trip on Youtube.
 

chinook907

Lil-Rokslider
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I haven't. But friends that have used cracker shells (similar) have kind of struggled with them.

Cracker shells look like a 12 gauge round and fit into a regular shotgun. The distance they go off from the muzzle of the gun varies, and that's a problem. Example: shell goes bang on other side of bear, may scare bear towards you. Shell aimed at animal penetrates animal and then goes off, dead animal (may or may not be a problem).
 
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We've used both .12 ga. cracker rounds and whistler rounds on many occasions and they definitely work. The whistlers don't usually do as good of a job, but cracker rounds will get even the most curious bears moving....and not in your direction if used correctly.
 
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These are the ones that I’ve used.
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sneaky

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How well would they work on protesters?

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Osprey87

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Only time I've ever used a bear banger here in BC was the ones you can launch from a pen type deal, was entertaining way to wake a friend up from his nap while bar fishing salmon.
 
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The one time I test fired one of those 12 gauge cracker rounds, I shot into a dirt hillside where it struck ground and ricocheted into the woods before popping. I don't know if those rounds are supposed to detonate on impact or if that was just an old faulty one but I determined that it was too unpredictable for self defense use where I usually go. I could see them being useful out in the tundra where you could see a Grizzly approaching from a good distance away and a person could be "lobbing" them out toward the bear to try and deter them from coming closer.
 

Osprey87

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The one time I test fired one of those 12 gauge cracker rounds, I shot into a dirt hillside where it struck ground and ricocheted into the woods before popping. I don't know if those rounds are supposed to detonate on impact or if that was just an old faulty one but I determined that it was too unpredictable for self defense use where I usually go. I could see them being useful out in the tundra where you could see a Grizzly approaching from a good distance away and a person could be "lobbing" them out toward the bear to try and deter them from coming closer.

I don't believe they are meant to detonate on impact but rather timed, there is the possibility of it detonating behind the bear an having the banger scare the bear towards the user if the animal is too close
 
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The one time I test fired one of those 12 gauge cracker rounds, I shot into a dirt hillside where it struck ground and ricocheted into the woods before popping. I don't know if those rounds are supposed to detonate on impact or if that was just an old faulty one but I determined that it was too unpredictable for self defense use where I usually go. I could see them being useful out in the tundra where you could see a Grizzly approaching from a good distance away and a person could be "lobbing" them out toward the bear to try and deter them from coming closer.

I used them a fair amount one time on a float/fishing trip where there was extremely high brown bear activity. One day we saw just over 20 different bears while floating about 8-10 river miles. They’re not supposed to go off on impact, which I think is a good thing, and they will explode under the water. The typical situation that we used them were when bears would start to come to close to camp, and they we’re not deterred by yelling, etc. The best scenarios we had were when the bears were walking along the stream edge, towards camp, and we would fire them into the water right in front of them. The plopp of the round, as it went into the water would usually startle the bear a little bit, and they would typically put their nose down close to where the round went in. About that time the round would explode, scaring the living shit out of the bear, and they would be off like a rocket, away from camp. We had very good success with the cracker rounds


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That's kinda what I figured, and in that scenario they make sense. After shooting one I figured playing forest pinball with shotgun firecrackers was a bad idea. I don't live in Grizzly country so there's really no need to tote around a 12 gauge anyway unless I'm actually hunting with it. I was mostly testing it for home use as I live in a wooded area and have bears that visit frequently in the summer.
 
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