Was just wondering if you know how effective the average sprays are in real world situations. Have their been any studies to try to find out how often sprays are used and actually stop the threat, including misses and such.
Also I can't think of any way to practice without spending piles of cash, and even then I'm not sure how effective it would be. Just curious as to what my be out there.
One more question, when used indoors how much area is going to affected. My thinking is if you have to use it indoors could you potentially be hindering people that could be coming to help.
And thanks for sharing your time and knowledge, it's appreciated
Great questions.
Every study that has every been conducted regarding OC, was done in the context of how it's used in law enforcement for compliance. These studies are very flawed, with almost all the results coming from subjectivity. To my knowledge, there has never been a study involving OC and civilians.
There is no question that pepper spray can give someone an enormous edge in just about every type of confrontation. The civilian in a SD scenario, it gives LE and CO a less than lethal compliance tool, and, unfortunately, it aids the criminals in committing crimes, primarily shoplifting. Although it can be used many different ways, there is one common denominator; the OC MUST make contact with the mucosa of the eyes. This is priority number one when using OC. The best way to insure that is with a conical spray pattern.
Every pepper spray pattern has it's pros and cons. Speaking strictly for the civilian, get the one that is most likely to achieve that goal, getting the OC into the eyes, of someone who intends you harm. If someone wants to train, then pretty much any spray pattern will work for them, most folks do not, however. That is why the cone patterns are the default recommendation. Make no mistake about it, if a cone is used indoors, it will eventually affect everyone in some capacity. It gets into the ventilation system and then thats all she wrote. That is why you always here of schools and mall having to be evacuated after some pepper spray goes off.
Here is a quick cheat sheet of the patterns for civilian carry:
Cone>Foam>Stream>Gel
Think you're most likely going to be using it indoors? Go foam. Worried about the "drive-thru" type of assaults that are growing in popularity? Get a stream. Stay away from gels. No one but LE should be using gels, in my opinion.
As far as training: All the major players make "inert" training units. These simulate the spray pattern, number of shots, and form factor. It is exactly the same, minus the pepper. Forget the shooting a paper target videos. That is not realistic. Have someone rush you wearing googles or glasses. Practice drawing, spraying and moving. The inerts only contain distilled water, but are ideal to asses ocular saturation. You'll quickly see just how hard it is to hit a moving target in the eyes. Then you truly appreciate the cone/foam over the streams.
Please let me know if you need anything else.
OCT