When is a flaregun not a flaregun?

[RevolvingGarbage]

This has absolutely nothing to do with the various adaptors available for surplus and commercial flare guns that have been discussed here and elsewhere before.

This is about how I had to buy something on gunbroker, for the simple reason that it was slightly different from something we’ve all seen a million times: The ubiquitous orange plastic Orion brand flaregun. It’s nothing special, and if you want one they are available at Walmart (though the price is like $67 now for the kit, where I can remember it being $33 something for most of my life. Weird how that happens.)

Anyway, I have no reason to spend my money on a flaregun, so I haven’t. That said, when I saw the same thing, but green I just couldn’t help myself.





I have never seen one of these advertised anywhere or used in any context. The packaging suggests a lot of interesting uses, and a light flashbang deployed by pistol is pretty cool. Well have to see what kind of effect they actually produce.

I wonder, is this something that’s common in other parts of the country and just not so much in my part of the South East? I have to guess the regular 12 gauge Orion flares will work, unless someone has tried and knows otherwise?

Is it a flaregun? Not a flaregun? Is is simply a “Projector, 12 Gauge”?

 

[N555]

When it fires anti personal ammo it becomes a destructive device, assuming it's greater than 0.5'' bore diameter.
Bird bombs are still "signaling devices".

 

[lemaymiami]

I'm on the water day in and day out (in season - our season starts with the New Year and runs through May - then the mosquitoes show up and my bookings diminish...). Lots of junk flares on the market in everything from big box stores to real marine hardware places.... For anyone wanting flares that really work (and realize they may be reaching for them in awful conditions... ), take a look at SOLAS flares first. "SOLAS" isn't' a brand name or a manufacturer -they're a type of flare - and what's required on ocean voyages - and what you're looking at in any movie when someone pops a really bright and serious flare on screen. They're not cheap at around $10 for one handheld flare and nearly $70 each for the parachute flare - but you can fire one up in a downpour (or when you're in the water in a real emergency...).

No you don't want to use one in a real fire hazard area since they are serious hot burning flares - but when you really need a flare they're roughly twice as bright as an ordinary highway flare - and long burning... I keep four of them (three handhelds, one para) on my small skiff and carefully replace them as they expire to keep current.

A tip for anyone new on the water... You never fire up a flare unless you know that there's someone nearby that can see it...

 

[usaral63]

Can't comment on the flare gun itself, but Fith Op's does produce quality stuff. Picked up one of their perimeter alarm .12 blank devices as I have the usual Florida garbage can raider problem...........cobbled up some heavy BP blanks and arranged the trip so any can lid movement resulted in it discharging..............worked like a charm......only one visit this year since it gave that varmit a snootfull of loud stinky smoke!

 

[HKGuns]

I've looked at those on several occasions and never bought. Good to know they've been employed effectively against the coons.

 

[hso]

Flare guns aren't firearms, but some enterprising companies have made inserts for centerfire and rimfire ammo that call the combination into question.

Flares, "bird bang" rounds, etc. are legitimate for flare guns.

 

[usaral63]

HK , that wasn't/isn't a coon............'bout a 200 lb black bear! Kinda gets aggravating when you hafta drag a 90 gallon garbage can out of the woods while picking up scraps and plastic bags.

 

[drobs]

Now you need a boat to go with that "not a flare gun."

Explain those shells to me, do they fire a projectile down range that makes a secondary "bang?"

A friend of mine loaded fire crackers into his 12 gauge shells and was able to get them to go bang down range, along with the wad and bb's. It was kind a neat trick.

 

[RevolvingGarbage]

Now you need a boat to go with that "not a flare gun."

Explain those shells to me, do they fire a projectile down range that makes a secondary "bang?"

A friend of mine loaded fire crackers into his 12 gauge shells and was able to get them to go bang down range, along with the wad and bb's. It was kind a neat trick.

Maaan, that’s a sore subject about the boat thing. Long story short, don’t let your cousins borrow your boat if they aren’t willing and able to replace it.

I have plenty of use for this in a camping role, but I do go fishing when I’m fortunate enough so it can tag along for that as well. In that respect it’s nice that it’s very very lightweight including the ammo.

Speaking of the ammo, it’s just a long unibody polymer tube with a 209 primer in the base. There’s some kind of propellant at the very base where the primer is, and it appears to just be sealed overtop of that with glue or something. Essentially the tube that is the body of the blank appears to be almost totally empty so I can guess there’s no projectile at all. This is meant to produce its effect at the muzzle only apparently. I’m aware of the old fashioned “bird bombs” and this is not as cool as that. I wonder if the plastic launcher would even withstand the meager pressure load a true bird bomb would produce. Kinda doubt it.

 

[hso]

The Orion produt appears to just be a non launching noise maker. Looks like it may explode if anything else was loaded into it that isn't specific to this device.

 

[jmorris]

Long story short, don’t let your cousins borrow your boat if they aren’t willing and able to replace it.

Yeah, if you “loan” something to a family member you should probably go into it thinking of it more like a gift. That way, you can be excited if you get it back in one piece…

 

[RevolvingGarbage]

The Orion produt appears to just be a non launching noise maker. Looks like it may explode if anything else was loaded into it that isn't specific to this device.

Not exactly, in that the label does specifically say that it works with “all Orion signals” which I had to look closely to find, so I will get around to picking up Orion flares to test alongside the blanks.

My concern with an old style bird bomb is that the payload on those has more weight and is meant to travel farther than anything you can expect out of a 12 gauge flare and I think that might make enough difference to be dangerous.