Flares in a shotty.

[wonderwolf]

For years I have thought about those 12 gauge flare pistols and the extra flares they sell for about $3 a round at various outdoor places. Shooting a few flares in a shotgun wouldnt hurt it I'm guessing simply becuase of all the other "novelty" shells that I've seen out there. I'm looking at these to throw in with my bug out bag. Just the shells not the pistol. (I carry a 12 gauge most of the time) I know you wouldnt use them for much but they could come in handy if you needed to signal or something along those lines. Thoughts?




http://www.orionsignals.com/

[Buckaroo]

I knew a guy who traveled through Canada every year. He kept a flare gun in his travel trailer. It was legal and as he said "I'd hate to get hit with one of these." I always wondered what the authorities would say if he had used it to run off a bear and set the woods on fire....?

Bear kabobs anyone?

[ElevatedThreat]

Originally posted by wonderwolf
For years I have thought about those 12 gauge flare pistols and the extra flares they sell for about $3 a round at various outdoor places. Shooting a few flares in a shotgun wouldnt hurt it I'm guessing simply becuase of all the other "novelty" shells that I've seen out there. I'm looking at these to throw in with my bug out bag. Just the shells not the pistol. (I carry a 12 gauge most of the time) I know you wouldnt use them for much but they could come in handy if you needed to signal or something along those lines. Thoughts?

http://www.orionsignals.com/

I fired one of these 12-gauge flares out of a 28" modified-choke shotgun once, to see what would happen. Did not work too well. There is not much propellent in these flares, and the flare projectile lost most of its intended velocity to friction in the longer barrel.

Worse, I found that the flare projectile itself is both full-bore and too hard to smoosh down when going through a choke. It almost caught in the modified choke, and did not fly very far past the end of the barrel.

I think these things are made for VERY short, no-choke barrels.

Also, since the flare itself is most likely made from metals like sodium and lithium, it could leave corrosive salts in the barrel that can react with humidity from the air and make acids. That will rust out any metal shotgun in a hurry! That is one more reason why flare pistol barrels are plastic....

So, you should probably wash you metal shotgun barrel with soapy water after shooting a flare, like you would a military rifle that had fired corrosive surplus ammo.

-ET

[wonderwolf]

Cool thanks for the help, Out of my combat gun it should not hurt anything I imagine as far as choke goes.