SHOT Show Range Day: Having Fun with PepperBalls?
OutdoorHub Reporters 01.23.18
Unless you work in law enforcement, there’s a decent chance you’ve never heard of PepperBalls.
So, what’s a PepperBall? It’s a highly engineered non-lethal projectile (below) that was originally designed in 1996. PepperBall projectiles are precision-manufactured with a proprietary outer shell and live active irritant compound engineered to burst on impact into a temporarily incapacitating cloud with no harmful after-effects. Law enforcement can use PepperBalls to protect themselves in urban settings, and also force compliance from subjects who aren’t playing nice.
Check out the video below (it’s an oldie but a goodie) that shows everything you need to know about the effectiveness of PepperBalls.
According to a PepperBall rep we spoke to during Industry Day at the Range (below), more than 5,000 federal and state agencies (U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard, etc.) rely on PepperBall technology to make the world a better/safer place.
During Range Day, OutdoorHub staff had a chance to fire the new PepperBall TAC-SF. To use a crude analogy, it loads like a gumball machine, but what comes out the business end of the launcher isn’t quite so pleasant.
Make no mistake — the TAC-SF is a serious tool. And it’s a heck of a lot of fun to shoot (at targets), too.
Check out the specs below on the TAC-SF:
- Semiautomatic, three-round burst shots, or full-auto action
- Select-fire electronic firing system with firing rate of 10-12 RPS (Rounds Per Second)
- Compact lightweight modular design
- Ambidextrous rotational safety switch
- 30-cubic-inch, high-capacity, high-pressure air system
- Designed for use with high-pressure air
- Launcher available in orange or black
EL-2 Electronic Hopper
- 180 round rapid feeding system with anti-jamming technology
- Feeds 20+ PPS (Projectiles Per Second)
- One touch on/off
- Ultra-lightweight glass nylon construction
