Decided to see what pepper spray was like.

[thephanatik]

I got a 2oz bottle of Fox Labs 5.3 in the mail today and wanted to make sure it works if I'm going to be carrying it. I didn't really want to get a face full of it, since I had to go to my night class (or that's at least the excuse that I'm sticking with ). I sprayed a burst into the air, walked into it and took a nice whiff. The effects weren't immediate; it took a second or two, but I started coughing uncontrollably, my eyes started watering and my face, nose and eyes started burning. Surprisingly, it was not a very pleasant experience.

I ended up going to class still coughing a bit, but the burning was pretty much gone unless I touched my face or eyes, which seemed to reactivate it. I'm glad I did it though, I know to steer clear of an area after I use it, because just a bit lingering in the air will be very unpleasant.

I have another OC spray that I bought from Cabelas a while back that's a stream, its labeled 2%, 2M SHU. I was going to give it to my roommate's girlfriend, but don't want to if it doesn't work, so depending on how busy this upcoming weekend is, I might post a video of me getting sprayed with it if anyone is interested.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Mike1956]

I've heard that stuff can be addictive, so you may want to limit your exposure.

[buckeye .45]

While I commend your experiment in order to gain confidence in your gear, please, limit this to pepper spray, and don't test out JHP rounds on yourself.

[Eaglebeak]

Ummmmmm - some things like pepper spray, bear traps, Tasers, rat poison, and firearms aren't generally good to try out on oneself.

I'm reminded of the ranger's advice to hikers in wilderness areas to protect themselves from a possible bear attack by carrying a can of bear-spray and wear ankle bracelets with little bells on them to alert the bear of their presence well in advance to avoid suddenly startling it and provoking a reflex attack.

The ranger's advice to bear hunters is to look for bear sign like tracks or fresh bear scat (droppings) - bear scat being easily identifiable because it smells like pepper and full of little bells.

[retsupt99]

I'm going to disagree with the two posters above me...

I think it a very wise move to experiment with any spray you wish to use as a defensive weapon.
If you don't know how it sprays, the distance, and how you are able to operate if you get a burst back in the face...you are making a BIG mistake.
You did the right thing in trying it out...if you give it to a friend, have her do the same thing. You wouldn't want her to become a helpless victim of her own making.

[thephanatik]

While I commend your experiment in order to gain confidence in your gear, please, limit this to pepper spray, and don't test out JHP rounds on yourself.

Trust me, I never plan on Tex Grubnering myself.

I'm going to disagree with the two posters above me...

I think it a very wise move to experiment with any spray you wish to use as a defensive weapon.
If you don't know how it sprays, the distance, and how you are able to operate if you get a burst back in the face...you are making a BIG mistake.
You did the right thing in trying it out...if you give it to a friend, have her do the same thing. You wouldn't want her to become a helpless victim of her own making.

That's basically the line of thinking I had. I bike back and forth to school every day, ~8 miles. On foot, its easy to change directions to the left, right, back up to get away from the spray. On a bike, you are much more limited. If I ever have to use it, there's a bigger possibility I may get at least a little bit of it back in my face, so I want to make sure I know how I can handle it.

[Rock and Glock]

Surprisingly, it was not a very pleasant experience.

Surprisingly? That is surprising.

[thephanatik]

Surprisingly? That is surprising.

Yeah, I expected it to be more like a trip to Disney World.

[TerriLi]

Honestly I've done similar, its good to know what it can do to you, because frankly you never know what way the wind is blowing.
On a side note Pepper Spray makes Military Tear Gas seem like a light smell in the air....

[Richard58]

I rather get hit five times with the taser then once with the pepper spray...the pepper spray stays with you a lot longer...if u ever get into LE in NC u have to get tazered and pepper sprayed in training....I thought do we hav to be shot to carry a pistol or hit with a billy stick also to see what that feels like....Try standing and have someone spray it directly in ur face, that's how we received it in training....let the juice run off ur nose...then breath in real deep....

[chiefjason]

I bet it reactivates when you take a shower in the morning. Mine did, did not like it one bit. I had the keychain fox spray go off in my pocket. No good.

[Ishmael]

Had to get it twice in CG for boarding officer quals, first a dab by the tear ducts and nostrils from a swab, then later—of course—they upped the requirement to full face spray (if you "wanted" to carry it, which I thought was kind of a stupid choice). The qual drill was, after being sprayed, you had to first resist a gun grab, then draw, make and maintain eye contact with the "perp," and then talk him prone and cuff him. For training purposes, they said as long as you maintained eye contact on the "perp," he would do what you said. Because of the way that stuff affects you, you had to hold your eye (and note I say "eye", you could only manage one and control your gun) open with your hand to accomplish this—very difficult, I found. I eventually passed, but I was under no illusions that a real-life situation would go that well. Among other things, even if the one "perp" was complying like the instructor did, I would have been totally vulnerable to attack from his accomplices from other directions: blind in one eye, peripheral vision in other eye completely hosed up, controlling gun with only one hand, other hand out of action to keep your eye open—yikes, what a nightmare.

To clean up, we rinsed with water. I have heard that baby shampoo is supposed to help? I have also heard that milk or buttermilk would help. Haven't tried either myself.

Oh, and also, despite what the title says, this is actually Homer Simpson after he uses Marge's pepper spray on his eggs as a seasoning. They loop it just before he says "mmmmmm peppery."

[ErnieNWillis]

I can only add................ "screw that!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[Ring]

if u have a bad head cold, spray some in a paper cup and take a big sniff... it will clean you up :)

used to do that with CS/CN

[Hopyard]

I've caught some back spray/ after spray one time when I needed to empty an out of date cylinder and decided to just squirt it into the woods in back of my house. BAD

After that, for quite a few years, I refused to even consider carrying pepper because I was concerned that it could work against me in a moment of crisis.

I'm back to carrying pepper but with a very healthy regard for the downsides that are possible.

I do keep prescription safety/sport glasses on my bedside and in my car, in part to partially protect myself from a spritz by a BG or backspray should that ever be needed; of course there are many other good reasons for keeping safety/sport glasses on hand.