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Quick spotters& #39; guide. This is an FN303, one of the types of air-powered pepperball guns (as in the generic term, not the brand.) "Pepperball" is IMO a misnomer because it fires projectiles loaded with bismuth shot in addition to OC. The air tank is the tell when you see one.
The brand Pepperball also makes a bunch of their own pepperball guns. These are more popular recently, I suspect mostly because the newer ones have fully-automatic triggers. Cops tend to be really irresponsible with these. They& #39;re also what you& #39;ve been seeing HK cops using.
They& #39;re all pretty similar - they& #39;re basically suped-up paintball guns. They hurt, but not as bad as something like a beanbag. The balls are loaded with OC powder that& #39;ll irritate your skin, eyes and lungs like pepper spray. One death is provably attributed to an FN303.
Shotguns with brightly-colored furniture (orange and green are the most common,) like this, are designated for less-lethal ammo. Beanbags, solid rubber projectiles, and plastic stinger shot are common. I stole a page out of the DT catalog to give you an idea of the typical array.
Beanbags and solid projectiles will produce big, painful bruises, while the stinger shot will produce a rash of shallow injuries. Less-lethal shotshells are typically milky, translucent plastic, instead of the opaque reds, greens and yellows of regular shotshells.
There are too many makes and models of 40mm launchers to list, but the two basic categories are break-action single-shot, and revolving multi-shot. These are the big guns you see in dramatic photos.
Tear gas shells are either pyrotechnic projectiles that burn a cloud of gas off, or muzzle blast shells that blow a big cloud out. You& #39;ve probably seen photos of the Safariland Direct Impact shells in particular by now - they& #39;re the big crushable foam "rubber bullets."
The direct impact projectiles can be loaded with a number of things, including OC like pepperballs, and infra-red marker dye that makes you visible to night vision and drones. Other companies make equivalents to the Safariland ones. They all attenuate the impact by crushing.
There& #39;s also the older, less accurate smoothbore riot guns. They fire 37mm shells that also include tear gas, baton rounds, or stinger shot. I& #39;m adding these because I& #39;ve seen cops resorting to old stock of nasty 37mm wooden baton rounds as they run out of other ammo.
Baton rounds are large, relatively-slow projectiles that deliver a lot of energy. The crushable foam ones are less dangerous, but cops tend to be very irresponsible with them. There, now you& #39;re more informed than the typical network news reporter.
