Bear bangers/flares?

[zaconb]

Are they worth the money, and is it safe to carry them with a cartridge attached/(the pen stlye)?

[Barracuda]

loaded bear banger in the pocket,
going off half cocked

not the way i would want to go:redface:

[Big Daddy Ryan]

The only bear banger I carry is a pistol grip mossberg with 3" slugs...

[Squirrelnuts]

Are they worth the money, and is it safe to carry them with a cartridge attached/(the pen stlye)?

I've used them before and they've worked most of the time. I've had bears do -nothing- after they've gone off, too... They seem to work better when the bear's a bit of a distance away; I wouldn't rely on one to turn a bear around if it's coming after you. (That's what the shotgun's for). But, if a gun isn't an option bear spray and bangers are better than nothing and not much more expensive.

There's a little "safety" that the stub slides into, so carrying it loaded shouldn't be a worry. (No point in not loading it, 'cuz you're not likely to have the time to screw around with it when it hits the fan).

[bruin]

Pretty much what Squirrelnuts said

[Coyote]

Just make sure when you fire it you don't overshoot and drop it behind the bear. It's been done

'yote

[BCbillies]

I'd never seen one before until I found one on the ground (loaded) on my recent grizz hunt. I put it in my pocket and chambered one in my 300 wmag. I'll have to experiment with it one day but I couldn't imagine it replacing the rifle!

[cnsteve]

I wandered out of the tent, last month, at first light to take a whiz. While enjoying the relief, I focussed on a black spot not far from me and thot, "I don't remember anything black, there." Then it moved. I shoutted a warning to both tents that we had a small blackie out here. Brother exitted and then Ed brought out a flashlight. Then we saw that this was no small black bear. It jumped up to the edge of the small pit we were in and circled while looking back at us. I translated this action as agressive so was backing up when Brother let fly with a banger.

I've never shot one of these in the dark so it was interesting to see the spiral course it took....right to the snout of the blackie, drop right at it's azz and explode.

We imagined that it sped to the river and was dropping its butt into the water and going ...AAhhhh.

They work but there're expensive. Brother says that his pen shoots high so don't wait to find out the tragectory. Like all safety systems...practise.

Stever

[Spyder]

They "usually" work be carefull when discharging them though last summer we had an encounter with a big blackie and the bro's banger didnt go bang, the sound of it launching scared away the bear though. Now 5 minutes past the incident and we were walkin back to the truck and i see smoke collum in the slash bout 50 feet behind the truck, the banger had landed and since it didnt explode it just burnt up and started a good fire now 10 min since it was fired and i had my fire extinguisher and was putting out a 10 foot wide slash fire,
after a good 15 min of putting it out and another hour of waiting around for flash ups it was all clear and we finally left.

Thankfully we were paying attention unlike so many we all see out there!

[CT.45]

If they go off behind the bear, the bear could be scared toward you. You can get them in different distances. I have the shortest fused ones. I have used them successfully twice on very curious black bears.