stock here: the upper version is an AI cleaned up version, the original run on sentence is at the bottom.
A Night with Byrna: My Experience with Non-Lethal Defense
One night at home, I encountered vandals trying to steal mail from my property. Reacting quickly, I grabbed my Olight LEP thrower flashlight and lit up the two would-be thieves. Instantly blinded, they made the poor decision to charge at me from about 30 feet away. Luckily, I had my Byrna HD ready—modified to have no safety, which saved me crucial seconds during the encounter.
With the Byrna’s safety off, I was able to send off the first round, which was a practice powder shot. But even a soft toss was enough to stop them in their tracks. My magazine held a mix of 5 rounds: every other one was a Max O.C. round (Oleoresin Capsicum, a powerful pepper irritant) made by Byrna, while the others were kinetic rounds (brass-infused nylon, aptly named ‘Homewreckers’).
As I fired back-to-back, alternating between O.C. and kinetic rounds, one of the thieves ducked, but I caught him square in the face. The other kinetic round hit his chest, slowing him down. The second guy wasn’t as lucky; he took another shot and collapsed. I fired my last two rounds intentionally at the ground to maximize the dusting effect of the O.C., which further debilitated them.
At this point, the intruders were done. One was blinded and screaming, while the other was writhing in pain. Even though the situation was controlled, the adrenaline kept me on edge. I loaded another magazine, just in case, while calling 911.
When the police arrived, the situation was surprisingly smooth. They were curious about the Byrna and asked questions, having never encountered one in use before. I was able to provide all my legal paperwork, including a chemical carry certificate for the O.C. rounds. Even one of the thieves asked the police to pass along an apology, which was a surreal moment.
Looking back, I’m grateful for the Byrna. Without it, the situation could have devolved into a 2-on-1 fistfight, where I might have been forced to use a knife or box cutter to defend myself—potentially injuring someone severely and risking legal consequences. The Byrna allowed me to protect myself and my family with minimal harm and without facing criminal charges.
Today, Byrna is a household word in my family. I’ve trained my daughter and her stepmom to use it, and we’ve expanded our arsenal to include finned projectiles for a legal shotgun, which is my wife’s preference. The Byrna is essential to our safety, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
For anyone on the fence about using non-lethal defense, I hope my experience offers some perspective. If I hadn’t had the Byrna that night, things could have gone very differently. Now, whether I’m carrying my HD or looking forward to trying out Byrna’s latest mini-launcher, the Stingray, I feel more confident and prepared than ever.
—————————————————————
Yes. At home. Vandals attempting to steal mail. Threw the Olight lep thrower on the two idiots…they blindly (literally) decided to charge at me from about 30 feet away; I modified my BYRNA HD to have no safety on her, (before the EP was offered) so it went straight to sending round 1 at a soft toss, because the lack of safety eliminates the less known hack: [[when you leave safety on, and go ahead and fully trigger the launcher, it punctures the co2, and then, you can take off safety, the first round actually shot is fully charged past the puncture round and you get a full power round flying]]..so, after the initial shot projection, which I had a practice powder round in the magazine I had in was a 5 round, and I just tagged chest shots back and forth as fast as possible, one of them ducked and it tagged them in rhe face with kinetic round (brass infused nylon, legal, called homewreckers) the opposite rounds every other were Max O.C. made by BYRNA, these rounds are a must have, instantly effective and throttles the intended party, size matters not with the make up of them, I sent the last two rounds at them off the ground on purpose so it would dust them with more and the other kinetic round hit the same individual that took the face/head shot.. I always carry my BYRNA laminate card, I am in California, so I also have my CHEMICAL CARRY CERTIFICATE THAT I WAS STILL CURRENTLY AWAITING THE BSIS to sent my carded version of what I already earned through the BYRNA site for use of chemical pepper rounds, and with Byrna being new, but known by law enforcement very well, it was almost like a secondary concern that the incident took place, and curiosity had the communication between the myself and the officers stoked to know that someone was covering all the bases making their job simple, and it was the first BYRNA situation they had encountered, so it was a lot less stressful than I assumed it would be, being that I have had negative interactions with the law in my young days, now in my mid 40’s, it was a decent as it could be experience… One of one’s getting arrested actually asked the cops to let me know they were sorry, and I never pressed any charges myself, not sure about the courts, but after seeing thier faces and overwhelming weakness, I hope they choose another line of work, or at least another street.. Really, I was adrenaline filled heavily during the entire episode and actually while calling 911 I popped in another full mag for whatever reason, even though they were both still, one was cussing and blinded, and the other one was just hurt, straight up hurt.. Now, I don’t carry any practice rounds, I have a 7 round mag, that I put 2 MAX O.C. rounds, and the rest are 0% tolerance/give, (meaning everything else has to give) kinetic rounds from a reputable vendor, and honestly, I think the better route to go with is to get the TCR launcher, 1 because the accuracy on it is tight, the magazine has 12 rounds ready with a 7 round on the unit, and the replacement co2 cartridge is super quick, while the fps is standard at 340-350 fps, and can be tuned (so can the handheld launcher) up to like 365fps..the handheld I have had since July 23rd, year of release, and kept the HD, I Prefer the trigger, AND, I have a story with her, with tons of legal mods now – less lethal 12 gram co2, 7 round mag, olight VALKYRIE series and Olight Baldr Mini and S, laser
light combo, color rods down the sides and front, no safety, magnetically side mounted to a plate holster for chest or underarm, and my own creation of pava/ghost pepper/illumination powder, so the bad guy glows and doesn’t know it, lol..as well as an awesome product, the SEEALL site, which is a tritium based fully nighttime or daytime, magnified iron sight that allows both eyes to be open and no batteries, so ready to go, …but the main core of the situation is I’m way safer and way happier with having BYRNA in me and my families lives, I train my daughter to use one, her step mom , and have decided to buy the new finned projectiles to go with a legal shotgun that is my wife’s comfort zone because of the weight and feel of the gun, the shooting is mote confident! So, BYRNA is our household word for safety, and I am hoping the hidden gem, the BYRNA mini launcher known as the STINGRAY, that uses .43cal rounds ,mini finned , like the shotgun versions, and a distance of 120 ft effective with accuracy like the TCR, Iam al ready for that, as well as getting my legal status to get the FULL AUTO mlr, a pre charged pneumatic (pcp) air rifle that is both mag fed and paintball hopper style that sends max oc or pepper rounds in full auto at 15 rounds a second..nice overkill for the crime filled future that is her already…I can picture how the story went if I didn’t have the Launcher that night, and it would of been a 2 on 1 fist fight that has me pulling out my knife or box cutter, and really damaging or getting damaged or both, as well as possibly getting charges somehow in this strange law twisted state, without any way to protect my family while in jail, you know what I mean..hope this help people on the fence see it from my perspective, and I will be the guy pulling out my launcher and helping you out if I see shady stuff going on anywhere, the HD desert tan o.g. named Jute, will be striking and burning the perps with the quickness, maybe even have the TCR that day, snapping off 20 rounds of less lethal limitators..