# Non deadly ammo



## abagrizzli

What would be your choice of ammo, if you don't need to really kill an animal or make it suffer, but rather cause pain without instant damage? Scare off hard.


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## Popcorn

I think a lot depends on what kind of animal you are considering, how thick its coat, how far it is, and how powerful your bands are. And how expert a shot you are. Any kind of ammo to an eye could be very treacherous and potentially blinding. Any ammo soft or light enough to not injure could also be so light as to not really go where aimed.

With all that in mind, maybe a soft jelly type candy in some cases. Also, Ive seen DGUI talk about some balled up aluminum foil used for testing. (Though I didn't see him recommend it for any live target) Maybe miniature marhmallows would work for something.

So probably the best idea would be to put some well-fitting goggles, motorcycle helmet with face shield, and a thick leather coat on any animal you plan to shoot at without injury!


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## abagrizzli

Popcorn said:


> So probably the best idea would be to put some well-fitting goggles, motorcycle helmet with face shield, and a thick leather coat on any animal you plan to shoot at without injury!


I'll have to shoot it first so the animal won't run away. LOL :king:

But seriously. I have 1745 tubes. I need to keep stray cats and maina birds away from the property. I don't want to kill them or cripple them - just hurt them, so Pavlov dog's reflex would work. I like the jelly type candy idea, but there're 2 problems - they sweet and sticky, and they draw ants. I can shoot ants dead though, but they are too many, I'm afraid they can overtake me.


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## SuperMonkeySlinger

Really, Small, Pebbles 

SMS


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## abagrizzli

OK, so we have

1. Jelly beans

2. Really, Small, Pebbles

Marshmallow ain't good, 'cos I think it will squash under loading pressure...


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## Imperial

this is what i do with strays - i shoot paintballs at them, well more like in thier general area. if theres no wall behind them or a trash can nearby , i try to get it as close as i can to the floor between thier legs, so when the paintball breaks, hopefully theyll feel the spray of the paint. but if they are at a far away distance like 80 feet and a medium sized or bigger animal, i aim for the hind quarters. for birds, you might want to power down with some single office bands and plastic air soft b.b.'s, i keep one banded with some 84's and the soft air pellet ammo nearby.


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## abagrizzli

Shiet, we do not have these here... :banghead: I mean, airsoft and paintballs here are being sold only to club members...


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## HerecomestheBOOM

I just ordered some of these to try out: link

Barnett also has them in .38, but they're a bit more expensive. I don't know how much or little damage they'll do though.

You could make little beanbags out of jute & sand too if you have some sewing skills


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## Viper010

how about dry garbanzo beans?


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## abagrizzli

HerecomestheBOOM said:


> I just ordered some of these to try out: link
> 
> Barnett also has them in .38, but they're a bit more expensive. I don't know how much or little damage they'll do though.
> 
> You could make little beanbags out of jute & sand too if you have some sewing skills


Thanks, but I'm afraid it'll stuck in the body... 



Viper010 said:


> how about dry garbanzo beans?


You're genius!!! :thumbsup: Hummus is our national food, I can get a lot of it, in all sizes and cheap. It's light, it's degradable, it's not sweet and sticky, ants hate it, it's dry and round. Man, you are officially genius of the hour! :banana:


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## abagrizzli

Now I feel dumb, 'cos I eat hummus on a weekly basis at Abu Gosh, and here's somebody from Netherlands reminds me about it...


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## HerecomestheBOOM

abagrizzli said:


> HerecomestheBOOM said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just ordered some of these to try out: link
> 
> Barnett also has them in .38, but they're a bit more expensive. I don't know how much or little damage they'll do though.
> 
> You could make little beanbags out of jute & sand too if you have some sewing skills
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> Thanks, but I'm afraid it'll stuck in the body...
Click to expand...

Don't shoot so hard!


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## All Buns Glazing

There's a full and recent thread on this. Search for "geese"


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## slingingjaymie

If I recall, simple-shot.com sells non lethal stuff. Scented balls and some water/jelly balls. I would try the lightest ones they offer.


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## slingingjaymie

http://www.simple-shot.com/collections/accessories/products/deter-it-non-lethal-projectiles

^^^^ are the jelly balls.

http://www.simple-shot.com/collections/accessories/products/scentburst-animal-attractant-deterrent

^^^^ are scented variants. Coyote urine scent along with the non scented light loads may be enough of a deterrent for your pests.

Urine scent to "mark" territory. The scentless gel to wallop them good without severe harm.

I do notice you are in Israel. So they may be an issue to get past customs.


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## ash

Mothballs might also work well. Stinky enough to deter cats in multiple ways. Chickpeas soaked or dipped in ammonia would be very cat unfriendly.

One of my customers slings frozen cherries at the cats that chase his birds.


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## slingingjaymie

Nice alternatives Ash! I never thought of those. XD maybe frozen grapes or cherry tomatoes would substitute in place of them cherries? Any way you cut it, yeeeowch!! A frozen grape would be bad. A frozen cherry with a stone would sting. =>


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## ash

And when the cats are gone, birds will come and eat the cherries!


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## abagrizzli

slingingjaymie said:


> http://www.simple-shot.com/collections/accessories/products/deter-it-non-lethal-projectiles
> 
> ^^^^ are the jelly balls.
> 
> http://www.simple-shot.com/collections/accessories/products/scentburst-animal-attractant-deterrent
> 
> ^^^^ are scented variants. Coyote urine scent along with the non scented light loads may be enough of a deterrent for your pests.
> 
> Urine scent to "mark" territory. The scentless gel to wallop them good without severe harm.
> 
> I do notice you are in Israel. So they may be an issue to get past customs.


Waterballs are another great option! And your notice is very true - our customs is shiet. Actually, it's not even the customs, but rather regulations - anything is forbidden. :nono:

But there's a chance that if they can send it through regular mail - the package will fly under the radar and I can actually get it. Anyhow, it worth a try, thanks. :thumbsup:

Concerning all the urine versions and other passive staff - I think it won't work for several reasons. One of them - we live in a forest, so these cats are familiar with coyote scents and do not afraid of them. This is for sure. I do not know about other animals, but how can they be afraid of a bear, if they never smelled one or saw one?

The second reason and maybe I'm wrong, but the sun and the temperature here are pretty intense, they dissolve things very fast. On top of that add the third reason - we have sprinklers in our yard on daily basis for 15 minutes every morning. So after the sun will heat the scents - the water will wash them.

And the forth reason - smells have nothing to do with maina birds...

Concerning frozen cherries and grapes - the idea is pretty good, but this kind of ammo is too slow, I mean after I see the target, I have to run to the fridge, get the ammo, and chase back. I'm pretty sure everybody would be gone by then.  Besides, I'm kinda afraid, that there's no much difference between a piece of ice and a marble...


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## abagrizzli

Just found out another fun and harmless ammo - wasabi coated green pees and garlic coated peanuts. Shoots like crazy, not too small, not too big. Though the range is limited, 'cos they light. And the wasabi pees sometimes break in the air. Only 5.5 USD a can, which is maybe 200 units. :king:


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## abagrizzli

Another find - 5 mm amethyst and 5 mm frosted quartz beads are excellent. Fast and accurate, yet too little to harm. Of course "a little" bit pricey - 50 bucks a string, a buck for a shot. :king:

I'm at the point that I shoot literally anything my hand catches. Boy, those maina birds are fast...


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## Popcorn

Have you made a catchbox for practice? They are made with dangling teeshirt or similar material, so it stops the ammo without ricochet, and you can re-use it indefinitely. Makes shooting quite a bit cheaper.


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## abagrizzli

Popcorn said:


> Have you made a catchbox for practice? They are made with dangling teeshirt or similar material, so it stops the ammo without ricochet, and you can re-use it indefinitely. Makes shooting quite a bit cheaper.


No, not yet. It was needless until today's afternoon, 'cos my shots were absolutely unpredictable. I mean, almost every shot went to a different direction in a very large area. Since this afternoon I figured something out with anchor point (found it), and working on my SS grip consistency. So I started to actually aim and hit at least 3X3 meters area. I'm using an old plastic doghouse as a catchbox, though it's really stinks at it. Marbles go through both walls, making big movie-style holes. Lucky it's a concrete wall behind and I also have bought a shietload of marbles (5000), so I can loose them without any grief.

Now I'm thinking of making a catchbox.


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## hoggif

Try hanging a piece of cloth for a stopper (like a t-shirt or two or towels). I hang them on a piece of paracord which allows me to setup shooting location almost anywhere. (Mount point for a rope is easy to find). Sheets should do for a poor focus or just shooting closer.


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## abagrizzli

hoggif said:


> Try hanging a piece of cloth for a stopper (like a t-shirt or two or towels). I hang them on a piece of paracord which allows me to setup shooting location almost anywhere. (Mount point for a rope is easy to find). Sheets should do for a poor focus or just shooting closer.


I thought of that, will give it a try tomorrow I think.


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## HerecomestheBOOM

Hey, I just came across these: click me


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## abagrizzli

HerecomestheBOOM said:


> Hey, I just came across these: click me


LOL this is an amazing stuff!


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## hoggif

That felt ammo seems great, as long as the animals are not thinking of them as food.

Initially I thought of the usual stuff like chickbeas, large seeds and nuts but that may attract animals as soon as they learn there is always food around! (Which is why small kandy is out too).

Chopping up small brances could perhaps make nice small light ammo and material should be easily available for a reasonable cost.


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## Mou

How about Play-Doh? Just make some balls whose size fits for you, and if it´s not to hot, (I put mine in the fridge, GREAT for Indoor-shooting) you can shoot them without any problem.


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## abagrizzli

Mou said:


> How about Play-Doh? Just make some balls whose size fits for you, and if it´s not to hot, (I put mine in the fridge, GREAT for Indoor-shooting) you can shoot them without any problem.


It's a great idea, thank you. However, it won't work here, 'cos any frozen stuff unfreezes in something like 30 seconds. We hit 35 Celsius constantly during 9 months a year. Just a few weeks ago we had close to 40 temperature, and it is still so called "spring".


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## slingvswindow

Shoot them with a water rifle instead of hurt them -.-

shalom


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## abagrizzli

slingvswindow said:


> Shoot them with a water rifle instead of hurt them -.-
> 
> shalom


Actually, it was my very first thought and I even tried it. It doesn't work. The whole procedure or filling the water, keeping the water contained in the reservoir (and it evaporates after a few days) combined with a VERY poor ability to aim - makes it useless but fun. But thanks anyway, I like this thread, it becomes a storage of all good thoughts about non deadly ammo.


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## Imperial

slingvswindow said:


> Shoot them with a water rifle instead of hurt them -.-
> 
> shalom


super soakers ! ! !


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## Imperial

abagrizzli said:


> slingvswindow said:
> 
> 
> 
> Shoot them with a water rifle instead of hurt them -.-
> 
> shalom
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, it was my very first thought and I even tried it. It doesn't work. The whole procedure or filling the water, keeping the water contained in the reservoir (and it evaporates after a few days) combined with a VERY poor ability to aim - makes it useless but fun. But thanks anyway, I like this thread, it becomes a storage of all good thoughts about non deadly ammo.
Click to expand...

water cannon truck !


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## slingvswindow

ha ha  lol

no just give them some food they deserve to eat too.


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## abagrizzli

Imperial said:


> abagrizzli said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> slingvswindow said:
> 
> 
> 
> Shoot them with a water rifle instead of hurt them -.-
> 
> shalom
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, it was my very first thought and I even tried it. It doesn't work. The whole procedure or filling the water, keeping the water contained in the reservoir (and it evaporates after a few days) combined with a VERY poor ability to aim - makes it useless but fun. But thanks anyway, I like this thread, it becomes a storage of all good thoughts about non deadly ammo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> water cannon truck !
Click to expand...

I'm thinking with horror about the bill for the water usage in this case.


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## slingingjaymie

Try baked clay balls? They will not be heat concerned. Keep them dry. Probably break when they hit something hard. Light weight and cheap. May not shoot too far though.

You could put the .177 BB's inside of baked clay. Make the clay ball twice as large. Roughly .350". That would give some sting but be less harmful than a steel ball of that size. Probably hurt enough to chase them away. Nothing they would not heal from.

Perhaps you could get some rice. Bake it with large amounts of firy spices. Turn it into balls of pain. First, it hurts when they got smacked. Then, it burns going down and coming out. =) that should stop them!


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## klipsch

A little on the spendier side (mainly shipping)...But I picked up a bag of RAP4.43 cal powder balls...that I've affectionately nicknamed "warning shots" They weigh in at 1g each...


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## quemado

You can be very creative, any dreid bean, chickpea, any food that is dry and semi hard. Make pellets out of millet, oatmeal, ground bean etc. Find a craft place that sells to necklace makers. They have wood beads, glass beads, plastic beads. Use pieces of potato, carrot, any root vegetable, apple, hard pear pieces, etc, the list is almost unlimited. Make homemade pellets from dried mashed potato, flour balls, rice balls, maybe even couscous (not sure about couscous).

If your aim is only to scare them, the inherent accuracy of the projectile is not as important as it would be otherwise.


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## abagrizzli

Hi quemado,

Couscous, or as we call it here kuskus - is too small to shoot, and properly cooked kuskus shouldn't be sticky, so it's impossible to make any projectiles from it. 

As for the others - I tried a few of them, and for now I stopped on 16mm marbles with 1 cm wide bands. It's big enough to make noise when hit a ground or tree or leaves nearby the target, and it's slow enough not to hurt or cripple them even if it hits (and I never hit till now anyway  )


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## Berkshire bred

I have heard of some people shooting gumballs at pest animals to hurt or scare them but not injure.


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## abagrizzli

What's gumballs?


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## klipsch

With some of the suggestions so far...if you're a bad shot, you could actually be feeding them. Which would give them reason to return until your aim improves. Sounds like a win/win...


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## studer1972

gum balls are penny candy here in the US. They're a small ~1/2" hollow ball of chewing gum with a hard candy shell. I hadn't thought of them, but I think they would make good, light slingshot ammo and probably wouldn't injure anything without an eye shot.


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## leon13




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## leon13

We have this "bubbel tee" bars every wear and the ingredient is tapioka balls, you can buy this in a non wet form in the asia stores and wet it without the sugar for your self just an idea,my son shouts it with the straw like a blowgun, witch gets served with it,and they fly a long distance,to shout I will say use one of thees fishing boilie shouters.

cheers


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## abagrizzli

studer1972 said:


> gum balls are penny candy here in the US. They're a small ~1/2" hollow ball of chewing gum with a hard candy shell. I hadn't thought of them, but I think they would make good, light slingshot ammo and probably wouldn't injure anything without an eye shot.


Thanks, that's new for me... We have it here in some stores and they quite pricey for shooting, not to mention they are rock hard... :king:


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## rockslinger

*Do you have any china berry trees there? Melia azedarach*

*The berrys make some pretty good ammo. *


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## DawnEvil

You could try hot glue sticks cut up into small cylinders. Its cheap, could probably get 100 for less than $3.00 and they are available at most handy-craft stores. They would be like rubber bullets in effect.


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## ZorroSlinger

Gobstoppers! This image from ss forum member Knotty










Other past topics, some related to eco-friendly ammo. I'm finding though, using a shooter with a softer rubber setup specifically for gobstoppers or in general, when you use light ammo, such as candies, garbanzo beads, air rifle bbs and similar. If too much rubber, you can get nice hand slaps when the projectile releases ... ouch!


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## Flycatcher

You could use plastic bbs used for airsoft. They are extremly light so the wont fly completely true but they are dont break skin (if they did im sure air soft fans wouldnt be so keen on shooting each other) You can also buy biodegradable airsoft pellets. You can get them pretty cheap.


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## Damir Crozg

Damir Crozg said:


> slingsh 150.jpg
> 
> The ball is soft and the pouch must keep your fingers behind the ball, but
> so that the ball does not drop out of the pouch.
> 
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> 
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> 
> plastelin.jpg
> 
> This is the solution
> 
> When you shoot these balls, they remain affixed to the wall and after they just pick up from the wall,
> 
> circling with fingers and use again. :bouncy:


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## sultanpuss

I have found that paint balls will get the attention of any animal. An added bonus is your ability to keep track of the number of times you hit a squirrel in a day.


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## sultanpuss

Ketchup packs have a nice punch and they actually fly pretty straight.


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## sultanpuss

acorns are free and they come in many sizes.


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## trobbie66

Save a couple 24s worth of urine and pour it around the yard.No shooting necessary.


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## johnthemarksman

i use paintballs sometimes

if they are safe for humans there safe for animals


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## Tacketts Mill Farm

I got small, hard, rubber balls on e-bay. For my slingshot, that is. I would guess, however, that the damage may be more severe than you are looking for. I use them on stray dogs but would say that if I hit an eye they would be blinded permanently. This is for serious deterence. I like the idea of using paintballs too. I think I'll try that one.


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## SlingSheep

I found some water gel balls, which are sold for decoration - put them into vases. They are little clear/colored plastic spheres, about 2mm in diameter which you put into water (for about 6 hours) to let them soak it up. Then they grow to a diameter of about 10-11mm, still perfeclty round, and feel like little rubber balls - they also bounce. Since in that state they consist almost completely of water, I reckon they weigh about 1 g. When they dry, they shrink again... For 2 Euros I bought a 10g bag which I guess are about 600-800 balls, so that's about 0.3 Cents per ball - I think that would be my ammo of choice for the said purpose.


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