Ever Heard of 'BIRD BANGERS?'

[Eric300]

After seeing a thread regarding 37mm launchers/flares, I thought I'd post this:

'Bird Bangers' are a small explosive device (legally) used mostly by municipalities to discourage pest animals from congregating in particular areas (usually waterfowl). However, can be legally purchased by civilians, and are a hoot to use for whatever (legal) purpose you may desire.

The 'Banger' is loaded in the muzzle of the single shot/single action, proprietary pistol, and a 6mm blank cartridge is loaded under the hammer.

Cock the hammer, pull the trigger, and the blank cartridge ignites the fuse on the 'Banger', causing the 'Banger' to instantly launch approximately 50 yds-60 yds before exploding with a loud report equal to, or greater than, that of an M-80!

These are NOT toys, and can cause serious injury, but, when used responsibly, can be fun if you like things that go 'BOOM'.

 

[6518John]

They can be fun to shoot in the air over large outdoor keg parties to make all the girls scream. Or so I was told when I was a younger man, I was at Bible Study that night, so I did not see first hand.

 

[lihpster]

When my dad worked for the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, they had both a fuse lit M-80 type and a 12GA shells that launched an M-80 type explosive 100 or so yards. The fused M-80 type were used with a rope that burned at a specific rate. Weave the fuses at certain intervals and you get a boom every 10 minutes or every hour or whatever depending on the distance between bombs. Occasionally he'd bring his State rig home and us kids would raid his stash!

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Saw a YouTube of a Florida Lady Iguana Hunter.
Think she was using an Air Rifle.
She was knocking them mostly out of trees.
Some fell on cars.
Pardon me ma’am, could I please move my RAV4 before lizzies fall?

 

[tlawler]

Are they still available somewhere? And if they are, where would one procure them?

Asking for a friend.

 

[Echo40]

I've heard of them, albeit under the name Bird Bombs.

They always struck me as the sort of thing that might as well be marketed for recreation as a type of firework than for pest control, seeing as that's how most folks seem to use them anyway.

Besides, show of hands, how many folks here have learned the hard way that most methods of pest control are either ineffective or otherwise detrimental towards keeping pests away because you scare off one pest only for all the other pests which the former pest preyed upon to run rampant as a result?
I still remember one year when I was a young man, my mother decided she couldn't stand dealing with all the spiders and cobwebs in the house, so she bought these electronic gadgets which were supposed to keep spiders away. The good news is, the things actually worked. The bad news is, the house became infested with flies that Summer, and no matter what she did she couldn't keep the flies away, so she stopped using the spider repellent devices, then the spiders came back with a vengeance and for awhile afterwards was infested with spiders.

 

[Eric300]

Are they still available somewhere? And if they are, where would one procure them?

Asking for a friend.

Have 'your friend' try this:

15mm Bird Bangers & Blank Launchers | Bird & Goose Control | Gempler's

 

[mckenney99]

I can't attest to the effectiveness of the "little" Bird Bangers but I can vouch for the 37mm Bird Bombs.
Many years ago, at my old rural property, I had a problem with a neighbors domestic geese (15 to 20) getting out of their enclosure and they would waddle their way up the street, then up my driveway, around my house and they would set up daily residence around my work shop / barn, leaving a tremendous mess. As a result I invested in a 37mm "flare launcher" and a good supply of Bird Bombs.
One morning, on a day off, I looked out the kitchen window and saw the gaggle make the turn into my driveway. I made the decision to make my stand right then and there. I grabbed the "flare launcher" and a box of Bird Bombs and barricaded myself behind my truck (just in case they made a charge under my artillery barrage). I knew these Bird Bombs were supposed to be more than just firecrackers but these things turned out to be incredibly loud and had a good sized flash (think commercial mortar firework). My first shot was a little short and it stopped the gaggle in mid-waddle. With an adjustment made in elevation, my second shot landed directly in the middle of the invaders. When the Bird Bomb went off, feathers went flying, the gaggle started SQUAWKING and FLEEING back the way they had come. I don't think they could have moved any faster if they had been flying.
Apparently the invaders got the message that they were not welcome on my property because they never returned.

 

[lihpster]

They used to make what I always heard called a Zonn? Zon? Xonn? gun. Propane powered noisemakers for farmers. Had a timer on it and would set off a charge of propane making a big boom. Certain times of the year I could hear them going off all around our place.

 

[Alpo]

I've heard of Bird bombs being used at airports.


Can't you just see that 747 taking off just as that flock of seagulls decides to land on runway 17.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Sutton Ag - Zon Mark 4 Propane Cannon

Down here in flyover country, we don’t screw around when the starlings, grackles and blackbirds need to move on . . .

 

[Oldfrt]

Before we had some Paragon falcons take up residence at the power plant we would have someone come out with some explosive devices to run off the pigeons, they seemed to work for a while. The falcons seemed to solve the problem.

 

[6518John]

Pigeon Pie!!!

Peregrine with pigeon. You can tell the pigeon is thinking, “I don’t think this is going to end well!”

 

[moosedog]

For serious infestations, I can provide a picture of my ex.

 

[Drm50]

My dad was a supervisor at a power plant. They had a problem with starlings and were buying trap loads to use on them. On afternoon shift they would roost in belt structure. They would shoot them for two shots every night. ( the plant had shotguns for shooting slag out of boilers ) anyway they got smart and bought bombs that were on a timed fuse and when lit a blast would go off every 5 minutes or so for 5 bangs.

 

[Stevens]

Saw a YouTube of a Florida Lady Iguana Hunter.
Think she was using an Air Rifle.
She was knocking them mostly out of trees.
Some fell on cars.
Pardon me ma’am, could I please move my RAV4 before lizzies fall?

Those Iguanas are good eating, when I was working I often traveled to Guyana. I had "Gouana" Curry several times, just like chicken, really!
Steve W

 

[MLA6021]

There was a chemical plant that closed down near where I worked and one of their employees I was friends with brought home a few boxes of the 12 gauge variety of those, as they were used there to scare birds from roosting in the stacks. He gave me a couple dozen of them. I brought a few out to the duck blind one morning. No birds were flying. Zero. Some friends were hunting in another blind a couple hundred yards or so away. I tried and lob a few of those to explode over their blind to mess with them. I doped wind and trajectory, got close but never right over, but they do go off like an M-80. Was kinda fun. I was disappointed when I ran out, lol.

 

[Oracle]

Another item is "bird cannons" fueled by propane or in the old days when I was a kid carbide. They had limited effectiveness, the birds are in the crop before dawn and become accustomed to the boom.

A neighbor installed a system over his small cherry orchard of wires and Mylar streamers. The streamers hung below the wire on a pulley and were pulled quickly back and forth over the orchard. The Mylar flashed in the sunlight, there was movement and the streamers made fluttering noises. It worked really well, no idea if he bought it or made it.

 

[Golddollar]

Those Iguanas are good eating, when I was working I often traveled to Guyana. I had "Gouana" Curry several times, just like chicken, really!
Steve W

Years ago I was a contestant in the New Jersey State Chili Cookoff. During the course of the day I saw a girl walking around with an iguana on her shoulder. I wanted to tell her that she should walk further out in the street if she didn't want her pet to become somebody's ingredient.

 

[lihpster]

When life gives you lizards, you make lizardade.