Byrna TechnologiesReviews of byrna.com

Once you pull the trigger, the CO2 cartridge starts to discharge. That makes sense. But if you don't take a lot of shots, reloading the Byrna several times to do that, and it sits for a few days (or longer) the CO2 cartridge empties (and can mess up the inside of the Byrna). So you have to load a new one. I HATE THAT. There's got to be a better way. I'm an older woman. I live in a very safe area (though a lot of people around me I know are gun carriers), so I didn't buy my Byrna primarily for self-defense. I use it almost exclusively to scare rabbits, raccoons and groundhogs away from my bird feeders and garden. Granted, that may not be its "intended" use, but it works well. (I don't deliberately hit them -- except the large raccoons, which also try to attack my goldfish pond -- but having the projectiles land right next to them is very effective to scare them.) However, I need to take only a few shots at a time to get that job done, and it will be several or more days before any such animal shows up again (or for the first time). So the Byrna sits unused -- and starts to leak CO2. I'm at the point at which I'm sorry I bought this thing. It also takes way too long to load. The projectiles often easily pop out of the top of the magazine as you're trying to do that. If I were truly in an emergency and the Byrna wasn't already loaded, and with a new CO2 cartridge, it would be fairly usely for protection.

Purchased CL and then it went on sale for months. They would not make any accomondation to I paid 15% more than friends and Byrna was totally inconsiderate about this poor customer experience.

The company has a no-return policy, plain and simple. Even when an order is cancelled before they give it to a shipping company. QUOTE "While your cancellation request was sent before the carrier scan later that evening, it was received after the order had already entered the outbound shipping process at the warehouse. " and also: QUOTE "customer service does not have the ability to reverse or recall orders once they have left warehouse control," So their customer service team cannot walk into their own warehouse and ask their fellow employees to hold an order? Millions of companies do that very thing every day. I was even told by the shipper that Byrna actually delivered the parcel to the shipper after my SECOND cancellation request. I will be happy to provide a detailed timeline. I even offered to ship it back at my expense.

I'm an NRA certified instructor and a gun salesman,19 years. I received my Byrna CL a couple days ago. It has a 9X5" card with the instructions, (instr), and a smaller card with the all caps, big word “WARNING!” Warnings with firearms usually list the 4 rules of firearm safety, and advise reading all the instr, etc., so I, ignored that card and followed the instr to operate the Byrna. When I get to installing the CO2 canister, the instr are woefully inadequate. The SMALL picture shows a little black square, gun, canister and magazine. It says use the cap tool built into the magazine base. Looking at the base, I see no tool, I’m wondering what the little black square is. Somehow connected to the mag? I finally figure out that the “tool” on the mag is an allen wrench that fits the canister cover. The instr never mention that. I get the cap off and insert the canister, but it doesn’t seem to go in all the way. The instr say to screw the cap back on stopping when there’s resistance, then tightening it 1/4 of a turn. Doing that, the cap is not fully seated. I go over the instr card, front and back, look through the gun case for, a complete instr booklet, but no. I look at the “WARNING!” card and IT has the instr for installing the canister. You must firmly press it in. REALLY BYRNA? Vital instr in a separate place? In chat I find the card is instructions for all models, the “WARNING!” card only comes with the CL. Come on Byrna, can’t you just ONE CARD for all launchers to avoid confusion? The mag loading instr are the same as for any other pistol. Next, it tells you to, “Make sure the breech indicator is down and the breech is empty." Picture for that instruction shows the black top of the gun with small red circle on the top. That spot is a opening with a weird thing in it, there’s no telling if that’s the breech indicator or if it’s up or down. These great instructions don’t tell you ANYTHING about how to check if the breech is empty. Chat to learn that. The “WARNING!” card had a second instr, shoot it 30 times then, “Run one oil canister through the system.” Well, I could NOT find any oil canister. Chat. I find out that the launcher doesn’t come with that, it comes with the purchase of 10 extra canisters. It seems that a VITAL item like that for maintenance would COME WITH launcher! I look in the box of extra canisters and find one that has, in FAINT PRINT “OIL.” It would be VERY easy to use that one when you didn’t mean to! THAT canister should be marked BOLDLY! The instr give NO indication of how long the CO2 canister will last or how to know when to replace it. The instr don’t say once you pull the trigger the first time, the canister will bleed off in a day or so. GREAT! I use it once, and think I’m still good. THAT would turn out to be a BIG problem if in a week or month need to use it again -- well you know what they say, The loudest sound in a gunfight is click! MOST IMPORTANT of all, Byrna should ABSOLUTELY include the 4 fundamental rules of firearm safety. (The do include #3, in small print.) The rules would apply to a Byrna just as much as to any other gun! I got an email asking me to leave a review, and had a link to do so. Clicking that link, does NOT take you to where you can leave a review! It’s just reviews from others. CHAT. I ask about that and get a person who answers my question like this, “...we would love if you could leave us a testimonial on our Trustpilot page. This really HELPS ME OUT PERSONALLY when it comes time for my yearly performance review." [emphasis mine] Doesn't that sound like I’m leaving a review FOR HER? BYRNA! You REALLY NEED to include MUCH better instruction, with better pictures. A wise saying goes, “Don’t say things so people can understand you, say them so they can’t help but understand you.” AND INCLUDE THE FIREARM SAFETY RULES! P.S. I’m the guy who got Sean Hannity to stop using the ridiculous phrase, “Less lethal.” Look, weapons are either lethal or they’re not, there’s no in-between.

I would not recommend this launcher (CL) nor the Pepper Projectiles. The Pepper Projectiles bounce off the target and only break when they hit the ground.

I was impressed with the idea of the Byrna gun but, in practice, it was pretty disappointing. I started carrying it concealed instead of my Sig P365 because I'm 73 years old and I liked the idea of having a "non-lethal" option. However, after carrying it for a few weeks, I noticed that it started "leaking" the pepper spray from the magazine. Every time I picked it up I'd start sneezing and coughing. When I finally took out the magazine it was covered with white powder and, while choking and sneezing, I had to run the whole gun under the faucet to clean the powder out from all the nooks and crannies of the gun. Not cool . . . Plus, when I tried to shoot the "training" ammo, even though I had put a new CO2 cartridge in it a few weeks before, even though I hadn't shot it in the meantime, it was empty of CO2 so I realized that it's really not a reliable method of self defense, after all.

The Bryna company advertises home security and safety. The literature does NOT disclose a serious weakness. The CO2 cylinders are a weak point. I used the Bryna for wild animal control. And fired a few times. When I was surprised by wild animals the Bryna would not discharge. I "discovered" that the CO2 cylinders DO NOT SEAT WELL, and the seal allows the CO2 to leak within (per Bryna 24 to 48 hours). This renders the "technology" worthless for home defense. In order to have a "useable" deterrent for home protection you MUST NOT have a punctured cylinder in the product. When I reported the problem, I received weak excuses including that if one "stores" punctured cylinders in the product you must keep the entire product pressurized. Those of us familiar with CO2 powered products understand that seals protect the integrity of system. BE WARNED OF THIS PRODUCTS DEFECIENCY for the protection of your family. I have been asked to edit the review after reading the Byrna reply. The equivocation and evasion of the ISSUE is obvious to any reader. Rather than blame the user and assume a lack of understanding, it would have been HONEST to address the issue. The Byrna seals are a problem for a successive use on the same cylinder. What Byrna advocates in their lame reply is a procedure calling for disposal of a cylinder after a single shot is fired. EXAMPLKE to aid Byrna in understanding: Assume a "user" fires a shot at preditory animals on Friday night. But Saturday morning the coyotes come back...Per Byrna, the "user" must replace the cylinder after a single shot. Its not a double trigger pull issue. Its a bad seal. The user can double pull to pierce the "new required" cylinder. And solve the seal defect....or Byrna can fix the defect and advertise HONESTLY. Remember I asked about the longevity of the cylinders BEFORE purchase and what I was told was FALSE.

Just an old mans opion. Here is what i sent today to them about what they think is an awsome sale....Wow these prices.... and you cant even give any amo. I like your product but glad other companies are hitting the market. Im sorry i really like your products but cant help that its GREED or you need a better supplier. I think its an insult that you cant even trow in some amo and think its a great deal. THANKS FOR RESPONDING BUT I GUESS YOU DONT GET IT. FOR THIS PRICE OF YOUR "FLASH SALE"YOU CANT EVEN PUT IN SOME AMO...CHEAP OR GREED IN MY OPION. LIKE I SAID I LIKE YOUR PRODUCTS, BUT GLAD OTHERS ARE COMMING INTO THE MARKET...OVER PRICED IN MY OLD MANS OPION. GOOD MARKETING JUST HORRIBLE PRICING ON EVERYTHING. I HOPE YOU FIND A WAY TO GET YOUR PRICES DOWN. I LIKE YOU PRODUCTS BUT NOT YOUR PRICES.