Non-Lethal Weapons for Safety and Defence

Non-lethal weapons can be incredibly useful in long-term self-sufficiency scenarios. During SHTF (or just being off-grid and away from neighbors) can make you stand out like a sore thumb. When you’re out on your own and have no one else to watch your back, you need every advantage you can get. Non-lethal weapons can make the difference between being fully prepared and falling short.

Non-lethal weapons includes more than tasers and bean bag shells, in fact these types of weapons cover everything from detention and restraint items, rubber ammunition, and even practice weapons.

Here’s a quick run down of less than lethal items which can help give you the edge

Restraint items:

• Zip ties
• Handcuffs
• Leg irons
• Paracord
• Heavy-duty plastic bags
• Duct tape
• Heavy-duty fishing line and four heavy-duty hooks

Non-lethal weapons and ammunition:

• Extendable baton
• Leather slapper
• Billy club
• Solid ABS practice sword
• Rubber pellet ammunition
• Smoke Grenade
• Marking rounds
• Foam bullets

Self defense items:

• Pepper/bear spray
• Taser/Stun Gun

These items can come in handy when you need to keep someone restrained, defend yourself without killing your assailant, or you need an advantage that will let you escape the situation. One of my favorites is the ABS swords by Cold Steel, which can easily double as a weapon outside of the training ground. Training in any defensive situation is always crucial, so make sure you practice with all these weapons just like you would with a real gun or knife. Make sure you are comfortable with your chosen items before you trust your safety to them.

Many “less than lethal” items are outlawed in some states, so they are sometimes hard to find locally. If they are avaliable for purchase in your area then there is no better place to buy them than Amazon, or out-of-state gun shows may be your only bet. Make sure you check your local laws before buying. 

Smoke cartridges  have a low usability on their own, but several smoke bombs set off at once can make a difference by drastically cutting down visibility. I believe most of the survival/prepper community would rather avoid conflict than invade a compound so it  may be best to stick with foam projectiles or beanbag rounds. An exception would be homemade smoke bombs which can be made in bulk.

Non-lethal weapons will allow you to provide a first line of defense against intruders and at the same time will signal that you mean business but aren’t necessarily looking for a fight. However, think twice before using non-lethal projectiles…the last thing you want is people knowing where you are and that you are prepared. Nearly everyone may have regular ammo, but only those who are prepared (or lucky) will have non-lethal ammo.

Ammunition Acronyms

Below is a list of common acronyms associated with modern firearm ammunition.

Modern Ammunition Acronyms:

+P          Higher powder charge than normal, 10-15% overpressure

+P+         Significantly higher powder charge than normal, 20-25% overpressure

ACP         Auto Colt Pistol

A-MAX       Polymer tipped long range target bullet - Hornady

AP          Armor Piercing

API         Armor Piercing Incendiary

APT         Armor Piercing Tracer

APTI        Armor Piercing Tracer Incendiary

AT-BT       AccuTip Boat Tail - Remington

BBWC        Bevel Base Wad Cutter

BEB         Brass Enclosed Base

BJHP        Brass Jacketed Hollow Point

BP          Bronze Point

BT          Boat Tail

BTBT        Ballistic Tip BoatTail by Nosler

BTHP        Boat Tail Hollow Point

BTM         Boat Tail Match

BTSP        Boat Tail Soft Point

CB          Cast Bullet

CL          Core-Lokt - Remington

CLU         Core-Lokt Ultra by Remington

CMJ         Complete Metal Jacket

CNL         Conical Nose Lead

CP          Cone Point

EFMJ        Expanding Full Metal Jacket - Federal

EP          Expanding Point

FEB         Fully Encased Bullet

FMC         Full Metal Case

FMJ         Full Metal Jacket

FN          Flat Nose

FNEB        Flat Nose Enclosed Base

FNSP        Flat Nose Soft Point

FP          Flat Point

FS          Partition bullet (lead cores wrapped in steel bands) - Winchester

FST         Fail Safe Talon

GAP         Glock Auto Pistol

GC          Gas Check

GD          Gold Dot - Speer

GDHP        Gold Dot Hollow Point

GS          Golden Saber - Remington

GS          Grand Slam - CCI

HBWC        Hollow Base Wad Cutter

HC          Hard Cast

HE          High Energy

HM          Heavy Magnum

HMR         Hornady Magnum Rimfire

HP          Hollow Point

HPBT        Hollow Point Boat Tail

HPJ         High Performance Jacketed

HPWC        Hollow Point Wad Cutter

HS          Hydra Shok - Federal

HS          Hi Shok - Federal

HS2         Hi Shok 2 - Federal

HSP         Hollow Soft Point

I           Interlock - Hornady

IB          Interbond - Hornady

IRT         Indoor Range Training - Federal

J           Jacketed

JFP         Jacketed Flat Point

JHC         Jacketed Hollow Cavity

JHP         Jacketed Hollow Point

JHPBT       Jacketed Hollow Point Boat Tail

JSP         Jacketed Soft Point

JSPF        Jacketed Soft Point Flat

JSZ         Jacketed Stranded Zinc - Federal

LBT         Lead Bullet Technology

LF          Lead Free

LFN         Long Flat Nose

LFN         Lead Flat Nose

LFP         Lead Flat Point

LGC         Lead Gas Check

LHP         Lead Hollow Point

LM          Light Magnum

LRN         Lead Round Nose

LTC         Lead Truncated Cone

LWC         Lead Wad Cutter

MB          Multi Ball / Shot

MC          Metal Cased

MJ          Metal Jacket

MK-BTHP     MatchKing Boat Tail Hollow Point - Remington

MON         Monolithic Solid

MRWC        Mid-Range Wadcutter

MR-X        Improved Triple-Shock - Barnes

NBT         Nosler Ballistic Tip

NOS         Nosler

NOSBT       Nosler Ballistic Tip

NP          Nosler Partition

P           Plated

PB          Parabellum

PG          Partition Gold - Winchester

PL          Power-Lokt

PP          Power Point

PSP         Pointed Soft Point

PSPCL       Pointed Soft Point Core-Lokt - Remington

RN          Round Nose

RNFP        Round Nose Flat Point

RNL         Round Nosed Lead

RNSP        Round Nose Soft Point

RHT         Reduced Hazard Training - Federal/CCI/Speer

SBBT        Soft Point Boat Tail

SCHP        Solid Copper Hollow Point

SFHP        Starfire Hollow Point - PMC

SHP         Speer Hollow Point

SJ          Semi Jacketed, also Short Jacket - Hornady

SJHP        Semi Jacketed Hollow Point

SJHP        Soft Jacket Hollow Point

SJSP        Soft Jacket Soft Point

SLAP        Saboted Light Armor Penetrating

SOL         Solid

SP          Soft Point

SP          Spire Point

SP          Spotter-Tracer - Military

SPSX        Spire Point Super Explosive - Hornady

SPTZ        Spitzer

SSB         Swift Scirocco Bonded - Remington

SSP         Single-Shot Pistol - Hornady

SST         Super Shock Tip - Hornady

ST          Silver Tip HP - Winchester

STHP        SilverTip Hollow Point - Winchester

Sub         Subsonic

SWC         Semi Wad Cutter

SX          Super Explosive

SXT         Supreme Expansion Technology - Winchester

TAP         Tactical Ammunition Police - Hornady

TB          Trophy Bonded

TBS         Trophy Bonded Solid

TC          Truncated Cone

TCMJ        Truncated Cone Metal Jacket

TCSP        Truncated Cone Soft Point

THP         Tubular Hollow Point

TMJ         Total Metal Jacket

TRI         Triad Group - A Square

TRU         Tactical Rifle Urban - Federal

TS          Triple-Shock - Barnes

UHC         Ultra High Coefficient - Hornady

VLD         Very Low Drag

V-MAX       V-Max Polymer Tip Varmint Hunting Bullet - Hornady

V-MAX       BTV-Max Boat Tail - Hornady

WLN         Wide Long Nose - LBT design

WMR         Winchester Magnum Rimfire

WSM         Winchester Short Magnum

WSSM        Winchester Super Short Magnum

XP3         FS without the steel bands - Winchester

XTP         Extreme Terminal Performance - Hornady