As Memorial Day weekend approached, I thought I’d pick up a new B-B-Q gun. Not wanting another Colt Python or Smith & Wesson wheel gun, I wanted unique. I wanted an assault rifle. Something not in my current inventory. Perusing the inventory of my local Cabela’s, I found it.

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Finally! Something that uses readily acquired components to fire. Something I could use to kill pests during any season!

The Bug-A-Salt 2.0 is a mini pump action shotgun. (Although by definition, it is illegal to use within my city limits. YMMV) After wrangling my a-salt rifle out of its packaging, I read through the instruction manual and loaded it up with a table spoon of salt.

Bug A-Salt 2 also has a side viewing port to check on available ammo supply.

Taking a few practice shots, I was able to gauge the shot pattern. The spread isn’t bad. It opens up about an inch for every foot of travel. Shot density is pretty good at 3 to 4 feet. Enough to kill those annoying flies that can plague an outdoor feast.

For seasoning something on the grill, I’d suggest standing back about 4 feet. That gives you about a “minute of burger” grouping. Adjust accordingly if you have high blood pressure. And don’t worry much about what’s beyond your target on the grill, it goes up in flames.

The sights are really of no help. But what the heck, this is a spray and pray type of weapon. Just aim in the general direction of your airborne target and pull the trigger.

Which brings me to an annoying point; every time you pull the trigger, it reactivates the safety. You must disengage the safety for every shot. Even being the safety Nazi on the range that I am, that’s more than a bit annoying for a salt gun.

Still, even with the crude sights, I managed two confirmed kills.

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Ratings (out of five stars):

Accuracy: * * * * *
It’s a shot gun.

Ergonomics: * * * *
The grip angle seems a bit off for me. But it points pretty well

Reliability: * * * *
Haven’t had any malfunctions. The automatic safety thing is pretty annoying.

Customization: * *
WTF? No rails. Anywhere. How can I mount a light for night-shooting mosquitos?

Overall: * * *
At an MSRP of $49.99, it’s a bit expensive for a range toy. But it sure comes in handy now that sunny days are here again and I’m using my pellet grill more than a few times a week. Bonus; I get to practice my wing shooting at the same time!

 

 

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62 COMMENTS

    • did enjoy a quick laugh.. have been thinking of adding to my gun collection….may be the least expensive addition!

  6. Wouldn’t this kill your lawn? I guess it wouldn’t be a problem for a beach BBQ though.

    • “Wouldn’t this kill your lawn?”

      Right after the Fukushima earthquake-tsunami event, I asked someone I used to work with in the agricultural fertilizer biz if the coastal Japanese farmland would be ruined by the tsunami seawater flood. The word I got back after he asked around was that for the first year, yes, the soil will be too salty. Within 2 years the soil would be better than ever, thanks to all the seafloor organics from the floodwater fortifying the soil. During the 2 years, rainwater would flush out the salt.

      As for your yard, a spritz of salt from that thing will have negligible impact…

  8. I saw the Bug-A-Salt on display at Bass Pro in Patriot Place, Foxboro MA last week — in the same area of the store that sells guns and ammo. Oddly enough, I could buy the “gun” there, but not the ammo for it.

    And shouldn’t it be called the Salt-A-Bug?

    • In Massachusetts:

      1. Does it require an FID, or LTC…?
      2. Or is it classified as an air gun/ air soft ?
      3. Is it in the MA. Esop roster…?
      4. If its legal in Massachusetts ,(and everything is illegal in Massachusetts..Expect illegals…), can it be used within 500 ft of a dwelling ?
      5. Can it be displayed for use without local police confiscating it…?
      6. Will it have to be placed and secured in a gun safe…Or any Gun safe approved by the Colonel of the Massachusetts state police?
      7. Will it require a “hunter safety course, and hunting license”?
      8. Are users subject to The whims of Massachusetts Environmental Police ? ( Whoever, or Whatever they do? Hiding behind brushes I guess…Cause Massachusetts ain’t free !!!)

        • So the salt coming out the barrel isn’t a projectile? Have you ever heard of rock salt shotgun ammo? What is your definition of a projectile? I think you may need a hunters safety class if you don’t know what a projectile is.

  10. My neighbor has one. This is the perfect compliment to a burger and a (beer of your choice). Ton of fun especially when peppering (haha) each other’s legs. Great for late night competitions of who can bag the largest target.

    One problem: my Aimpoint PRO does NOT fit on it.

    • “One problem: my Aimpoint PRO does NOT fit on it.”

      Easily solved.

      Third pic down from the top, there is a flat black surface on it behind the salt reservoir.

      Hot-melt glue a short piece of Picatinny rail on it.

      We’ll be expecting pics of the result here in TTAG from you or Tom…

      • Unfortunately I won’t be hot gluing my neighbors salter. On the other hand, I now need to take a trip to bass pro this weekend, silver linings.

    • Actually probably illegal in Illinois since it holds more than ten grains of salt in a cartridge.

  13. Massachusetts GOAL probably sending another letter to AG. Marua Healey…..

  14. Cool toy

    They sell a spring toy pistol that shots a 2 inch circular fly swatter in hardware and toy shops in Australia. A bigger version of suction cap darts. Good to about 6 to 8 feet with practice.

    Not sure if your pellet size would be big enough for the mosquitoes we are getting in Edmonton area at the moment. Bigger than what we get at home in Australia.

    • As the year goes on, they’ll get bigger. A bit further north, come late July and they get positively prehistoric. And then comes the blackfly.

  16. I disengaged the safety by drilling a screw there. Worth it give it a try. Now to figure out a stock 😉

    • Ooooo. Wasps?
      Late August those pesky meat eating yellow jackets get real mean. This will either be fun or painful.

      • Is a coarse sea-salt usable as ammo?

        The next model should fire salt tabs as a salt slug gun.

        “This will either be fun or painful.”

        Why not both? 😉

  18. I have 3. The nephew wants one. I despise my Sister-in-law… I do like their cats and dog, though. Decisions, decisions…

  21. I’ve had one for years and they are loads of fun. And not sure what’s up with your aim but my sights work great. I can drop spiders or bugs from 6 to 7 feet. Great for:
    Spiders
    Flies
    Wasps
    Bees
    And every other flying our crawling household nuisance minus the children.

  22. My question is how long before you move on from shooting stationary flies to calling for a “pull!”

  23. My thumb gets pretty sore by the time I have to reload.
    Fun sitting out on the patio whacking flies.

  24. I don’t get why they chambered it idoized salt! Such an outdated and weak caliber. Only non operating fan bois use salt as against bugs. Get with the times, need to chamber this in cayenne pepper! Now Theres real mans caliber for the 21st century.

  28. How about ticks? Once you pull those suckers out if you drop them before pinching them between two solid/sharp surfaces they’re almost impossible to squish. Would a close range point-blank shot from this do them in?

  30. I identified only one piece of beef in that pic. The rest of those white blobs appear to be SoylentoVerde® brand Venezuelan Tofu

    • Negative A-Aargh15,
      Those are some of the finest tuna steaks caught off the Oregon coast.
      Cooked for three minutes per side after marinating in a balmasmic vinigarette for a day.

      • Tuna? Well….alright then. Did you catch it yourself or buy it at some damn Veejun fish market in Oregon, run by longhaired filthy Resistance hippies? It matters.

        I’m a Gulf Coast boy. I’ll choke down yellerfin if I has to, but gimme a no bag limit no size limit Blackfin Tuna any day. Num num num…..
        P.s. do y’all deepdrop for Golden Tilefish in your redneck of the woods? That’s Poor man’s Lobster right there, brother.

  31. I’ve also heard these come without serial numbers. Tailgaters sold me mine outside a gun show.

  32. A few years ago we flies appearing in the house so fast that I was convinced some malevolent criminal mastermind from the future was transporting them into the house to drive us mad. The Bug-A-Salt had just recently come out so I ordered one. It was a massacre.

    Flies were dropping, well, like flies. It was a literal blast killing those pests. So much so that it didn’t take long before everyone in the house wanted to take over and go all SOCOM on those suckers. Even the kids, who normally can’t be pried away from electronics, begged to take over “bug duty”. We killed countless flies those first few days and then it just stopped. Not the gun, it still works perfectly, I mean the flies. It got to the point that you could search the house all day and never come across one. I can only assume that the nefarious madman who transported the flies into the house realized he was no match for the bright yellow bug dispatching super gun.

    Seriously though, since we got the thing and launched our initial attack we haven’t had to deal with maybe 5 flies in the following years combined. It’s probably just some strange coincidence but it seems to keep flies at bay as well as it does killing them (which it does very, very, very, very well). Once you learn what shooting distance is optimal killing flies becomes so easy you almost feel bad for the flies. Works great for spiders in hard to reach areas as well as other non-armor plated bugs.

    A word of warning though….while you may occasionally stun a wasp/hornet with a salt blast it will almost never incapacitate them. They will recover quickly and come back at you with a vengeance. Like Icarus I ignored common sense and flew too close to the sun. The result was a gimped up woman running through the yard with a cane in one hand, a Bug-A-Salt in the other screaming “OOOOHHHH SH*********TTTTT!!!!!!! as she made a dash for the back door. Almost got me too, a couple of them hit the glass window in the door as I slammed it behind me LOL. Yeah…don’t do that, it’s just not powerful enough to kill wasps and hornets.

    When the mom parental unit came to visit she fell in love with the Bug-A-Salt and was already dreaming of all the flies she could kill back home but unfortunately the slide is very difficult to pull back (I haven’t tried it on a Gen 2) and she couldn’t pull it so she’s stuck with icky fly swatters.

    I saw the ones at Cabelas on Memorial Day, they had a pink one that I would LOVE to have but the price was marked up to $52 and change for it and that wasn’t happening. I’ll be sticking with my Gen 1 but it still works great. So good in fact that flies won’t even come near our house anymore. Terrible problem to have and well worth the $40+ I paid for it those years ago. BUY ONE!!! It’s a fair chunk of change for a fly killer but it’s sooooooo worth it lol.

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