I wonder what would happen if you shot someone with a flare gun

[Alpo]

They do it frequently in movies, and whoever they shot generally bursts into flame.

 

But really?

 

In The Breakfast Club, the little nerd got detention because he got an F in shop, and he couldn't get an F, so he brought a gun to school to kill himself. It was a flare gun, and it went off in his locker, and started a fire.

 

So I'm watching that scene over on YouTube, I just started to wonder what would have happened if he had actually tried to do it. Would the little fireball have just bounced off?

 

Some years back they had a bunch of surplus flare pistols at Sportsman's Guide. They were quite large but they also sold adapters you could put in them so that they would work with the Onan boating flare.

 

Some guy I knew back then told me that he and some friends bought some of those and we're having flare wars with them. Running around the woods half drunk, shooting at each other with these flare pistols.

 

I've seen lots of people recommend carrying one of those boating flare pistols if you going to be driving in states that does not allow you to carry a gun in your car. Because these things are not guns so you "can't get arrested".

 

And I've seen many other people say that this was a worthless idea because it wouldn't hurt the bad guy you were shooting.

 

Does anyone have any real world knowledge? Not necessarily shooting other people (I doubt many people have been shot with a flare gun) but shooting anything with a flare gun. Did it do any damage?

[Pat Riot]

On my ship one knucklehead shot another knucklehead with a flare gun and caught knucklehead #2’s Kapok life preserver on fire. I did not see this. I heard about it. I do not believe there was any injury from the flare impact. Just a melted and burned life jacket. Apparently the flare hit and the flare “rocket motor”, if that’s what it is, kept the flare in place against knucklehead #2 for a couple of seconds. Long enough to burn the life vest. 
 

I fired a couple of flares into the sky but never AT anything. That would be stupid. 
 

I did see a parachute flare land on a house and me and some friends helped keep a family’s house from burning down in Vincennes Indiana back in 1979. That happened because of a moron with a flare gun. 

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

 well, ...... he certainly showed some flair .......   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

The online consensus is Yes, No, and Maybe.  Some who contrived to prove the question found the flare to bounce off everything, some found it could go through a hollow core door.  All agreed that they have the accuracy of a thrown sheet of paper.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I have heard of an accident on a boat from a friend of mine. The boat owner  accidentally shot off the flare gun and hit a person on the boat in the arm. She had burns and I'm not sure how bad but she needed some medical attention. I would imagine up close and in the face could cause some very serious burns.

Just MHO

[Horace Patootie, SASS #35798]

If you remember the Roman Candles we used to buy at fireworks stands;  my uncle, when he was a little tyke was holding one in reverse and it shot up his coat sleeve before he ditched it. My Mom told me that story.

Horace

[Utah Bob #35998]

Depends on the type of gun and flare. 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

This is a brilliantly enlightening subject and just shows how many of us are in the dark about some things.  It sure did brighten up my morning, though.

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

55 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

This is a brilliantly enlightening subject and just shows how many of us are in the dark about some things.  It sure did brighten up my morning, though.

 

 ................... sorta flared up, .... didn't it .....

 

 

[Seamus McGillicuddy]

The character Muller in All Quiet on the Western Front dues a painful death from being shot in the stomach by a flare pistol. Given that the author was a combat veteran of WWI there could be some credence to it. Like Bob said, can depend on the gun and the flare type.
 

Seamus 

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Depends on whether the person drank gasoline for lunch instead of lemon aide.

[Michigan Slim]

Some will get it, some will not. 

[watab kid]

nuthin good - if your gonna shoot em use something that will kill them outright , just sayin , oh , and aim straight and hit small 

[Capt. James H. Callahan]

I expect it would at least p!$$ them off.

JHC

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

From the film "Dead Calm," based on the book of the same name: