WOEFULLY INADEQUATE INSTRUCTIONS AND SAFETY RULES
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.