BUG-A-SALT Orange Crush 3.0, Spring Piston

This is my first Bug a Salt. I bought it in May 2020 because I'm an adult with adult money and thought this was silly gimicky salt shooter that might kill a few flies. Also my wife hates flies and I could score some husband points by getting a gift that is potentially practical. And boy was it!This thing is so much fun and has killed hundreds of enemy flies in my home and garage! My wife loves it, our guests love it, and my nephew loves it so I get cool uncle points!Sadly, after 3 years of stacking fly carcases and salting bugs into oblivion, a tiny piece on the trigger mechanism broke and it no long pumps correctly :( . But I mourned for only so long before I bought a replacement shooter to continue the good fight!And upon reaching out to the support team that responded very quickly, I learned they have a 1 year warranty on the fly killing weapon of awesomeness, and 2 year warranty if you decide you want extra protection! My warranty is 2 years past as it's now May 2023, but how cool is that!? This bad mamojama lasted 3 years killing everything from flies, mosquitos, spiders (although they are heavy hitters) and a bunch of other flying things I'm not interested in learning the names of!My 2nd shooter I'm sure will last just as long and I look forward to the continued war between my clean kitchen and the fly menace!Also, I tried the "other guy's" brand to try and save a couple bucks and was SORELY disappointed. I returned it because if felt like junk, had some weird safety "features" and I didn't need 2 barrels to try and one up anyone. Spend money on the good stuff, dont buy crap.

Got flies? Hate swatting them and making a mess? Then you need a Bug-A-Salt. I have to honestly say that I WAS NOT reluctant to buy this because of the price. Is it relatively expensive? Yes it is...if you only think of it as a fly killing toy. When I first saw this on the Bug-A-Salt website, I immediately knew it would be effective (the videos do a great job of showing it in action). When I received it, I was even more impressed because the materials and construction are much better than I expected. I guess I expected something built like a Nerf dart gun. However, the Bug-A-Salt's plastic feels much sturdier (thicker) and the construction feels much more solid (no flex). This thing is an engineered tool of destruction...to the fly population. That initial sticker shock? It didn't seem so bad now. Loading the ammo (unjacketed, several thousand grain Morton's iodized salt) further demonstrated the high-quality build. The lid for the salt compartment felt very precise in its operation and closed so securely that I knew it wouldn't leak. Sticker shock decreasing even more. When it came time to deploy to the battlefield, I felt like the flies didn't stand a chance and that was the case. Say hello to my little friend. Cocking the rifle does require a good amount of strength, which feels less like a Nerf dart gun and more like an air rifle, which further reinforces that this is not a toy. The safety works great so you don't have to worry about any misfires (I don't recommend storing it cocked-and-locked though). The trigger action could be a little smoother and refined. You expect the trigger to pull straight back (because it looks like a single-action 1911 trigger) but it actually pivots like a traditional trigger which causes an ever-so-slight pinching of the finger. Be prepared for a very strong release of the ammo when the trigger clicks. It happens so quickly that the fly you were targeting disappears so suddenly. That's the only real drawback of the Bug-A-Salt...now I have to go looking for the victim. It will travel a good distance if you're shooting against an open range. This is truly effective and I only have to say is, "why didn't I know about this sooner?" Oh yeah, that sticker shock? Gone.

This thing makes fly eradication a fun task. It's essentially a mini pump-action salt shotgun that shoots a little burst of salt. It's best in the 2-4 ft range, as the spread is pretty wide you're unlikely to reliably kill a fly much farther than that. The hopper holds plenty of salt, probably about 100 shots. A good hit will either stun or kill a fly and usually not splatter them, so it's less messy on the surface than a regular fly swatter. The amount of salt is pretty small and doesn't make too much of a mess. I like to follow up with my Dyson trigger vacuum to vacuum up the corpses and salt. I have been using Morton coarse kosher salt with good results and no clogging issues, I think the larger grains provide a bit more stopping power.Even though they claim to have lightened the trigger from previous versions, it's still pretty heavy for me. Being an engineer, I decided to tear the thing apart to see if I could remedy that.Here are the steps to lighten the trigger (note: may void your warranty, although there aren't any tamper seals to prove you opened it up):Remove the 2 Philips screws on the pump handle and remove the two halves of the handle. Keep track of the screws and pin.Remove the 11 Phillips screws on the body; they can actually be left in the top part and not fully removed.Separate the body halves. On mine, the connection between the barrel halves didn't want to come apart and I was able to work without fully separating it.The are 2 springs that are connected to the trigger, the longer one right behind the trigger and the smaller one near the top. I found that I could completely remove the trigger spring for a trigger pull of about 40-50% of stock, which makes a huge difference. If you really wanted a hair trigger, you could probably trim down the top spring as well. Save the removed spring in case you want to revert back or need warranty service.Assembly is reverse of disassembly. Make sure that all of the springs are still engaged, as the rear sight spring come out on mine. Also make sure the front sight is in place, as that sits loose.

Net: the gun works, is fun, and is well made. Ordered orange. Got yellow without a front sight. Returned for another orange. Got yellow again and decided to live with it.