Bug-A-Salt 2.0 Review: Salt-Shooting Bug Gun

Bug-A-Salt 2.0 is a gun that fires a pinch of table salt which will neutralize house flies. Does it really work? Here is my Bug-A-Salt 2.0 review.

About Bug-A-Salt 2.0

Bug-A-Salt 2.0 is a plastic rifle that can eradicate house flies with a blast of standard table salt. The official product website is bugasalt.com, which was registered in November 2009. The screenshot below shows how the product website looked in February 2018.

Claims & Features

• Kills flies without splattering them (easy to clean up)
• Operates on standard table salt (no toxic chemicals or pesticides)
• Does not require batteries
• Nonslip hand grip
• Holds 80 shots of salt
• Built-in pop-up sight indicator
• An effective range of 3 feet

Cost

Bug-A-Salt 2.0 can be purchased from the product website for $39.95 with free economy shipping. It can also be ordered online from Amazon for $41.95 and free shipping. In addition, it can be found in stores such as Walmart, Frys, and Kmart for $40 to $45.

Bug-A-Salt 2.0 Review

I had never heard of Bug-A-Salt until perusing an As Seen on TV aisle at a local Fry’s, when I stumbled up this strange yellow gun. The idea is quite clever: A “gun” that you load with salt in order to shoot bugs, especially flies. Although I first picked this up months ago, bug season has only recently begun here in Las Vegas to the point that I could give this a good test.

To use Bug-A-Salt, you simply open the cap on the top and pour in standard table salt. The cap is clear so that you can see how much salt is left in the chamber. The packaging states that the cap holds enough for about 80 shots, but it seems like I’ve gotten more shots out of a full load of salt. Next, you’ll pull back the hammer, which takes a little more force than I expected, and then release the safety, and then you’re ready to fire. It’s not uncommon to pull the trigger and have nothing happen because the pump handle was not pushed all the way forward.

When you pull the trigger, there is a rather loud sound of air being pushed through the barrel. I have rarely noticed salt coming out of the barrel, as it feels more like I’m shooting a puff of air. I have shot (or attempted to shoot) a wide variety of insects found here in the desert. Even though the box states that the range is about 3 feet, it has been my experience that the closer you get, the more likely you are to make a “kill shot.”

The advertising for Bug-A-Salt focuses on flies, and I’ve found that this does work pretty well on them, although I’d say it’s about a 50% kill rate, with the other half flying off injured. I have shot a few roaches, and they scurried off, as it seems that their exoskeletons may be too much for the salt to penetrate. I did shoot a dying roach that was on its back, and the Bug-A-Salt actually split the roach into two pieces! Crane flies, which we get a lot here in Vegas, seemed to be the easiest to kill with Bug-A-Salt. Moths also seemed to be easy prey, as did spiders – including black widows. I tried shooting a scorpion, and it just ran off.

In the end, I certainly wouldn’t think of Bug-A-Salt as a comprehensive pest control method. When a pest does enter your home, it is a pretty mess-free – and dare I say fun – way to get rid of them (most of the time). My daughter is an “insectophobe” and now reaches for this whenever she finds a creepy crawlie near her room. I would probably give it a 7.5 out of 10 for the fun factor, but my daughter would give it closer to a 10. I will say that when I see a pest in the house, rather than seeing it as a nuisance, I see it as a game of “Let’s see if I can shoot this thing.”

Look for my video of Bug-A-Salt coming in the next couple months.

Alternatives

There are other fun ways to get rid of pests, such as the classic Zap It! Bug Zapper shaped like a tennis racket, or this Mosquito/Fly gun that shoots a spinning disc.

Television Commercial

Your Bug-A-Salt 2.0 Reviews

Have you used Bug-A-Salt 2.0 or something like it? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below.