One of the last booths I visited at the Industry Day at the Range was the Piexon booth, exhibiting their new JPX4 OC Projector. The “JP” stands for Jet Projector, and refers to the manner the OC spray is dispersed using the less lethal device. Using self-contained 14mm aluminum canisters that are loaded into the four tubes on the JPX4, the OC will not disperse until the trigger of the JPX4 is pulled to activate the release mechanism. The canisters look like miniature oxygen tanks from a hospital, and remain inside the JPX4 until the officer manually removes them at the end of a shift or after use.
The JPX4 features include:
- Delivery System: (4) 14mm OC canisters
- Effective Range: 5-23 feet
- Speed of mixture: 320 ft/sec at the barrel
- OC Mixture: 0.35 oz. at 400,000 SHU solution per cartridge
- Trigger: DAO
- Firing Sequence: Continual rotation through the 4 barrels
- Action: Break-open
- Sights: Standard non-illuminated dual rear post, and single front post
- Optional Sights: Integrated laser
- Length – 7.60 inches
- Height – 5.67 inches
- Width – 1.57 inches
- Weight – 14.46 oz. (empty), 20.46 oz. (fully loaded)
- MSRP – Full Size ($450); Compact ($399.95); 2-shot version ($320).
- Canisters – 4-set pack OC ($45); 4-set pack inert ($35).
In addition to the full size JPX4, there is a compact version that does not have the integrated laser, and a 2-barrel option as well. The 2-barrel version has two long silver release levers on either side of the frame. The officer places their support hand over the barrels and pushes the levers down. Once the breach lock is released, the barrel assembly will slide forward and off. Reassembly is not difficult, but lining up the tracks could be somewhat challenging in a tense situation.
The premise of the JPX4 is to provide a longer range, less lethal, OC spray delivery system. Common hand-held units are generally only dependable to about 10 feet or less. Some fogger style delivery systems may provide a slightly longer distance, but hand-held OC spray cans have always been seen as an “up close and personal” type of defensive and control device. The JPX4 seeks to double that range.
The four barrels have vented ports on the sides that allow an officer or user to view the sides of the cartridge to confirm loaded status, and whether live OC or inert canisters are inside. The JPX4 has a breech-loading, break open action. To open the breach the officer places their off-hand over the top barrels while gripping the two slide levers on either side of the barrels. By pulling those levers forward the breach lock is released allowing the barrels to slide partially forward and then tilt upward.
The JPX4 may look like a large 4-barrelled Derringer with some modern twists, however, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) issued a ruling dated October 15, 2014 that clearly states that the JPX4 “does not constitute a firearm”. BATFE also stated the 14mm Piexon OC cartridges “do not constitute ‘ammunition’ as defined by the GCA”. That may not be as important to law enforcement agencies, but what it does mean is that officers may confront citizens on calls that have used the JPX4 or are armed with it in an offensive manner.
I’m not a big fan of OC spray in the first place, because it tends to get on everyone, linger in the air and effect good guys as well as bad guys, and generally has greater clean up. However, that judgment is based mostly on the hand-held canisters and their limited range of usefulness.
The JPX4 offers a greater distance deployment opportunity that may help alleviate most of the cross-contamination problems in the initial stages of controlling a resistive subject. Going hands on for handcuffing may still subject officers to chemical agent exposure, but that is likely to be much less than the close quarters hand cans.
The Taser has been successfully used by law enforcement over the last decade, and it has become many officers go-to intermediate control technique, the Taser does have some downfalls:
- Persons with heavy clothing, like much of the country during winter months, are much less likely to have full effect due to the padding
- Persons with mental illness, or alcohol/drug usage, are also less likely to be effected
- Greater distances provide more opportunities for a lead to miss, and very short distances do not get the full lock down effect as the prongs hit too closely together.
Finally, in some situations (large crowds, riots, protests, etc.), being tethered to a single individual after a use of force, is not the most advantageous or tactically sound decision an officer can make. In those situations having a medium range OC dispersion device could be very beneficial in the law enforcement tool bag. I’m not advocating that every officer should have a JPX4, but in the right circumstances a trained officer using the JPX4 could have very good results.
What do you think of the Piexon JPX4 and its implications for law enforcement and self-defense use?