i read all the precautions before using the bolt gun and i understand the need for the precautions being laid out, but actually using it was straight forward. one thing i'd point out is that the young buck goat (a wether) kept moving his head away from the touch of the bolt gun tip on his head. i couldn't hold his head steady while placing the gun on his head. i figured out though if i placed the gun repeatedly on his head, eventually he seemed to get used to the touch of it and held steady for long enough for me to pull the trigger.

Awsome product awsome price

I'm writing this review to hopefully help someone that was in my position before I bought this. I recently began raising organic grassfed goats for personal consumption. I have never shot or slaughtered an animal before, other than fishing. My goats are kept in a very suburban setting, so firing a gun is not possible and I've never done that either. And because mine is a very small operation, I really don't have $1000 plus for one of the other brands, especially for only four goats a year.

Well, after almost two years of preparation, yesterday I slaughtered my first two goat kids. It went just as expected. This thing is easy to use and quiet. I have read every scrap of paper that came with this thing (btw, the users manual that comes with it is in German, but the English pdfs are on this site. There is a bit of a problem trying to match the German diagram with the English translation, but I figured it out. )

Anyway, if you read all the stuff it seems pretty intimidating, but there really is only like six pieces to this thing. It's very simple to use and take apart and clean. But do read all the safety stuff, it's a very dangerous tool if you aren't careful. I bought the red cartridges because I heard that goats have harder skulls than other animals like sheep. They worked fine.

One other point. people online say that goats have to be stunned In a different part of the skull than sheep because their skulls are harder. I asked the rep about this. It took him a little time to get back to me, but he was able to locate a university published article that explains where to place this thing on the skull of the goat to get the same results. That's the way I did it and it worked very well for me. I am very appreciative of his help. Good luck.

Also, if you don't care about having a custom case, just buy the unit alone and get the cleaner separately from this site. The unit alone does come with the barrel brushes and all I saved about $80 this way.

i read all the precautions before using the bolt gun and i understand the need for the precautions being laid out, but actually using it was straight forward. one thing i'd point out is that the young buck goat (a wether) kept moving his head away from the touch of the bolt gun tip on his head. i couldn't hold his head steady while placing the gun on his head. i figured out though if i placed the gun repeatedly on his head, eventually he seemed to get used to the touch of it and held steady for long enough for me to pull the trigger.

Awsome product awsome price

I'm writing this review to hopefully help someone that was in my position before I bought this. I recently began raising organic grassfed goats for personal consumption. I have never shot or slaughtered an animal before, other than fishing. My goats are kept in a very suburban setting, so firing a gun is not possible and I've never done that either. And because mine is a very small operation, I really don't have $1000 plus for one of the other brands, especially for only four goats a year.

Well, after almost two years of preparation, yesterday I slaughtered my first two goat kids. It went just as expected. This thing is easy to use and quiet. I have read every scrap of paper that came with this thing (btw, the users manual that comes with it is in German, but the English pdfs are on this site. There is a bit of a problem trying to match the German diagram with the English translation, but I figured it out. )

Anyway, if you read all the stuff it seems pretty intimidating, but there really is only like six pieces to this thing. It's very simple to use and take apart and clean. But do read all the safety stuff, it's a very dangerous tool if you aren't careful. I bought the red cartridges because I heard that goats have harder skulls than other animals like sheep. They worked fine.

One other point. people online say that goats have to be stunned In a different part of the skull than sheep because their skulls are harder. I asked the rep about this. It took him a little time to get back to me, but he was able to locate a university published article that explains where to place this thing on the skull of the goat to get the same results. That's the way I did it and it worked very well for me. I am very appreciative of his help. Good luck.

Also, if you don't care about having a custom case, just buy the unit alone and get the cleaner separately from this site. The unit alone does come with the barrel brushes and all I saved about $80 this way.