The bean bag round consists of a small fabric “pillow” filled with #9 lead shot weighing about 40 grams (1.4 oz). It is fired from a normal 12-gauge shotgun. When fired, the bag is expelled at around 70 to 90 metres per second (230 to 300 ft/s); it spreads out in flight and distributes its impact over about 6 square centimetres (1 sq in) of the target. It is designed to deliver a blow that will cause minimum long-term trauma and no penetration but will result in a muscle spasm or other reaction to briefly render a violent suspect immobile. It still can cause serious injury and death. The shotgun round is inaccurate over about 6 metres (20 ft) and has a maximum range of around 20 metres (70 ft). Changes to the bean bag round since its inception in the early 1970s have included a velocity reduction from 120 to 90 meters per second (400 to 300 ft/s) as well as a shift from a square shape to a more rounded sock-shaped projectile.

Shotguns dedicated to being used for bean bag rounds are often visibly modified with either yellow or green markings, or bright orange stocks and stops, to reduce the possibility that a user might inadvertently load lethal munitions into the weapon.

Protesters struck by beanbag munitions in demonstrations after the killing of George Floyd suffered serious injuries — evidence that may support halting law enforcement use of beanbags for crowd control, researchers said.

Seven people hit by beanbag rounds during a two-day protest in Austin, Texas, underwent surgery for their injuries and four suffered intracranial hemorrhages, according to clinicians who treated them.

Another 12 received other injuries, reported Kristofor Olson, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Texas in Austin in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicineopens in a new tab or window: they included one woman whose chest was penetrated; she required surgery to have the beanbag removed. A second woman’s elbow was blown open with bits of the beanbag lodged in the wound.