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Okay folks, we’ve been having discussion on Badasses, Ghurkas, Hmong and Massai tribesmen, someone even wants to write a book on the subject (great, lemme sign up for my copy now) anyhow, I thought I’d start something on badass weapons, not Vulcan mini guns with a high cyclic rate or smart bombs guided by satilites but the old fashioned hand weapons went men were men and fought facing each other at arms length.
Some of my favorites are:
Good ol texas style D Guard bowie knife.
Cross bow, some very primitive still in use by tribes in SE Asia, montagyards used them so do the Khmers
Thai Foot bow, fired with the feet, about 200 lb pull, meant to kill an elephant back in the days when they fought the Burmese (forgive me Col KKW)
Tomahawk or small hand axe, I understand special forces uses a high tech verson for close hand to hand.Okay lets hear from a few others and I’ll add some more exotics ones nex time.
Spamhog
.The blowgun….Must be scary as hell to pick a dart out of your skin looking at the thing that basically just killed you.
The atlatl….used to extent the throwing rang of a small spear, but the first group of people to use these against people who were not equiped with atlatls must have done a pretty good job killing their opponents being able to fight them well out of rang of their weapons.
The sling..Probably the first weapon in which rebelious farmers actually had a chance against bronze armored troops..when they used lead bullets. The David Vs. Goliath story was truth in many ways.
The Byzantine flamethrowers of that one battle against the Arabs in 700ish AD..they mixed pine sap, crude oil and someother chemicals and pumped the liquid through a bellows so their Triremes spit fire.
I’m going to talk to my friend about “Badasses in a Nutshell” tommorrow…so we’ll see about advanced orders.
Speaking of books, Spamhog….
The Kukri knife the Ghurkas use.
I like the blowgun and we had a guy who had one in the unit and we used to shoot Panamanians who were digging for rations in the dumpster with it. That and BBguns. Get a case of beer, throw some rations in the dumpster and let the arcade fun begin!
The best part is that it was on a soccer field, so there was nowhere for them to run! :evil:
Funny you mentioned that cause I thought about it last night.
My first BN CSM had 4 confirmed kills with one in Vietnam and the US models (cheap and not durable anymore) have a serated edge. After we learned the story, as cherry privates will do, we would file the edges down and fantasize about using them on evil doers.
The naivitee and confidence of youth!
How come I am thinkin of Mach all of a sudden? LOL
Another funny note, our BN Commander at the time was LTC John Wayne Raines from “Ranger, Texas.”
The most badass weapon? Just about anything with a well led, disciplined, trained soldier who is comitted to using it.
“It’s not the rifle, it’s the man behind it!””
I have an original Kukri, but would be a little leary using it in a knife fight or hand to hand. Thing feels more like a sword, so I think Ill stick to my razor sharp Tanto, which feels alot more comforatable.
Knife fights are scary though. The thought of being disarmed and stabbed by my own knife has always made me nervous about knives.
I dont think wrist rockets were mentioned yet. In the hands of a good shot with steel ball bearings these things have the velocity of a 22cal ball. and are silent. Alot of fun to shoot also, but dont think they would ever really be considered a real weapon by some.
What kinda gun did Sgt. York use? You may know, but I don’t…but everyone knows that Sgt. York was a badass (from hunting squirrels too) but I think his weapon was left out of the history books because he probably could have fared ust as well with a decent hunting rifle.
Too bad they named that shitty , expensive , machine gun type thing after him.
As for knife fighting. A good friend of mine trains people in “practical” knife fighting. The fist thing they learn is how quickly a small cut can incapacitate you, then they go on to how difficult serrated knife wounds are to repair if they have hit your stomach or liver. Then they learn how to run away from someone with a knife. Then they learn how to use household objects to deflect knives (leather sofa cushions are the best…saved my ass when an autistic guy attacked me) since most knife deaths occur in the house. Finally they move on to a martial arts type knife based combat with rubber knives that had some type of dye on it. Most of the time during the fight people would check and found they cut themselves with their own knives (by the color dye) more often than their opponent hit them. The students who “won” were the ones who remembered earlier training and found an exit and ran.
My knife of choice is a retractable box cutter. I have it in my “briefcase” (an ugly Lowe Apine shoulder bag) and its only purpose is to get someone who has trapped me in a subway seat from not trapping me anymore. A quick swipe accross the forehead and then run like hell, Probably couldn’t follow me while bleeding alot and blood running into his eyes.
Interesting choices gentelemen, a blow gun eh? Speaking of shooting things I recall popping rats with a .22 while a mid night shift commander in SE D.C., lots of guys used to do it, plenty of targets, also we used to award the “rat cross”for the high monthly total, cardboard cut out of a dead rat upside down with X on the eyes.
A few more Badass weapons etc, Locally, an “indian pana” is popular a homemade weapon quite deadly at close range, a stick with a tube of rubber attached (sometimes and old innner tube) the end has a small wire hook, missles are small darts made from nails and feathered at the end as a sort of mini arrow. will penetrate inch plywood.
Knives and swords abound, Mindanao has over fifty different styles of blades for different utility, chopping coconuts to scaling fish to headhunting. The Kris is the most well known, its “wavy” blade represents the slithering cobra, tapers to a needle sharp point, Another is like a roman short sword, fight with a pair in the style of Eskrima or Arnis (filipino stick fighting)
Spamhog
That was funny Spamhog!
Heres a couple I like:
A .22 revolver with suppressor (hush puppy) with soft lead holllow points.
Remmington 700 in 300 Win Mag or Winchester Model 70
When it comes down to it, I really like them all if I don’t have to pay for them.
But, keep this thought in mind for whatever its worth:
The most Badass Weapon is the Mind. Being clever/motivated is more dangerous than what a weapon gives you.
THIS IS MY RIFLE. There are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My rifle, without me is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than any enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will….
My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit…
My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weakness, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will…
Before God I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is America’s and there is no enemy, but Peace.
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