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Return to “Let's talk about knives”
- Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:59 pm
- Forum: General Gun, Shooting & Equipment Discussion
- Topic: Let's talk about knives
- Replies: 103
- Views: 20442
Re: Let's talk about knives
Excellent info, Skiprr. Thanks.
- Mon Aug 19, 2013 11:09 am
- Forum: General Gun, Shooting & Equipment Discussion
- Topic: Let's talk about knives
- Replies: 103
- Views: 20442
Re: Let's talk about knives
This is interesting info. For a newbie with no blade experience, what kind of blade is best for SD? A fixed blade? Also, how would it be easier or faster to draw a blade for SD in a close-encounter (less than 21 ft) than it would be a handgun? Or I'm guessing a self-defense class and practice would help with that? Are there any SD classes that focus on using a knife? Most of the ones I see advertised are handgun SD classes, but maybe I'm looking in the wrong place?Skiprr wrote:A few points; my personal opinion only.
First, carrying a blade for self-defense requires training, just like carrying a firearm. If you aren’t practiced in using it, you won’t be able to deploy it effectively. Better to have it than not, but your performance under extreme stress will be no better than your training and practice. No different than with your handgun.
Second, folks who decry a blade as unnecessary because they carry a gun might want to rethink that. Inside a radius of zero to 10 feet defending your life is about fighting. It is not about marksmanship.
If you are not aware of, and prepared for, that contingency you will always be at a mental and physical disadvantage to the committed felon who lives and does business in that very zone.
Outside of your home in a metropolitan area, our best stats say that your odds of a deadly encounter are:
Only 10% of deadly encounters will happen at a distance of over than 15 feet. And 81% will happen at a distance of six feet or less.
- Contact to 3 feet: 34%
- 3 feet to 6 feet: 47%
- 6 feet to 15 feet: 9%
Familiar with Tueller’s Drill (he hates calling it a “rule,” so I won’t)? Google it. What it showed was that a committed aggressor could cover 21 feet before a law enforcement officer could deploy and use his firearm.
Don’t worry so much about 21 feet. Worry about six feet.
Third, the purpose of a defensive blade is to either protect your handgun, or allow you to fight your way back to it. Clint Smith said, “The only purpose for a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should have never laid down.”
At bad-breath distance against a committed aggressor you don’t have time to clear your cover garment and present your handgun.
But a good blade might change the outcome.
Fourth, something used to cut box tops is almost certainly not a defensive blade. Neither is a switchblade. I used to live overseas and had a few switchblade knives, mostly Italian (now discarded). I wouldn’t go into a fight with any of them.
A defensive blade needs to be thick and sturdy. Switchblades, typically, are not.
Thin blades break. Regardless of their carbon composition. The very reason that you wouldn’t want to take a sharp ceramic kitchen knife into a fight.