What's the most clever improvised weapon usage you've seen? - Page 2

rantingredneck · February 5, 2010, 08:16 AM

I once fended off a strong arm robbery attempt (2 on 1 with them unarmed) with an unopened can of soda. That metal ridge around the bottom makes a handy bludgeon across someone's nose. Took the fight out of him and made his partner in crime see the error of his ways.

Uncle Buck · February 5, 2010, 08:44 AM

While in Central America, I saw some Navy SEALS taking apart 12 gauge shot gun shells. They pulled the little lead balls out, drilled holes in them, ran a wire through the balls and stuck everything back into the shell. Years later, I found out they sell these bolo rounds to the public. I never saw them used, but was told they were great for clearing the foliage.

The same guys who were messing around making the bolos said they also made their own grenades with shot-shells. I will not go into detail, but the way they made them seems like they would work quite well as crowd dispersers.

When I was a kid we use to have BB gun wars. We took used 12 gauge shot-shells and put model rocket engines in them. We would wire them up into series of five or ten and when we got the opponents into the area we would launch these things. Hurt like heck to get hit with one and the Good Lord only knows why we never burnt down a forest or building doing this.

Double Naught Spy · February 5, 2010, 08:59 AM

Quote:

While in Central America, I saw some Navy SEALS taking apart 12 gauge shot gun shells. They pulled the little lead balls out, drilled holes in them, ran a wire through the balls and stuck everything back into the shell. Years later, I found out they sell these bolo rounds to the public. I never saw them used, but was told they were great for clearing the foliage.

12 ga. weed wacker? Sounds terribly ineffecient, but no doubt could work. I know of fields being mowed with machineguns.

As a paperboy, we made newspaper clubs for defense against dogs. It was simply a newspaper rolled up very tight and wrapped with rubber bands. String would work as well. You ended up with a lightweight club that was surprisingly hard and durable. They weren't great when they got wet, however.

Skans · February 5, 2010, 09:03 AM

How about a block of wood with an electrical cord taped to it, with each of the two wires attached to protruding electrods - Home Grown "Stun" Gun.

Mike in VA · February 5, 2010, 10:46 PM

As Rattletrap noted, anything heavy & hard in a sock makes a good sap/flail, as does a heavy belt buckle on a belt. I also put a bunk converter (and 18" length of steel pipe) to good use in a barracks fight once.

A roll of coins in hand makes for a very heavy punch, tho kinda hard on your knucks.

I take a steel Cross pen on airplanes these days -

I impaled a would-be mugger with an umbrella in Georgetown once -

On the macro level, assault is a behavior, not a device. If you look around the room, there aren't too many things you couldn't use to assault someone with. The mind is the weapon, everything else is just a tool.

Steviewonder1 · February 6, 2010, 02:41 PM

I carry two sets of sharpened pencils with 9 in each set held together with two rubber bands. They go thru TSA with no issues. If asked, they are for my students at the class I am teaching and the rubber bands keep them from rolling around in my briefcase. One in each hand and charge.....

Old Grump · February 6, 2010, 04:55 PM

Sister used a drum stick and nearly took her attackers eye out when we were down visiting Key West, wife used a diaper bag in a supermarket in El Paso on a guy trying to get her purse, she had lost one purse out of the shopping cart in Long Beach California and it wasn't about to happen again, this was pre-disposable diapers. I used a newspaper on a stray dog, (guessing between 35 and 45 pounds), that attacked me when I bent over to get my paper off the doorstep in Prospect Heights Illinois. I don't think I hurt him any but the paper was folded and it made a real loud whap every time I hit him on the head, about 3 times and he was gone howling up a storm.

Don't know the details but this happened in the Chicago area about the same time I was whapping the dog. Somebody threw a toilet out the window at another man and it killed him.

GA Limited GM · February 6, 2010, 05:57 PM

I had a customers wife tell me that her and her husband was at a carwash. He stepped around the corner to go get change. Some vagrant hit her up for some change. She said she didnt have any and the guy walked off. Her husband, maybe a buck 40, came back and she told the story to him. He was angry to say the least and as he dropped some coins into the slot, the guy jumps back around the corner all squared off (They assume the guy heard the coins and came back to confront her) The husband sprayed the guy straight in the face with full pressure, kicked him between the legs and kicked his prone form on each pass while washing the truck.

Im thinking the high pressure was worse than the kick to the nads.....

Sriracha · February 6, 2010, 06:33 PM

Padlock.

LordofWar · February 6, 2010, 07:53 PM

A sling shot.

Pashtun/Afghan kids here during their pre-AK-Handing over era make it with wood and tyre tube. They get so proficient, I have seen 10 year olds easily hit a sparrow at 25 yards.

Crosshair · February 6, 2010, 08:41 PM

This was told to me by my uncle when he was in the military. The military of course has a strict policy on weapons so there isn't much you can have on your for personal defense, a problem when on leave in some parts of the world.

His preferred weapon?

They go by several names: "Poor mans Brass knuckles" "nickel knuckles", etc. The extra weight of the roll of coins in your hands really does significantly increase the overall power of your punch. If you have big hands you can upgrade to a roll of quarters.

The best part is that no cop is going to arrest you for having rolls of nickels in your pockets. Heck, you can walk around with a roll in your hand and they won't bat an eye.

gyvel · February 8, 2010, 01:33 AM

Spraying someone in the face with oven cleaner will do quite a bit of damage, some of it permanent.

Dwight55 · February 8, 2010, 11:21 AM

I had a first class petty officer in San Diego who told about the days in Gitmo and other places where he wore a roll of dimes in his neckerchief.

They could not be seen as they were in the center, . . . under the flap at the back of his neck. Grab the neckerchief the right way, . . . the knot slips, . . . pull it out and slam the guy all in the same motion.

He also talked about guys who sewed a dime in the corners of their neckercheif hanging down, . . . used it like a towel snap.

May God bless,
Dwight

five40five · February 8, 2010, 11:32 AM

When I was in High School I worked part-time at a hospital and the nurses there carried hemoststs,long,thin locking plyer type tools.They would just grab on to a chunk of flesh and run.They have a long serrated oppossed locking device in the handle and usually takes 2 hands to release...OUCH

rogelk · February 8, 2010, 11:44 AM

What's the most clever improvised weapon usage you've seen?

Does this count?

KevinBeyerJr · February 8, 2010, 11:45 AM

If for some reason my pistol was not in the safe, which is easier to access than my old paintball marker, (and won't ever happen) then I would chose that. I haven't been out to play in a couple of years, and anyone who has ever played knows that old paintballs leaves the worst bruises. I would just hope that after 2 years there is some air in the tank. Though, my shotgun is on the shelf across from that, so hopefully it wouldn't ever have to come to that.

orangello · February 8, 2010, 12:35 PM

Nobody mentioned the car antenna? It would be pretty hard to kill somebody with one, but i can tell you they hurt even through jeans. If you catch somebody across the face with one, i'd bet they will leave you be. Many of them today aren't screwed on tight & will spin off easily. Of course, you are near a car that is yours, you could try for the jack handle, but you don't need a key to get the antenna.

The Great Mahoo · February 8, 2010, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orangello

Nobody mentioned the car antenna? It would be pretty hard to kill somebody with one, but i can tell you they hurt even through jeans. If you catch somebody across the face with one, i'd bet they will leave you be. Many of them today aren't screwed on tight & will spin off easily. Of course, you are near a car that is yours, you could try for the jack handle, but you don't need a key to get the antenna.

Definately. Car antennae are brutal, leaving terrible welts and lacerations. But, in a world with satelite technology, few cars are being made with the old steel antenae, and most are integrated or small nubs. Still plenty of older ones in parking lots, though.

BGutzman · February 9, 2010, 05:54 PM

The human mind is by far the deadliest weapon.

Crosshair · February 9, 2010, 07:27 PM

Quote:

The human mind is by far the deadliest weapon.

By itself, the human mind is a gun without any ammo.

KLRANGL · February 11, 2010, 04:44 PM

I used to carry a small flat head screwdriver that was "worn" down to a nice, decently sharp edge...
Never had to even think about using it though...

howwie · February 11, 2010, 04:59 PM

My pastor was in Nigeria on missions and a few "gangsters" surrounded the car. he and his wife were paniking and the guide/driver got out, pulled his belt off and fought 4 of them off using the buckle as a whip/club combo. pretty good tale

markj · February 11, 2010, 05:01 PM

The car dipstick Jimmy

I lost some teeth when a guy hit me in the face with a radio once.

Had a dobie that would attack if I pointed at a person and said hit him, I miss that dog.

Saw a fork get stuck in a guys arm in 7th grade. Used to be a hair comb called a cookie cutter, was long metal sharp stickers that were very harmful.

My 20 lb cat, just pick him up and toss him at a BG.

BGutzman · February 11, 2010, 07:54 PM

Quote:

By itself, the human mind is a gun without any ammo.

A good mind is much more flexable than any gun, ammo or not. When Mr. Taliban sends screaming hot lead your way bullets help fight back but it is ones mind that keeps you making decisions that hopefully keep you alive and end the confrontation in the proper manner.

Certainly a gun is more deadly on a given spot at a given moment but the mind is much more capable of damage when given time to plan... Need proof, the spartans held of 100,000 with 300 men. Sure in the end the 300 lost but the 100,000 lost so much morale that shortly their after they lost the war.

It was the strategy and tactics employed that allowed them to live as long as they did and not a simple matter of who had greater numbers or bigger weapons.

The Khyber pass has a long history that shows the same thing as do many other places and battles, any given weapon is only so useful, it is the mind that gives you a edge through strategy and tactics.

BGutzman · February 11, 2010, 08:13 PM

As far as the deadliest improvised weapon I have ever seen personally (in use), a homemade road bomb in a nondescript wooden box... It rocked our world too bad it went off at the wrong time (good for us)

The most creative I think were dead fall traps into spikes or even more nasty; is the two rotating logs with spikes that were burried just below ground so that when you stepped on it your body weight pulled you through the spikes as you fell to the bottom of the pit.

I never saw the spike traps in actual use but I was given informal training on how to build them. Kills with no bullets.... Just a mind...

February 5, 2010, 08:16 AM	#26
rantingredneck Senior Member Join Date: January 12, 2007 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,728	I once fended off a strong arm robbery attempt (2 on 1 with them unarmed) with an unopened can of soda. That metal ridge around the bottom makes a handy bludgeon across someone's nose. Took the fight out of him and made his partner in crime see the error of his ways. __________________ NRA Member NC Hunter's Education Instructor PCCA Member (What's PCCA you ask? <- Check the link)

February 5, 2010, 08:44 AM	#27
Uncle Buck Senior Member Join Date: June 21, 2009 Location: West Central Missouri Posts: 2,592	While in Central America, I saw some Navy SEALS taking apart 12 gauge shot gun shells. They pulled the little lead balls out, drilled holes in them, ran a wire through the balls and stuck everything back into the shell. Years later, I found out they sell these bolo rounds to the public. I never saw them used, but was told they were great for clearing the foliage. The same guys who were messing around making the bolos said they also made their own grenades with shot-shells. I will not go into detail, but the way they made them seems like they would work quite well as crowd dispersers. When I was a kid we use to have BB gun wars. We took used 12 gauge shot-shells and put model rocket engines in them. We would wire them up into series of five or ten and when we got the opponents into the area we would launch these things. Hurt like heck to get hit with one and the Good Lord only knows why we never burnt down a forest or building doing this. __________________ Inside Every Bright Idea Is The 50% Probability Of A Disaster Waiting To Happen.

February 5, 2010, 10:46 PM	#30
Mike in VA Senior Member Join Date: October 16, 1998 Location: Santa FE, NM Posts: 2,163	As Rattletrap noted, anything heavy & hard in a sock makes a good sap/flail, as does a heavy belt buckle on a belt. I also put a bunk converter (and 18" length of steel pipe) to good use in a barracks fight once. A roll of coins in hand makes for a very heavy punch, tho kinda hard on your knucks. I take a steel Cross pen on airplanes these days - I impaled a would-be mugger with an umbrella in Georgetown once - On the macro level, assault is a behavior, not a device. If you look around the room, there aren't too many things you couldn't use to assault someone with. The mind is the weapon, everything else is just a tool. __________________ M2 The Second Amendment IS homeland defense!

February 6, 2010, 02:41 PM	#31
Steviewonder1 Senior Member Join Date: February 16, 2009 Location: John's Creek, Georgia Posts: 328	Improvised Weapons I carry two sets of sharpened pencils with 9 in each set held together with two rubber bands. They go thru TSA with no issues. If asked, they are for my students at the class I am teaching and the rubber bands keep them from rolling around in my briefcase. One in each hand and charge.....

February 6, 2010, 04:55 PM	#32
Old Grump Member in memoriam Join Date: April 9, 2009 Location: Blue River Wisconsin, in Posts: 3,144	Sister used a drum stick and nearly took her attackers eye out when we were down visiting Key West, wife used a diaper bag in a supermarket in El Paso on a guy trying to get her purse, she had lost one purse out of the shopping cart in Long Beach California and it wasn't about to happen again, this was pre-disposable diapers. I used a newspaper on a stray dog, (guessing between 35 and 45 pounds), that attacked me when I bent over to get my paper off the doorstep in Prospect Heights Illinois. I don't think I hurt him any but the paper was folded and it made a real loud whap every time I hit him on the head, about 3 times and he was gone howling up a storm. Don't know the details but this happened in the Chicago area about the same time I was whapping the dog. Somebody threw a toilet out the window at another man and it killed him. __________________ Good intentions will always be pleaded for any assumption of power. The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern will, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. --Daniel Webster--

February 5, 2010, 09:03 AM	#29
Skans Senior Member Join Date: November 20, 2008 Posts: 11,132	How about a block of wood with an electrical cord taped to it, with each of the two wires attached to protruding electrods - Home Grown "Stun" Gun.

February 6, 2010, 05:57 PM	#33
GA Limited GM Member Join Date: March 27, 2008 Location: Gods Country Posts: 73	I had a customers wife tell me that her and her husband was at a carwash. He stepped around the corner to go get change. Some vagrant hit her up for some change. She said she didnt have any and the guy walked off. Her husband, maybe a buck 40, came back and she told the story to him. He was angry to say the least and as he dropped some coins into the slot, the guy jumps back around the corner all squared off (They assume the guy heard the coins and came back to confront her) The husband sprayed the guy straight in the face with full pressure, kicked him between the legs and kicked his prone form on each pass while washing the truck. Im thinking the high pressure was worse than the kick to the nads.....

February 6, 2010, 06:33 PM	#34
Sriracha Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 2005 Location: GA Posts: 310	Padlock.

February 6, 2010, 07:53 PM	#35
LordofWar Senior Member Join Date: April 28, 2009 Location: Pakistan Posts: 646	A sling shot. Pashtun/Afghan kids here during their pre-AK-Handing over era make it with wood and tyre tube. They get so proficient, I have seen 10 year olds easily hit a sparrow at 25 yards.

February 6, 2010, 08:41 PM	#36
Crosshair Senior Member Join Date: December 16, 2004 Location: Grand Forks, ND Posts: 5,333	This was told to me by my uncle when he was in the military. The military of course has a strict policy on weapons so there isn't much you can have on your for personal defense, a problem when on leave in some parts of the world. His preferred weapon? They go by several names: "Poor mans Brass knuckles" "nickel knuckles", etc. The extra weight of the roll of coins in your hands really does significantly increase the overall power of your punch. If you have big hands you can upgrade to a roll of quarters. The best part is that no cop is going to arrest you for having rolls of nickels in your pockets. Heck, you can walk around with a roll in your hand and they won't bat an eye. __________________ I don't carry a gun to go looking for trouble, I carry a gun in case trouble finds me.

February 8, 2010, 01:33 AM	#37
gyvel Senior Member Join Date: August 30, 2009 Location: Northern AZ Posts: 7,172	Spraying someone in the face with oven cleaner will do quite a bit of damage, some of it permanent.

February 8, 2010, 11:21 AM	#38
Dwight55 Senior Member Join Date: June 18, 2004 Location: Central Ohio Posts: 2,568	I had a first class petty officer in San Diego who told about the days in Gitmo and other places where he wore a roll of dimes in his neckerchief. They could not be seen as they were in the center, . . . under the flap at the back of his neck. Grab the neckerchief the right way, . . . the knot slips, . . . pull it out and slam the guy all in the same motion. He also talked about guys who sewed a dime in the corners of their neckercheif hanging down, . . . used it like a towel snap. May God bless, Dwight __________________ www.dwightsgunleather.com If you can breathe, . . . thank God! If you can read, . . . thank a teacher! If you are reading this in English, . . . thank a Veteran!

February 8, 2010, 11:32 AM	#39
five40five Member Join Date: January 22, 2010 Location: SW Florida Posts: 25	When I was in High School I worked part-time at a hospital and the nurses there carried hemoststs,long,thin locking plyer type tools.They would just grab on to a chunk of flesh and run.They have a long serrated oppossed locking device in the handle and usually takes 2 hands to release...OUCH __________________ "A sword is never a killer,it is a tool in the killer's hand" Senaca

February 8, 2010, 11:44 AM	#40
rogelk Senior Member Join Date: February 6, 2005 Location: Minnesota Posts: 181	What's the most clever improvised weapon usage you've seen? Does this count?

February 8, 2010, 11:45 AM	#41
KevinBeyerJr Member Join Date: February 1, 2010 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 66	Does a paintball gun count? If for some reason my pistol was not in the safe, which is easier to access than my old paintball marker, (and won't ever happen) then I would chose that. I haven't been out to play in a couple of years, and anyone who has ever played knows that old paintballs leaves the worst bruises. I would just hope that after 2 years there is some air in the tank. Though, my shotgun is on the shelf across from that, so hopefully it wouldn't ever have to come to that. __________________ "I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud

February 8, 2010, 12:35 PM	#42
orangello Senior Member Join Date: February 25, 2009 Posts: 566	Nobody mentioned the car antenna? It would be pretty hard to kill somebody with one, but i can tell you they hurt even through jeans. If you catch somebody across the face with one, i'd bet they will leave you be. Many of them today aren't screwed on tight & will spin off easily. Of course, you are near a car that is yours, you could try for the jack handle, but you don't need a key to get the antenna.

February 9, 2010, 05:54 PM	#44
BGutzman Senior Member Join Date: December 4, 2009 Location: Frozen Tundra Posts: 2,414	The human mind is by far the deadliest weapon. __________________ Molon Labe

February 11, 2010, 04:44 PM	#46
KLRANGL Senior Member Join Date: September 9, 2008 Location: Fredericksburg, VA Posts: 958	I used to carry a small flat head screwdriver that was "worn" down to a nice, decently sharp edge... Never had to even think about using it though... __________________ And it's Killer Angel... as in the book

February 11, 2010, 04:59 PM	#47
howwie Senior Member Join Date: May 13, 2009 Location: Georgia Posts: 188	My pastor was in Nigeria on missions and a few "gangsters" surrounded the car. he and his wife were paniking and the guide/driver got out, pulled his belt off and fought 4 of them off using the buckle as a whip/club combo. pretty good tale __________________ "Whoever bleeds the least wins."

February 11, 2010, 05:01 PM	#48
markj Senior Member Join Date: October 27, 2005 Location: Crescent Iowa Posts: 2,971	The car dipstick Jimmy I lost some teeth when a guy hit me in the face with a radio once. Had a dobie that would attack if I pointed at a person and said hit him, I miss that dog. Saw a fork get stuck in a guys arm in 7th grade. Used to be a hair comb called a cookie cutter, was long metal sharp stickers that were very harmful. My 20 lb cat, just pick him up and toss him at a BG.

February 11, 2010, 08:13 PM	#50
BGutzman Senior Member Join Date: December 4, 2009 Location: Frozen Tundra Posts: 2,414	As far as the deadliest improvised weapon I have ever seen personally (in use), a homemade road bomb in a nondescript wooden box... It rocked our world too bad it went off at the wrong time (good for us) The most creative I think were dead fall traps into spikes or even more nasty; is the two rotating logs with spikes that were burried just below ground so that when you stepped on it your body weight pulled you through the spikes as you fell to the bottom of the pit. I never saw the spike traps in actual use but I was given informal training on how to build them. Kills with no bullets.... Just a mind... __________________ Molon Labe