Best Melee (aka hand-to-hand) weapons

[Uomo Senza Nome]

If I'm going full Medieval I'm doing Medieval things. Melee weapons need to follow form and usefulness just like a firearm does.

When travelling typically a soldier or guard would carry a spear. This worked well with a trained group. Add a few archers and you had plenty of security. People didn't often travel lone wolf style.


I have two spears, one light, almost a javelin and second one that is quite heavy. The last two feet of the heavy one come off for use as a short sword. The light one is best for travel. For weapon free zones like National Parks a trash picker is a good substitute.

A spear isn't enough though so an 18" Bowie knife on the belt makes a great walking companion.

A night watch would typically carry a club. For home and auto defense I have two military surplus Monadnock extendable batons. These have the steel sleeve and wooden extension. OAL extended length is about 20" compact about 12". They slide right open with a quick flick. With two, one can be used to parry blows. The idea here is to aim for lower legs and go for a mobility take down. A break in the tibia, fibula or patella are all fight stoppers.

If fighting is expected I'm too slow to run away. So I'll put my body armor on, it has PE panels in it so it is pretty much stab/cut/pound proof. Then I will grab my 42 inch Katana and go to work.

I have only known one person who used a melee weapon in actual military combat. He left his rifle in another part of the building at the direction of a leader when we had an incident in the barracks. So he grabbed an axe and went to work. Not my weapon of choice, but anything is better than stern language.

[echo83]

For whatever reason, these can't be shipped out of the U.S.A. 

But what about a big honkin' wood baton? It's what this thread kicked off with. 

USGI 36" Riot Baton
USGI 36" Riot Baton

While I haven't used one personally, I think this or an axe handle would check a lot of boxes...

Plus, if you wrap the handle with blue phone cord? Unstoppable. 

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Every time I think axe handle, I think Clint Eastwood in "Pale Rider" where he beats some of the main bad guy's henchman with one.

[Moab]

For whatever reason, these can't be shipped out of the U.S.A.

But what about a big honkin' wood baton? It's what this thread kicked off with.

USGI 36" Riot Baton
USGI 36" Riot Baton

While I haven't used one personally, I think this or an axe handle would check a lot of boxes...

Plus, if you wrap the handle with blue phone cord? Unstoppable. 

LAPD beat cops used to carry a version of this. When I was in the Marine Corps I got stuck downtown at the bus station in the middle of the night. And watched two beat cops beat the shit out of a homeless guy with those. He was sleeping. Apparently where he wasn't supposed to. These guys didn't even say anything. They just started beating his shins and legs with wooden batons. It was actually pretty horrific. It shocked me. When they walked up I thought " oh there gonna nudge him with it or just tap him once in the shins to wake him". Nope. Straight beat the shit out if this guy's legs. It's was brutal. Different times. Back in the early 80s. 

[echo83]

For whatever reason, these can't be shipped out of the U.S.A.

But what about a big honkin' wood baton? It's what this thread kicked off with.

USGI 36" Riot Baton
USGI 36" Riot Baton

While I haven't used one personally, I think this or an axe handle would check a lot of boxes...

Plus, if you wrap the handle with blue phone cord? Unstoppable. 

LAPD beat cops used to carry a version of this. When I was in the Marine Corps I got stuck downtown at the bus station in the middle of the night. And watched two beat cops beat the shit out of a homeless guy with those. He was sleeping. Apparently where he wasn't supposed to. These guys didn't even say anything. They just started beating his shins and legs with wooden batons. It was actually pretty horrific. It shocked me. When they walked up I thought " oh there gonna nudge him with it or just tap him once in the shins to wake him". Nope. Straight beat the shit out if this guy's legs. It's was brutal. Different times. Back in the early 80s.

Man, that's pretty awful. Not to get too dark, but I think there's something primeval and playing-for-keeps about a long baton, because when you're using one, it takes longer to put an opponent down. 

To me, a sword or machete represents frenzied, over-in-a-flash violence. A baton represents a methodical, organized, longer-lasting violence. The kind that comes with having similarly-equipped comrades to your left and right. It's like the hand-held equivalent of fixing bayonets. 

I think that's because I see rioters in poorer countries using machetes or swords as weapons of opportunity, and I usually see organized LEO-types wielding batons and shields. 

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

I've noticed the machete thing as well in a lot of riots in places like SE Asia and Latin America.

At least in the rural areas, pretty much damn near everyone out there's got a machete for clearing brush or other landscaping uses. Probably for protection as well since guns are few and far between and heavily restricted.

I forget where it was exactly, but years ago I saw footage of a protest turned riot where the riot cops were just going medieval on the rioters and vice versa. I didn't see any machetes or other blades, just broom handles, bats, batons and what looked like boat paddles that were cut down to bat size.

I wish I could remember exactly where it was. It looked brutal as hell and kind of reminded me of the battle scenes in "Braveheart".

[echo83]

A lot of the border clashes between China and India are like that. Neither side wants to shoot at the other and have all out war, so they wail on each other with literal sticks, stones and slingshots. If I didn't know any better, I'd say there is either a tacit agreement or outright orders not to use firearms. 

Either way, batons are capable of doing serious damage from a physical and morale standpoint. 

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Oh yeah.

I've got an expandable baton that NT2C sent me and I've got no doubt that it could royally mess someone's day up if they got hit with it.

I had a cheapo one I bought at a flea market years ago, but it ended up loosening to the point where it no longer locked in place. I may attempt to fix it at some point by disassembling it or maybe welding it in the open position.

[Moab]

I've had an expandable metal baton for years I kept in my car. But stopped because... CA. 😑 Those things will cave a head in. And are very concealable. Way more effective than a wooden baton. And at like 15-20"(?) the perfect length. Enough weight and length maximize speed and damage. And it has a hardcore diamond cut rubber handle. You literally can't lose grip. That and a can of mace and your as close to non lethal as your going to get. While still very close. Those things are scary. I would be vary careful swinging one. And probably not use it unless it was a last resort. Because going to far with it seems very easy. It was a cheap one too. They use to be very popular in the 80s. Probably until folks started realizing just how lethal they are.On another note I drove past a Phillipine machete maker yesterday. Meant to stop in the way back. But missed it. Probably several hundred machetes displayed along the side of the highway. Simple steel blade, bone handle and wood sheath. I brought one back from JEST school back in the 80s. (Jungle Environmental Survival Training) Looked like this one I saw in the super market the other day.

Sorry that's one block of text. Hit reply, wrote, and remembered I can't post images unless I make a new reply.

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[12_Gauge_Chimp]

That's a neat find, Moab.

Reminds me of a store I used to stop at in Beaumont, Texas years ago.

They had a bunch of cheapo machetes in plastic totes along the wall and they ranged in quality from ok to total crap.

Like I didn't know squat about heat treatment and blade steels back then, but even so I could tell the steel on some of them was really soft.

[MacWa77ace]

Hit reply, wrote, and remembered I can't post images unless I make a new reply.

Hit the preview button while you're typing a post and then you can post an image.
If you forget to post an image after you've already hit the post button you can go back to that post and hit the QUICK EDIT button and add an image pasting the image url between these bbcode markers for image. [img"]url address[/img"] without the quote marks.

Or if you clicked post already you can click the MORE... button next to the QUICK EDIT button, then select Modify and you upload a picture to the UFoZS server or use the add image button to add the hotlink.

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[Uomo Senza Nome]

A surplus military baton is considered a weapon and falls under a number of restrictions right away. I used to keep a baton by the door by my feet in Iraq when on patrol. When I tried to return home with it they wouldn't let me take it back, even though I had brought it with me, which apparently I wasn't supposed to without permission, although no one complained at the time. 

[Moab]

A surplus military baton is considered a weapon and falls under a number of restrictions right away. I used to keep a baton by the door by my feet in Iraq when on patrol. When I tried to return home with it they wouldn't let me take it back, even though I had brought it with me, which apparently I wasn't supposed to without permission, although no one complained at the time.

What is considered a military baton? We had what we called nightsticks on firewatch when I was in the Marine Corps. Just a wood billy club. Like a classic cop nightstick. 

I don't think the long ones are viable except as long sticks to poke people and keep them away from you. Swinging anything long than a couple feet is slow. 

[Moab]

Hit reply, wrote, and remembered I can't post images unless I make a new reply.

Hit the preview button while you're typing a post and then you can post an image.
If you forget to post an image after you've already hit the post button you can go back to that post and hit the QUICK EDIT button and add an image pasting the image url between these bbcode markers for image. [img"]url address[/img"] without the quote marks.

Or if you clicked post already you can click the MORE... button next to the QUICK EDIT button, then select Modify and you upload a picture to the UFoZS server or use the add image button to add the hotlink.

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Thank you. I do that all the time.

[Uomo Senza Nome]

A surplus military baton is considered a weapon and falls under a number of restrictions right away. I used to keep a baton by the door by my feet in Iraq when on patrol. When I tried to return home with it they wouldn't let me take it back, even though I had brought it with me, which apparently I wasn't supposed to without permission, although no one complained at the time.

What is considered a military baton? We had what we called nightsticks on firewatch when I was in the Marine Corps. Just a wood billy club. Like a classic cop nightstick.

I don't think the long ones are viable except as long sticks to poke people and keep them away from you. Swinging anything long than a couple feet is slow.

I don't make the laws, but if it was owned by the military it is now a military baton. Some countries won't let their citizens own anything that the military uses. This includes 9mm firearms where they are otherwise legal. 

[Moab]

A surplus military baton is considered a weapon and falls under a number of restrictions right away. I used to keep a baton by the door by my feet in Iraq when on patrol. When I tried to return home with it they wouldn't let me take it back, even though I had brought it with me, which apparently I wasn't supposed to without permission, although no one complained at the time.

What is considered a military baton? We had what we called nightsticks on firewatch when I was in the Marine Corps. Just a wood billy club. Like a classic cop nightstick.

I don't think the long ones are viable except as long sticks to poke people and keep them away from you. Swinging anything long than a couple feet is slow.

I don't make the laws, but if it was owned by the military it is now a military baton. Some countries won't let their citizens own anything that the military uses. This includes 9mm firearms where they are otherwise legal.

I'm so sorry. I don't recall what country your in?

I will spare you a diatribe on gun control. Lol! But we can see where it's gotten England. They can't even post online without getting arrested and imprisoned. Something like 3000+ people in the last year or couple years have gone to prison for things they've posted online. Their government has lost their mind. 

That would never happen in the US. And I'll give you one guess as to why? (Rather than my 14 page diatribe about gun control. Lol!) But seriously. The second amendment is the only thing protecting our other rights. It's so painfully obvious when you see what other countries citizens have to go through. 

[MacWa77ace]

What is considered a military baton? We had what we called nightsticks on firewatch when I was in the Marine Corps. Just a wood billy club. Like a classic cop nightstick.

Why did fire watch need a billy club and not a ...

... fire extinguisher?   
 
[/rhetorical question]