Home defense: axe better than gun? (from another forum)

[Dr.Rob]

Cosmo has a point, if you don't kill 'em out right the rust will do 'em in a few days later.

I have a nice tomohawk and was pretty good at throwing it as a kid... but no it's not the first thing I'd reach for.

Besides, real men use a shovel!

 

[Sniper X]

Dang! Now after all this Hawk talk I want to buy a few SF axes so I can get back into throwing them, it's fun! Kinda like very very big darts! But the flip...neat-o.

 

[JShirley]

Okay, in reality-land, there was a great reason for tomahawks/hatchets once upon a time.

When longarms were single-shot and reloading slow, a tomahawk was the "sidearm". Its advantage over the bayonet (another attempt to deal with the problem of slow, single-shot firearms) was that it could be used for day-to-day tasks...while the bayonet had the advantage, when mounted, of reach.

About the only real application for most military folk today, would be for use as a crash ax, in the vehicle to batter their way out, if necessary.

For the civilian? A small axe or a hatchet is useful for camping, and if it's the only thing you have when trouble comes, there are worse things. Just as there are better.

John, waiting for his axe

 

[hrgrisso]

Sig or a Hawk

I'm a big strong boy and I "carry" a hawk when I'm out in the sticks. But I also carry a gun. I'm sorry but the whole adage about "...Col. Colt making them equal..." well it holds true. If I didn't have a gun and all I had was my axe and I could sneak up on one of them and... You get the idea. A hawk makes a great backup to a good/reliable/strong gun. But in place of one? Well I guess since the military is trading in their M4's and ... nevermind, they still use them... So yeah. Regardless of where you are, the gun makes more sense.

 

[Sniper X]

Hawks are fun and cool. Now I have to get a few. I see cold steel still makes some cool ones.

 

[sm]

JShirley wrote:
John, waiting for his axe

Am I the only one that thinks this Axe John is waiting for is not your generic , plain vanilla, garden variety one gets down at the local big box store with a cheesy vinyl axe head cover?

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Axe or tomahawk for self-defense in a house has the
same disadvantage as a baseball bat, poker, or ax handle:
you must have room to swing it. In my apartment, there is
not enough room to swing a small kitten.

You can thrust forward with a rapier in a narrow hallway
where you could not swing an axe or tomahawk.

So, is the epee better than a gun?

 

[Heavy Metal Hero]

 

[Mandirigma]

Am I the only one that thinks this Axe John is waiting for is not your generic , plain vanilla, garden variety one gets down at the local big box store with a cheesy vinyl axe head cover?

Nope, I get the same feeling. I wonder if it has anything to do with those afghan tradegoods

 

[steeltiger]

use both

keep both gun and hawk by your bed the biggest shortcumming is range if somehow they get pask the gun youve got the hawk if you get a cold steel hawk it takes about a week to get used to it as a weapon and after you get good cut it down to a 10 in handle it'l work well for close in work and white wolf hit the nail on the head about thrusting a ten inch hawk keeps three quartersof the chopping ability but it also becomes a readymade push dagger and to hopfully resolve the current issus open arena katana winns /cqc the hawk wins

 

[JShirley]

Am I the only one that thinks this Axe John is waiting for is not your generic , plain vanilla, garden variety one gets down at the local big box store

Shucks. No, it's a hawk from madman and nice guy D. Hoskins...and it's probably in my mail waiting for me at Black Horse.

 

[rayman]

just the idea of chopping off the head of an intruder makes me wonder... You think they'd do the chicken dance after?

 

[RyanM]

An axe has similar problems to the classic baseball bat. It has to be swung. In a small house or apartment with narrow hallways, there may not always be enough room.

Personally, I'd rather have a good boar spear than either, if I lived in an apartment. Something like this.

http://www.coldsteel.com/spears-high-performance-spears.html

With the whatchamacallits behind the head to keep the blade from sinking in too far, it's entirely possible to push an attacker away while stabbing them at the same time, thus maintaining the distance advantage a spear has over most other hand weapons. It could also be thrown in an emergency. Decent accuracy across room distances could be attained with practice.

edit: Oh, those are longer than I thought. Almost 7 feet. Maybe the "short" 3 foot long Assegai would be more appropriate for indoor use, though it lacks the guard thingies. Maybe a boar spear head plus a short Assegai shaft. Or just a boar spear plus a saw and some sandpaper.

 

[hso]

Ryan M,

It's a wooden shaft after all so what would prevent you from just cutting the boar spear shaft down to a convenient length?

As to thrusting with a 'hawk. No. The larger spiked or upswept axes used in ancient combat may have had enough point to penetrate to a killing depth, but I've seen no 'hawks with this feature. Small wounding thrusts? Perhaps, but to effectively disable an attacker? No.

If you're interested in learning anything about how to use a tomahawk for combat pick up The Fighting Tomahawk by Dwight McLemore. Pay attention to the footwork.

 

[sm]

Re: JShirley

I have it on good authority, John is going to have one axe customized with

Heeeere's Johnny!

Running and ducking

 

[JShirley]

Heh. Who told you about that?

 

[Owen]

the problem with an rapier is that while it has fantastic killing power, it's stopping power is less than fantastic.

 

[Cromlech]

^I take it that by that, you mean that a thrust that misses vital organs is not going to have the stopping power?^

If so, yeah, I guess. It would hurt like buggery, and bleed a fair bit, but you could probably walk to the hospital.

If, however, you are an expert, you can kill someone very swiftly.

 

[Owen]

Nah Cromleck, what I mean is that you can destroy someones heart and they still have 45 to 90 seconds to do you in. Poking someone in the eye or through the spine is quite the challenge. When I am fencing that is enough time for 8 or 9 phrases. You done kill'd 'em, but you didn't stop them. With a saber or an axe, you can remove anatomy. Hacking off a knife hand is probably the end of a fight. Jamming a knitting needle through someone chest cavity, or even neck, probably isn't.

 

[chipp]

I've heard that in Pa It is viewed as a much more grucum crime to stab someone to death then to shoot them. I've heard the opposite on other threads. It seams to me that hacking someone to death with a tomhawk or axe would look pretty bad in court.(can't help thinking about court even is SD senerios)
But the main thing I don't like about a tomahawk is fear of it getting stuck in the first guy.

 

[Sniper X]

It dawned on me just now...DUH!

I just thought of it but, here in New MExico if you used a sword or axe to defend yourself in a home invasion you would probably be seen as a psyco weither you killed the guy or not. Bare with me a moment, you have the right to defend yourself with the use of deadly force. You hack the atacker into submission with said sharpened tool of your choice. Said atacker doesn't die, gets a good swarthy ambulance chaser law dog and at YOUR trial he say thru tears missing a hand or some other needed/wanted extremity (whooo, scary!) I just needed money for my drug habit, my wife left me and I lsot my job and I wen itno dudes house and he attacked me with a sword and almost cut me to death! I'll never be able to work again! You get thrown in jail and live there until 10 years later and when you get out he owns your house. yadda yadda. Ok, far fetched but other scenario, dude breaks in with criminal intent easy to proove one shot bang no witness in civil trial and you are well within your rights of protecting hoime and life. I choose gun over sword anytime and know a little about how to use a sword.

 

[innerpiece]

Intersting topic.

Tho I feel confident Im proficient with various tools for SD.. I would definetly use a firearm to protect my family inside my home, especially if a firearm was more accessable.

my wife and I both keep 9mm's handy. aswell as a LED Tac-Light and Knife, each.

the Sword vrs Axe debate isnt all that relevant imo.. distance is only an advantage to the sword, if the axe is not thrown.. The more skilled handeler of the weapon they weild, would likely come out on top, as both weapons have their advantages, and disadvantages alike...
I would rater weild a sword, as thats what Im more experienced with (longfist Jian, Northern)

SniperX.. Id have to agree with yer last post.. visuals are a big thing to jury's... but also, If I were to have to fire on an intruder, I would shoot untill he stops.. hopefully it would only be once..

interesting topic, with some good opinions.

ip.

 

[hso]

Welcome to THR innerpiece!

 

[innerpiece]

Thank you!
Ive enjoyed reading here for a cpl yrs now, decided its time to learn and share a lil more actively.

be well!
ip.

 

[Odd Job]

I've X-rayed quite a few guys who got on the wrong side of an axe or similar tool. Generally they fare better than the guys who are stabbed with a straight blade. Had some panga injuries too...the most notable of which was one where a guy had a very deep cut on the back of his neck, high up. It must have been a scooping motion, because when the guy was lying down, I could see the trauma surgeon's face 'through' his neck and I could also see the spinous processes glistening in the light. Second place was a disembowelment, also from a panga. Both patients were okay in the end.
That was in South Africa.
I don't put much faith in an axe or tomahawk for defense purposes.