Joe Demko
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Pat Crawford's Survival Staff has been around for a while now.
Best improvised projectile weapon for survival?
- Thread starter elmerfudd
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Timthinker
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- Sep 3, 2006
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Rocks seem the easiest weapons to improvise. Remember, people were stoned to death in Biblical days, so rocks are not something to dismiss. The next weapon that comes to my mind is a stone war club. It is nothing more than a rock affixed to a stick. The war club can be thrown or held, thus making it a versatile weapon. Both items I have mentioned can be found or made in a short period of time with very little skill. That is one attractive aspect to them.
Timthinker
Timthinker
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dagger dog
Member
Being taught spear fishing by a south sea islander, while working the winter in Florida, I was introduced to the Hawaiian sling.
It is made with a peice of hard wood 4-5" long and large enough in diameter to fit your hand.
Bore a hole through the length of the wood large enough to fit the size of your fish spear.
Any extruded aluminum tubing can be pressed into service for the spear. But a smoothed straight wood shoot or a small diameter limb softened in a fire and straightened could be used.
The propulsion comes from surgical rubber tubing lashed to the out side of the hardwood handle into a loop. A leather or flexible plastic pocket can be lashed to the tubing to accomodate the blunt end of the spear.
A small 3 tined spear tip can be made with 4-5mm size wire, if copper is used you can cold hammer barbs and file them with a stone into a shape that will hold if imbeded into flesh.
The three barbed tines are lashed to the spear shaft with smaller wire. If steel is used for the tines they can be heated red in a fire and shaped then water quenched.
Used under water or or above the water to spear fish, but could be used on small game if needed, of course you would have to modify the size and weight of the spear to the size of game. And if more thrust is needed you can add propulsion bands.
It is made with a peice of hard wood 4-5" long and large enough in diameter to fit your hand.
Bore a hole through the length of the wood large enough to fit the size of your fish spear.
Any extruded aluminum tubing can be pressed into service for the spear. But a smoothed straight wood shoot or a small diameter limb softened in a fire and straightened could be used.
The propulsion comes from surgical rubber tubing lashed to the out side of the hardwood handle into a loop. A leather or flexible plastic pocket can be lashed to the tubing to accomodate the blunt end of the spear.
A small 3 tined spear tip can be made with 4-5mm size wire, if copper is used you can cold hammer barbs and file them with a stone into a shape that will hold if imbeded into flesh.
The three barbed tines are lashed to the spear shaft with smaller wire. If steel is used for the tines they can be heated red in a fire and shaped then water quenched.
Used under water or or above the water to spear fish, but could be used on small game if needed, of course you would have to modify the size and weight of the spear to the size of game. And if more thrust is needed you can add propulsion bands.
spiroxlii
Member
elmerfudd said:
Did this lead to any hysterical "man with a spear" police calls?
theotherwaldo
Member
Jacques Cousteau complained back in the 1950s about how the Darwin effect ruined spearfishing. Seemed that the surviving fish quickly learned to stay just out of range of whatever weapon was in local use. Longer-ranged weapons worked for a while, until the less-paranoid fish got used up. Then it was "back to the drawing board" time.
Best improv weapons will depend on your environment and what's available.
Do a search on my user name and rocks. Evidence from experts suggest that many more people were killed from thrown rocks than swords on historical Japanese battlefields.
If your prey is small enough, blowguns are easy to make. You can use beads, cotton, ball bearings, or any number of other items to make your darts/projectiles. I've seen them made from conical paper cups and screws, as well as matches, cotton balls, needles, and tape, to name just two improvised methods. Beads and needles, nails, or wire is another easy method. If you're near water, a small animal can net you a little food, plus bait for fish or other aquatic edibles...or guts for snares, if you're not near water. More guts= more bait.
A scarf and a big rock or chunk of brick or concrete can be used to kill anything smaller than a deer. Maybe even a deer at very close range, with enough practice. You can certainly stop a man who doesn't have any projectiles with such an improvised sling.
Enough spears and practice can stop anything smaller than a buffalo. Enough large enough spears can stop anything smaller than an elephant. Not my first choice, but good tactics and enough footage of sharp wood between you and a threat works pretty well.
John
Do a search on my user name and rocks. Evidence from experts suggest that many more people were killed from thrown rocks than swords on historical Japanese battlefields.
If your prey is small enough, blowguns are easy to make. You can use beads, cotton, ball bearings, or any number of other items to make your darts/projectiles. I've seen them made from conical paper cups and screws, as well as matches, cotton balls, needles, and tape, to name just two improvised methods. Beads and needles, nails, or wire is another easy method. If you're near water, a small animal can net you a little food, plus bait for fish or other aquatic edibles...or guts for snares, if you're not near water. More guts= more bait.
A scarf and a big rock or chunk of brick or concrete can be used to kill anything smaller than a deer. Maybe even a deer at very close range, with enough practice. You can certainly stop a man who doesn't have any projectiles with such an improvised sling.
Enough spears and practice can stop anything smaller than a buffalo. Enough large enough spears can stop anything smaller than an elephant. Not my first choice, but good tactics and enough footage of sharp wood between you and a threat works pretty well.
John
That reminds me, somehow. It seems to actually be much easier to aim a rock with a rope or rag or something tied to it, than it is to aim a sling proper. Sort of like a half-bolo.
In theory, the learning curve should be identical to a sling, but in practice... I dunno, maybe it's just me.
dagger dog
Member
elmer,
It is odd that some of the fish will back up as you try to get into range, they pick up on the game real quick especially if you hunt the same reef or jetty repeatedly. They don't turn and swim away, instead they use their pectoral fins and just scull themselves backward at the same pace you advance, keeping an eye on you at all times!
J,
Rocks, half bricks,etc. any thing picked up from the ground and thrown is given the name of Irish confetti
It is odd that some of the fish will back up as you try to get into range, they pick up on the game real quick especially if you hunt the same reef or jetty repeatedly. They don't turn and swim away, instead they use their pectoral fins and just scull themselves backward at the same pace you advance, keeping an eye on you at all times!
J,
Rocks, half bricks,etc. any thing picked up from the ground and thrown is given the name of Irish confetti
Well, I didn't have as much time today to fool around with improvised weapons as I thought I would, but I did make 1 sling and 1 staff sling and I tried the staff sling out with two different pouches.
First off the sling. This was almost exactly what I remember. They're small, simple relatively powerful and I think that for most people they're totally useless. While they certainly are capable of killing game, it would be one unlucky critter that actually got hit if I were the one doing the throwing. In a survival situation I think I would just be wasting time and calories fooling around with one, but maybe if you had years to perfect the art of using one or you just have an unusual talent it might be effective.
The staff sling on the other hand was another matter. When using it two handed with a small pouch and a rock a little smaller than a golf ball it would throw them with amazing force. You could hear the sling whistle through the air and the rocks hit with serious authority. I have no doubt that these could cleanly kill big game with a head shot. Accuracy however was still bad enough to make it next to useless for hunting.
That changed however when I went to using it one handed and added a bigger pouch. With three or four rocks in the pouch about 1" or so in diameter it was delivering enough power and accuracy that I think with a little refining and practice that it might be a practical hunting weapon. When using it one handed you can throw using the same motion that you would use to throw a rock and that helps accuracy immensely. You can also easily carry it at the ready.
Once I figured this out the main problem I had was that I had built a two handed sling staff. I had about a 5' staff and a 3' sling and I think it would have worked much better with about a 3' staff and a 2' sling.
What would really make this a fantastic weapon would be some sort of pouch that could really be filled up with rocks and then would dump them all cleanly. Something with about a 1 cup volume would be ideal.
First off the sling. This was almost exactly what I remember. They're small, simple relatively powerful and I think that for most people they're totally useless. While they certainly are capable of killing game, it would be one unlucky critter that actually got hit if I were the one doing the throwing. In a survival situation I think I would just be wasting time and calories fooling around with one, but maybe if you had years to perfect the art of using one or you just have an unusual talent it might be effective.
The staff sling on the other hand was another matter. When using it two handed with a small pouch and a rock a little smaller than a golf ball it would throw them with amazing force. You could hear the sling whistle through the air and the rocks hit with serious authority. I have no doubt that these could cleanly kill big game with a head shot. Accuracy however was still bad enough to make it next to useless for hunting.
That changed however when I went to using it one handed and added a bigger pouch. With three or four rocks in the pouch about 1" or so in diameter it was delivering enough power and accuracy that I think with a little refining and practice that it might be a practical hunting weapon. When using it one handed you can throw using the same motion that you would use to throw a rock and that helps accuracy immensely. You can also easily carry it at the ready.
Once I figured this out the main problem I had was that I had built a two handed sling staff. I had about a 5' staff and a 3' sling and I think it would have worked much better with about a 3' staff and a 2' sling.
What would really make this a fantastic weapon would be some sort of pouch that could really be filled up with rocks and then would dump them all cleanly. Something with about a 1 cup volume would be ideal.
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