Manual of Arms for Baseball Bat

[blindhari]

Harley Rider 55,
I have heard there is nothing more dangerous than a bit of a stick,,,with an Irishman on the other end of it. However I disagree. My mother was an Irish immigrant and her bit of a stick where we lived in the country was a Winchester 30-30. I think my father would have been killed when I was about 8 without my redheaded mother backing him up with her deer rifle. I have never been able to forget her locked into the front door covering dad out near the street. Three guys in a 53 chevy with nothing but run on thier mind when mom levered one in. They are both gone now but that winchester is still over the door in my bedroom.

blindhari

 

[Charles Davis]

Greetings all
A BB bat is a fairly crude clubing tool that needs two hands to work well. It can be dificult to meter out a little punishment. "Gee officer, he reached for my wallet so I clubed him to the ground". If you have a bat in your car on a routine stop, the officer may say "You better be going to a baseball game".
In my opinion, the best legal self defense tool you can have is a Cane. You can use it one hand or two and meter out the deterant you need. A hardened crooked type Rattan cane is awesome. Take some two hand escrima stick training and you can use it with your Cane, stick, flashlight, Ice scraper or what ever you have in your hand.
Ancient dragon

 

[Yo Mama]

Charles, I'm a pretty small guy and can swing a bat one handed enough to get the point across.

Also, in AZ with a CCW, I don't need to be going to a BB game. I can have a bat, cane, or metal pole (which I have due to length in car) and no explaination needed.

IMO a bat is not as good as a gun, but I'd much rather have the bat than nothing.

 

[Charles Davis]

Bats are great for clubing small animals but not a good self defense tool.
There may be legal issues also

 

[Charles Davis]

Baseball bats

Hi Yo Mama
One reason I like Arizona is that you can carry what ever you want. Another great state is Vermont. you can buy and carry any handgun you want. You just have to behave yourself. I have a LTC also but,here in MA, you have to pick your carry gear carefully.
A one handed bat swing will certainly pack a punch if you don,t miss. In the time you can swing a bat one handed, you can deliver 3 or 4 devestating strikes with a Cane, Escrima stick or flashlight from 3 different directions.

 

[rattletrap1970]

A baseball bat is awful unless you can't find anything else. They are heavy, and don't allow a follow up shot a quickly as you might need. They are also deflected easily with a bit of skill putting you in a very bad position.

 

[leadcounsel]

To those that say ball bats are aweful, I disagree. After reading this thread I checked on Craigslist and bought 3 lightly used adult sized baseball bats - two aluminum and 1 hickory, all 30" long, for a total of $10! That's about $3 each!

Certainly not the first go-two weapon for a gun owner, but for a weapon that takes almost no training for the athletic person, and one that strikes fear in anyone that understands what a bat can do and all but the most confident assailants, a baseball bat is a fantastic and affordable weapon. And combined with a $1 baseball glove and ball in your trunk it looks very natural and is very easy to explain if that's any issue (you should never give consent to search your car but if it happens...).

Going back to my original statement, a single well connected haymaker with a baseball bat will deliver significant damage to your assailant... My only training with a bat is limited to playing baseball and softball in my youth, and yet it's incredibly comfortable and natural to swing, and I would feel very comfortable wielding it as a weapon. At only 34 oz. and nearly indestructible, an aluminum bat is an outstanding weapon, even by todays standards.

Let's not forget that the mace and club of yesteryear was one of the most effective weapons you could use on a battlefield. And the baseball bat is very similar, and lighter and easier to wield.

 

[conw]

Bats are great for clubing small animals but not a good self defense tool.

Odd, I've never heard of this... kind of creepy to tell the truth.

 

[JohnMcD348]

I don't see why a bat would not be a decent home defense weapon if nothing else was easily available due to whatever circumstances are present. If you had a wooden bat with a few small nails or brads in it, you have the equivalent of a modern day Mace or simple Club that was used for millennia to do battle, hunt and kill game and generally defend ones self. Also, according to legend, they were used well to get oneself a mate to keep you warm in the cave on a cold night.

Granted, this would not and never would be my 1st choice of a weapon, but if I found myself in a situation where it was all I had, I would definitely come out swinging for the fences in a manner that would make 'The Babe" or Mickey Mantle proud. I may end up being judged by St Peter in the end but I can guarantee, the other judges would be telling me I was swinging like a .300 hitter.....

 

[blindhari]

A mace was an extremely limited weapon utilised by many to avoid the biblical "those who live by the sword, die by the sword" The mace was also the symbol of royal authority and a weapon of no range or stand off ability. Lastly it might be observed that a .300 hitter would definetly be judged by St Peter, one out of three means you DIE two out of three times, minimum.

blindhari

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Bats have there place and they do work. I know from personal experience. A ash T-ball bat and a dose of bad temper and attidude will get the job done.

 

[Mightee1]

Use a baton

I think something that could be used one-handed would be far more effective. That leaves the other hand open for flashlight, cell phone, etc. A baseball bat is rather slow and clumsy when swung one-handed and will not deliver enough energy to be effective. Two handed, however, that can crush bone and cause massive trauma… but forget about seeing what you are swinging at in the dark. The bat also makes you extremely vulnerable during the windup and is only good in close quarters.

A small expanding baton would be a better non-firearm home defense tool. They can still carry lots of energy to an intruder and allow for quicker follow up hits than a baseball bat while still delivering bone crushing energy. Because they are lighter, they can be swung one-handed giving you some much needed distance before body contact occurs. They also come with a wrist strap so they won’t slip out of your hands.
-Mightee1

 

[TimboKhan]

maybe the sight of a 5'10' Amazon completely nude and charging snarling while waving any blunt object would have been enough to run him off.

Boy, if I had a nickel for every time this has happened to me.

Hso is right, there have been a number of threads about melee weapons and their usefulness in the home. While it takes a little bit of effort and training time, the good ol' spear is without peer. Distance, the ability to slash and jab, the ability to be used bluntly, whatever. I do advocate bats/sticks based upon the rudimentary manual of arms (grasp, swing hard, repeat) and the fact that even a simpleton can do some damage, but if I were really, truly going to go gunless, I would get a spear and learn how to use it properly.

 

[Rail Driver]

If you must use a bat, why not use one that serves a purpose?
http://www.neatorama.com/2006/09/14/...bedside-table/
It doesn't look like it would be too hard to make.

Have the table made from laminated kevlar and it'd be effective Could also drill the core of the bat, fill it with about 1 or 2 lbs of lead, and seal it back up...



I'll go put on my tin hat now

 

[blindhari]

If a bat is such a good melee weapon, why do cops carry side handle batons?

blindhari

 

[TimboKhan]

Not all cops carry side handle batons. I have seen just as many old school billy clubs as batons out there, but let me give you my totally uneducated guess about why.

I am guessing that it boils down to the different techniques that the standard baton affords you over a bat, particularly when it comes to restraining someone or doling out some pain compliance. As far as striking power in and of itself, I can't imagine that the baton has any particular advantage over a regular billy club or bat (outside of mass, obviously). Anyway, it is for this reason that I know more than a few cops here in my town that actually favor Nunchuks! You can still strike with them, but having been on the receiving end of some of the pain compliance techniques (voluntarily, I hasten to add), I can tell you that the work quite well.

The thing is, there is nothing that says that you can't use a baton in place of a bat. I like the bat because it is simple and does decent damage, but if you ramp up the training curve a little bit, you can probably do more with a baton. I like bats as a weapon, I advocate bats as a weapon, but I won't argue that they are the best weapon on the planet. Just the simplest to use, and therein lies the beauty. Also, when I say bat, I mean baseball bat but that doesn't mean I rule out things like batons, collapsible batons, billy clubs, tire checkers, etc. It would probably be more accurate to say that I advocate a club as opposed to just saying bat. Bats just happen to be the most commonly available and cheap club that I can think of.

 

[JarlHunden]

Um the mace was so horrendous of a weapon that there was the first ever arms treaty over them. Why? Simple, it killed more soldiers than any other three weapons combined, and the few that survived were a burden on the rest of sociaty. The reason was, it crushed even plate armor, and damaged the body underneath. Sometimes the armor was so dammaged it could not be removed. Look it up, it is there in history. After the "Agreement" no knight was to carry a mace, nor were they to allow anyone to carry a mace.

So knowing that bit of history .......

 

[W.E.G.]

I like the baseball bat for the rec room.

However, the baseball bat is not a good choice for all rooms of the house.
One should train regularly on expedient weapons in each room.

Next installment:
The dental floss garrote.

I'm tellin' ya, you don't want to interrupt my morning glory.

 

[Sebastian the Ibis]

A bed post in the hands of an NFL running back is a fearsome weapon:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/2008-06-04-483154360_x.htm

 

[Harley Rider 55]

blindhari
It sounds like your grandmother was a fiesty one.

Tonfas don't have the ability to emasculate someone or tear out their throats. The pointed handle of my cane can.

Tonfas are also illegal to carry in Texas. I have many illegal weapons I must carry to and from my classes locked in a rifle case for transport.

A cane may be carried on an airline.

 

[P.B.Walsh]

Why not just get a sword, it's pointy and sharp, not to mention scary as hell to an intruder.....

 

[hso]

Ok, this one's wandered from defensible expedient defensive tool into modified premeditated murder weapon.

For all you folks that want to "improve" upon a baseball bat through modification, don't. Awful advice, unless you want to increase your chances of ending up in front of a jury being described as some crazed lunatic that watched "The Hills Have Eyes" and engaged in Mad Max fantasies too many times.