They are indeed. I've seen them used as fighting weapons far too many times in the Third World, and the damage that results.
Click over to Gun Free Zone's post about that, and watch the video. WARNING: It's not for the squeamish or faint at heart. You'll see a hand chopped right off, among other injuries.
Keep that in mind when you're next threatened by a machete, or a sharpened garden spade, or any improvised edged weapon (not to mention conventional knives). If you get up close and personal in a knife fight, you almost certainly will get cut, if not much more severely injured. It goes with the territory.
That's also why I tend towards larger, heavier calibers of handgun when in environments where that sort of danger may be a threat. I want to stop anyone heading my way with such a weapon in their hands. Smaller calibers and cartridges may work . . . but then again, they may not.
Peter
Witness the .45 ACP.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised there's not greater blood loss after having a hand chopped off. Is that common, Peter?
ReplyDeleteHe lost a hand and still kept fighting, that is the truly scary part of that video..
ReplyDeleteSo much for Hollywood 'one hit and collapse' fights.
That video should be shown to every jury in a lethal force trial on why the defendant shot the deceased so many times and not 'shoot to wound'.
I would have expeted more arterial bleeding, but maybe I just couldn't see it in the video. The guy who lost his hand didn't seem particulary fazed and remained ambulatory.
ReplyDeletePrayers for your health Peter.
As EMS tends to notice, there are "winners" and Losers" of a true knife fight.
ReplyDeleteThe Loser dies on the street, the winner in the ER.
Unlike the 3 Musketeers, knife fights go on well past deadly wounds, generally on both sides.
9mm is fine, most of the time but the 21 foot rule makes a 45 or better a shotgun better.
I remember a conversation between a retired SEAL and a retired Delta operator talking about knife fighting. One said,"Remember the first rule of knife fighting?"
ReplyDeleteThe second said,"Yep! Loser goes to the morgue, winner goes to the ICU!"
FormerFlyer
yeah, that's why i no longer carry my 38 snubby as primary. a 43x AND the snubby, or the g19 are bare minimum now. ms13 was already here but they have been able to bring in dozens/hundreds more since uncle joe got installed. don't even know who all else came too. see a machete, i shoot until they drop or change shape.
ReplyDelete.45 is preferred... sigh
ReplyDeleteThe body has the ability to stop the loss of blood at major traumas, particularly at amputations. It's when the injured party reaches a point that they can relax, end of fight, etc, that the blood can suddenly flow like a breached dam.
ReplyDeleteIncident in war:
FOB in Vietnam, Major nighttime attack. An attacker with a backpack breaching charge was spotted moving toward the outlying razor fencing. The .50 BMG was directed to stop him. Shortly after, he stood up, now missing his entire right arm at the shoulder. The defenders were shocked, and a little slow to finally get after him. He made it into the wire, but no explosion resulted.
After the sun rose, the base commander took a walk to the body to assess the explosive package. This was 5 hours after falling into the wire. The enemy raised his head and looked at the Captain, who was so surprised that he missed his first shots to kill him with his pistol. Turned out that he couldn't access the detonator while entangled in the wire.
Story told by Chuck Taylor, During lunch break at a class.
Dont need a knife, i was carjacked in 2007 and the attacker stabbed me with a long screwdriver. Luckily i survived and kept my vehicle. Unfortunately the attacker also survived and got away.
ReplyDeleteExile1981
Gotta see about a Glock 21, for that double-stack .45 goodness. Wish I had gotten a Para-Ordinance, back in the day. Backing a 12 guage.
ReplyDeleteor a sharpened garden spade
ReplyDeleteIn the hands of someone who knows how to use one, an entrenching tool is a fearsome weapon.
Indiana Jones taught me everything I need to know about being in a knife fight!
ReplyDeleteRecall that the Army called the .45 Colt Army back into service in the Phillipines when the smaller rounds would not quickly stop Muslim attackers with steel edged weapons.
ReplyDeleteThe 1911 and the .45 ACP cartridge was designed as a replacement for the .45 LC cartridge.
John in Indy