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Knife as primary and CC firearm as back up

5K views 58 replies 38 participants last post by  Rexster 
#1 ·
Please tell me how this is wrong thinking, if it is wrong?

How many CCW or Chl folks that carry regularly also carry a LOCK BLADE FOLDER or FIXED BLADE as a back up?

In most cases with practice a LOCK BLADE FOLDER or FIXED BLADE can be deployed faster than CC firearm.

If a Bad Guy wants wallet or car keys or anything that is on you, or wants to kidnap you he would have to get close enough to demand his wants, this is where A GOOD VERY SHARP DEFENSIVE KNIFE COMES IN NOT AS BACK UP BUT PRIMARY DEFENSE.

A good sharp knife can be down right deadly, with very little concern about over penetration or missing the BG all together and downing someone else.

CC FIREARM and DEFENSE KNIFE both have there place but for up close and personal (smell his stinking bad breath) the DEFENSE KNIFE seem to win as the weapon best suited for the task.

As to the problem of getting his body fluids on you that will probably happen no matter what defensive weapon you use if you can smell his bad breath he will most likely bleed on you during the confrontation.

Tell me why this is right thinking or wrong thinking!!!!!!!!!!
 
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#2 ·
I think pretty much you are right, kind of.

My Spyderco Delica with a wave can be deployed so much faster than my 1911 can from concealment. However, my first choice would be to use my firearm, as it does not require contact distance, and can deliver more damage quicker (on average I'm gonna be able to put two in the chest faster that I will be able to sever a major blood vessel with a knife).

But if they BG is already on me, then I go for the knife as a tool to cause damage while making distance in order to try to get away/deploy my firearm (which is why knowing how to use a knife with both hands and having one accessible to both hands is IMO, a good idea.)

Also firearms tend to require less training to get to an acceptable level with than knives do.

I think that they complement each other well, but that your primary defensive tool should always be your mind, with everything else secondary tools.
 
#5 ·
My thinking is, if I have distance or can make distance and time I would go with CC firearm. Problem is I go forward better than back up, loose your footing and there is a good chance you or dead.
 
#4 ·
Thank God, I have never had to do any of this in real life!!!!!!!!!!!

But if seem to me that if BG is up close and personal and has firearm drawn already, and speed is all you have then grab for firearm with weak hand and defensive knife with strong hand and maybe push forward hard and cut his throat and then arm or hand to disable firearm. Nothing nice about it, this fight is for all the marbles.

If a weapon is pulled on you or a love one you had better be ready to do whatever it takes, and pray you win.
 
#7 ·
What if he pulls a gun after you pull your knife out? Will you have enough time to draw your firearm when he already has his gun on you?

I carry a Spyderco in addition to my firearm. But the Spyderco doesn't come out until both magazines are empty.
 
#12 ·
What if he pulls a gun after you pull your knife out? Will you have enough time to draw your firearm when he already has his gun on you?

I carry a Spyderco in addition to my firearm. But the Spyderco doesn't come out until both magazines are empty.
Aha! I see someone who is looking at the situation realistically. Others have been watching too many movies.
 
#8 ·
My mind is my primary weapon, it will assess any potential trouble before letting it get too close to me. If that fails then my secondary weapon is my pistol. I will let it tell the bg how poorly he chose his victim. If that should fail then my knife comes out. If he is too close for the firearm then the knife would come out to make distance. Which is why i keep my knife in my back pocket.
 
#9 ·
i carry a knife weak side and boot when wearing them...its weakside to defend if my firearm is grabbed or my strong side is injured and the firearm unavailable...i could see the need for the knife in a close struggle as drawing a firearm could go badly in tight quarters but the knife is a secondary weapon to my firearm in my opinion...i dont want to find out this guy knows martial arts knife defense while i have the option of trumping bruce lee tactics with a carefully placed round...i would never pretend to be that proficient with a knife...
 
#10 ·
I see where you're coming from, Searcher. However for me, the knife-fighting thing requires a skill set that has to be honed and would require a lot of training, just for that purpose. I don't wanna be a ninja - and a knife fight is not something that I ever want to choose as a primary method of defense. If somebody is presenting me with lethal force that I cannot avoid, I simply want to kill them first. Nothing elegant, just clik pao.:yup:
 
#11 ·
I think in a close quarter situation if he knocks you on the ground or something this would apply. Otherwise I would go for my 1911. The last thing I need is to get into a knife fight with some punk... or have a lesser weapon if he has a gun.

Just my thoughts.
 
#13 ·
This reminds me of something I learned when I worked as an armed security officer here in Vegas.

When I was getting my training one of the primary concepts that was taught was to use the minimum amount of force necessary against any given person.

At the time I carried OC spray, baton, flashlight, handcuffs, a .38 revolver & two speed loaders. We were told in the class by our instructor that if we drew anything from our duty belt we had better be prepared to use it. It wasn't to be used to attempt to intimidate a BG. It all depended on what type situation you were at that moment. This goes back 20+ years.

If an unarmed BG confronts & threatens you, you shouldn't be considering using your SD handgun first. You might consider using a OC spray to defend yourself. Disable him first with less lethal weapons if at all possible. If you see a weapon (knife or gun) than you should be considering using your SD handgun to protect yourself if the BG does attempt to harm you. It all depends upon that individual situation.

Every SD situation is different. I was trained to use the minimum use of force necessary to deal with any self defensive situation. Don't automatically reach for your SD handgun first. If something less lethal will work, give that a try first. We all shouldn't be reaching for our SD handgun as our first line of defense.

But that's in my humble opinion!
 
#14 ·
This thread seems to be not far removed from the "Would you rather use a CAR-15 or a katana for self-defense..."

Since guns and knives are both regarded instruments of lethal force, one is the same as the other in the eyes of the law. So I'll go with the one that doesn't require extensive training, isn't limited to contact range, and offers (IMHO, at least) greater deterrent value. I carry a knife for practical use, and in an absolute last-ditch situation it could be a weapon, but I'll stick to my gun.
 
#15 ·
Didn't Sean Connery cover this in the Untouchables? J/K

Seriously though, I see a couple problems. One is, the knife gives us an advantage only if he's not deploying any weapons at all. Which raises the question of why we are fearing for our lives. If he's not pulled anything, and we pull a knife, he may also pull a knife, or may pull a gun. If he HAS a gun in his hand, than I'm thinking pulling the knife will be a mistake, unless he is very very close to you. Where as if has a knife in his hand, we are now in a knife fight. I'm pretty sure there are no winners in most knife fights, just one guy who got cut more than the other.

There might be situations where if he is right there on top of you, where deploying the knife is your best bet, but I would think, if you could create any distance at all, the gun would be preferable.
 
#16 ·
I started this thread because I am much faster getting my knife into action than my CC firearm.

Let me share an event last week that made me come to reality about up close an personal, this event turned out well but could have been as bad as it gets!!!

Stopped at a Stop and Rob to use there restroom (getting older and coffee.) Pulled up beside store and looked around as wife and I exit car. There is a pickup truck parked between gas pumps and hwy. with two men setting in it. I started around building wife a few feet behind me as I reached the door one of the men in the truck ran past me and into the store.

Inside the store there is a man standing at the checkout talking to the clerk. The man running in pasted me and grabbed the man standing talking to the clerk. I am about 3 feet from this when I looked back and my wife is in doorway and second man from truck very close to her her. I go to bright orange headed to red fast but the distance is with in arms reach. Wife and I are both boxed as the two at the check out counter are making a racket. All this happens in like 5 or 10 seconds.

The one man by my wife is small maybe 130# and very close to her. I knew somehow that IF and I say IF this was going down bad and the one next to my wife GRABBED HER my target was going to be him. I know her, she would fight back and that would give me 1/2 second to be on him and hopefully out the door with wife and on to 911.

Up close and personal, being faster with knife and no over penetration problem the lock blade folder was my choice. When I looked at him my hand went to my back pocket and I knew in an instant that IF needed I would take that fellow down in about a blink of an eye. My lock blade folder would make a good small hand club if I did not have time to deploy blade.

Good news, good news, the two men at the check out start laughing, and horse playing or something of the sort. Calling each other cousin and heading for the door, they all left in the truck together this whole thing is over in about 15 to 20 seconds.
 
#18 ·
Where and how are you carrying your firearm because there really should not be an appreciable amount of time difference between the two?

"In most cases with practice a LOCK BLADE FOLDER or FIXED BLADE can be deployed faster than CC firearm."
 
#19 ·
If a Bad Guy wants wallet or car keys or anything that is on you, or wants to kidnap you he would have to get close enough to demand his wants, this is where A GOOD VERY SHARP DEFENSIVE KNIFE COMES IN NOT AS BACK UP BUT PRIMARY DEFENSE.

A good sharp knife can be down right deadly, with very little concern about over penetration or missing the BG all together and downing someone else.
I don't think you really want to ask for my keys.

You may get them...unfortunately they are also attached to the sheath for my lagriffe.

That would be bad.

For you.
 

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#20 ·
Honestly after thinking about this, it all boils down to situation and training. At arms touch range against another knife for me personally Im going for my blade, against a gun Im going for my Sig. If its in a grappling situation firearm or knife I say Im going for my blade.
But thats me, I've trained with blades alot more for longer then I have firearms.
 
#22 ·
Depends on the range, really. If you've done the martial arts for a while you get an idea of the tools you use at certain ranges. Throwing a right hook at someone who is a jumping front kick away is a waste of energy and time. Same goes for a gun in the fact that if they're close enough to easily interrupt your draw then it's probably best to meet them with your other tools, gain a position of dominance or safe range to where you can go for the firearm with a good chance of success, and then go from there with the firearm as your primary tool.
 
#23 ·
Please tell me how this is wrong thinking, if it is wrong?

...A good sharp knife can be down right deadly...for up close and personal...the DEFENSE KNIFE [is] the weapon best suited for the task.

Tell me why this is right thinking or wrong thinking!!!!!!!!!!
It is hard for anyone to answer your question because we don't know exactly what you are seeing in your mind. With that said, one thing that stands out to me is that you are thinking in terms of deadliness to your opponent rather than the best tactics to maximize your chance of survival.

In a lethal force situation, distance is usually your friend. If I have a handgun, I will most likely be looking to create distance and deploy my handgun.

http://www.pointshooting.com/sop9.htm
 
#26 ·
This is about the way I see it.

I am not a knife fighter or want a be knife fighter. In a case where one is bad breath close, and he is already armed, about the only chance one would have is go to the thing one is fastest with.

If I had a hammer or wrench or whatever at hand I would try to use it before BG took me out.

Willingness to fight back no matter what is used requires one to think out side the box.

If a firearm is your always or first only response, as mine was for a time, then you have limited your chances of winning, and loosing may mean the loss of love one or your own life.
 
#25 ·
I don't like knives or knife fighting! Yes, I can fight with a knife. Using the universal SCARS method, it is no different whether I'm unarmed engaged in H2H or have a knife/club in my hand. The techniques are identical and universal. And I do train with SCARS using a training knife frequently.

However, my knife is mainly a utility tool and when it comes to weapons, I doubt I would go for it first. Yep, I have no problem fighting with the knife but I don't consider myself a knife fighter and would prefer to use other tools, namely the firearm.

That's just what works for me. However, each situation is going to dictate how I respond.
 
#28 ·
I personally cannot move defensively and my strong hand is partially paralyzed so I have learned to shoot weak hand only,my defense is going to be firearm first and hopefully the 25 rounds of 230 grn HST will be enough for any threat
 
#29 ·
To have an efficient "1-stab stop" a knife needs a blade length of atleast 7 in. Granted a smaller knife in the hands of a trained professional might make a single stab stop, but in the hands of most of us, a smaller knife can only disable an arm or make a few wounds that will cause the BG to bleed out. That takes time and I really dont want to spend all that time fighting 1 person when there might be more.
 
#31 ·
By Texas law you can not carry a blade more than 5.5in and sharp on only one side. Not quit your 7inch blade in your post. BTW IMO Texas has some strange knife laws like no Bowie Knifes etc.

As to "1-stab stop" I am not sure 100% that there is such a thing, just as there is no 100% one shot stop in any caliber handgun. I agree a bigger blade is better, but a 3inch lock blade folder is better than bare hands against a BG.

IMO a short blade knife is best used as a defensive tool to allow escape from BG or BGs, it may not be the best tool for every case, but it is a handy tool, and can be very effective.
 
#30 ·
I usually carry a knife on the off-hand side. Can't really predict which would come into use in a halitosis distance fight for my life, it depends on which hand was free, location of the attacker and others nearby, etc.

Be flexible and fluid. You can't decide know what you'll do then because you don't really know what will happen then.....

Matt
 
#34 ·
I'm actually pretty well trained with blades so I always have a spade with me. I don't have a permit yet so it's perfect for when I can't OC my firearm.

Even while OCing I have the spade with me.. mainly because it feels weird not having it in its usual place. I'll tell ya... it came in real handy one night!

A friend and I were walking around downtown pretty late so he could shoot off a roll for his photography show. I had my 1911 Compact holstered in the small of my back (less noticeable but still within OC guidelines) and my spade on my hip.

Well my buddy got attacked by some tweaked thug who didn't like us taking pictures. The struggle was close contact so drawing on the guy would've just been dangerous for my buddy... so a nice arm bar with a blade pressed up against his back got us out of the situation pretty quick.

Luckily some LEOs showed up (someone had called 911 when the shouting started just before the actual assault). After some questioning... and of course being disarmed.. an officer dropped us off at my car... and the thug was arrested for having drugs on his person. Great night!

So yeah... I favor having a blade for back up.
 
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