Low Tech or Ancient Weapons

More combat/ambush archery and combined arms tactics using both old and new weapons in unconventional warfare:

1942: A village in northeast China is preparing for the annual Zhongyuan Festival, where every August or September lining up with the seventh month in the lunar calendar, families prepare banquets and light incense to honor deceased elders. The hunters in the village had departed into the woods to harvest deer and boar to bring back to cook. Unbeknownst to anyone, battle lines were being drawn nearby as the Communist 8th Route Army had launched it's Hebei Offensive against the Japanese army occupying the northeast. A Japanese army scouting picket sent forth to assess the Chinese army's advancing lines came upon the village and decided to engage in a rape and slaughter orgy before going on with their mission. The hunters return to find their family members violated and murdered and proceed to take revenge on the troops and officers of the picket, which had marched further down the road.

WARNING: Graphic and traumatic scenes. The full TV series is even more heartbreaking, but sends a clear message: Evil cannot be reasoned or pleaded with, but only fought and exterminated with extreme prejudice.

 
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I must admit that I've had a fascination with ancient weaponry. The ingenuity, on the other hand, used by ancient peoples to hunt wild game or dispatch their enemies with very little material to get the job done is amazing.

Also used in survival situations and where firearms are prohibited and unaffordable, ancient or low-tech weapons come into play.

I've played around with traditional archery as well as modern compound bows. The compound bows were all sold off. They were too complex for me to use and maintain. So I have a couple older recurve crossbows, longbows and recuves.

So traditional archery for my hunting is as low tech as far as I've "regressed." On the other hand, I've used a baseball bat as a weapon before in self-defense situations. It also works as a deterent!

So I'd like to start a thread on ancient or low tech weapons. I'll start first.

The spear has fascinated me but I really suck at throwing them. Lynn Thompson at Cold Steel has produced some affordable spears. The two latest that I've acquired are the American Hunting Spear and the Maasai Spear. The second is the most badass spear that I've seen yet.

The American Hunting Spear could not be any simpler. All you need to do is purchase the head then get a shovel handle. I did a little filing and sanding for a better fit. Then applied some stain an Tru-Oil.

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The Cold Steel Maasai Spear:

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The little fat guy isn't liked by some people but he ain't stupid as he's made more money than most of us will in our lifetime.





Bonus video: Where were girls like this when I was younger?



The spear heads from cold steel at the top are more Pilum heads than spears. The Pilum was the optimized javelin for battle used by Romans. It would bend after contact, making it nearly useless to be thrown back. A true thrusting spear will have a broader longer head and blood channels, have some Carbon in the steel, and be very resistant to being bent or broken. I'd be worried that upon contact or deep penetration with a jacked up and moving larger animal the spear will bend easily or even break. You will also want at least two if not three bolts connecting the shaft. Next is a guard on the spear about 18 inches up from the tip to prevent the game from running up the spear to get to you and also allow you to cam the animal over. Finally, skateboard tape all along the shaft is a good thing. You will be sweating and the animal bleeding and that shovel handle will get slick!

Look up bear spear for more info. Lots of cool pics on line of actual hunts. There are also some pics of actual lances used by the Comanches and Sioux for hunting that are interesting.


There is a sub culture of spear and knife pig hunters in Texas. Find a sleeping circle, stalk a feeder, or go into a trap for some real fun.
 
If you have a bitchy woman at home who hates to go shopping for groceries, show her this video. She will see the error of her ways and thank you for pointing out her selfish and lazy attitude. Be sure to let her know that she's got a hardened structure to live in rather than a grass hut that leaks when it rains. From then on, she will be glad to work in the kitchen and clean house. Gentlemen, all it takes is a little psychology to keep the little woman in line. Trust me. I know. I've been married twice!

 
2200 year Roman spear point still lodged in bone.

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Nothing primitive about them.

The Assegai is an almost perfect CQB weapon… developed by the Zulus and used with the “head/horns/loins of the bull” tactic, it was devastating even to rifle-equipped enemies.

And still being offered!


Sirhr
My wife got me one of these for Christmas last year. It is truly an intimidating weapon when held in hand.
 
If you have a bitchy woman at home who hates to go shopping for groceries, show her this video. She will see the error of her ways and thank you for pointing out her selfish and lazy attitude. Be sure to let her know that she's got a hardened structure to live in rather than a grass hut that leaks when it rains. From then on, she will be glad to work in the kitchen and clean house. Gentlemen, all it takes is a little psychology to keep the little woman in line. Trust me. I know. I've been married twice!


Will show this to my wife, thanks for the tip. I’ve also had pretty good luck explaining to her how my mom would do things.
 
Will show this to my wife, thanks for the tip. I’ve also had pretty good luck explaining to her how my mom would do things.
It sounds like you have a good excuse to tell her why you want to buy the modern version of the Maasai Spear.

I decided to get one for myself but haven't booked a trip to Africa with it yet and my state doesn't permit hunting big game with a spear.

The video doesn't do it justice. This thing is real badass. It makes me wonder what the real Maasai tribesmen would think of it.

Yes, I know some people don't like the little fat guy but hate him or not, he made a lot of money on tools like these.

Anyone who doesn't like throwing a spear probably thought dodge-ball was a dangerous sport.







 
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problem is these were used by warriors who grew up with them. required years or decades to master. they were much better physically than the average american. speed,power,strength,coordination mattered. many of us grew up with guns. guns are a lot easier to become proficient with,thus col colt and equality. advanced expert a dif thing but real mastery of firearms not essential for effective use. and,the macuahuitl didn't do so well against very early rifles and horses and steel. all same applies to the katana. IMHO the greatest of all edged weapons. that didn't win over meiji troops with early japanese guns.
 
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problem is these were used by warriors who grew up with them. required years or decades to master. they were much better physically than the average american. speed,power,strength,coordination mattered. many of us grew up with guns. guns are a lot easier to become proficient with,thus col colt and equality. advanced expert a dif thing but real mastery of firearms not essential for effective use. and,the macuahuitl didn't do so well against very early rifles and horses and steel. all same applies to the katana. IMHO the greatest of all edged weapons. that didn't win over meiji troops with early japanese guns.

Even before the days of common guns, fields of archers regularly cut down fields of melee troops.
Ranged weapons beat melee weapons when you have tactics.
Kind of like the story of the strong husky primitives with heavy spears as opposed to the lighter faster primitives who mastered using atlatls instead.
 
SCOFF...
All of this talk about blades, swords, arrows, spears, atlatl and trebuchet and yet
NOT ONE SINGLE MENTION...
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Those things are DEADLY. Tim Wells took down a black bear and moose with one using broadhead darts and he just blew into it manually. Rig up a compressor nozzle that uses precharged CO2 canisters or small PCP tanks and it would be 10-20x more formidable.
 
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problem is these were used by warriors who grew up with them. required years or decades to master. they were much better physically than the average american. speed,power,strength,coordination mattered. many of us grew up with guns. guns are a lot easier to become proficient with,thus col colt and equality. advanced expert a dif thing but real mastery of firearms not essential for effective use. and,the macuahuitl didn't do so well against very early rifles and horses and steel. all same applies to the katana. IMHO the greatest of all edged weapons. that didn't win over meiji troops with early japanese guns.
Don't forget Molotov cocktails...

Yep beats mele weapons, your enemy has a hard time swinging their weapons around when they are on fire...

Even before the days of common guns, fields of archers regularly cut down fields of melee troops.
Ranged weapons beat melee weapons when you have tactics.
Kind of like the story of the strong husky primitives with heavy spears as opposed to the lighter faster primitives who mastered using atlatls instead.

All of what you say is true. However, it's still a fascinating subject to explore. Even today with modern semi-automatic side arms and rifles the 21 foot rule still applies.

Low-tech knives are still scary. Put in a situation, whether a LEO or civilian, the decision to shoot or not shoot could be very costly.

In no way am I saying that a bladed instrument is superior to a firearm. I'm just saying that it should not be underestimated.

As a teenager, there were a few bad guys following me down an alley one day. I tangled with them before and wasn't about to let them have the upper hand.

They might have been about 30-40 yards behind me. I pulled out a Case pocket knife with a 2 1/2 inch blade and opened it.

While still walking with my back to them, I held the open knife at my side for a couple of minutes then slipped it in my pocket with the blade open but still held it in my hand to prevent the blade from cutting me or the pocket of the pants. It wasn't deep inside the pocket but enough that it remained concealed with the appearance to anyone that might be watching that I just had my hands in my pockets.

Just displaying the knife like that, even with the diminutive blade, let them know I was serious and they left me alone.

They were cowards and I knew it. The only way they attacked was in groups and when they were bigger than their targets. Even if they had knives on them, they were evaluating the cost of messing with me that day and eventually decided that it wasn't worth it.

In the long run, I never had any more problems with that group because they knew that I would kill them without batting an eye if they ever attacked me.

So a low tech weapon isn't an end-all tool to every scenario. It has its place.
 
problem is these were used by warriors who grew up with them. required years or decades to master. they were much better physically than the average american. speed,power,strength,coordination mattered. many of us grew up with guns. guns are a lot easier to become proficient with,thus col colt and equality. advanced expert a dif thing but real mastery of firearms not essential for effective use. and,the macuahuitl didn't do so well against very early rifles and horses and steel. all same applies to the katana. IMHO the greatest of all edged weapons. that didn't win over meiji troops with early japanese guns.
Yep folk kinda overlook , how much training was involved in most of non citizen armies in the history, (any military that was not made of part time farmers or artisans just called in for duty) and how much value was placed on skilled force , if you look ancient or even medieval militaries units traveled then known globe for campaigns as vasals and mercs , you needed Archers of specific type these were brough in from literally thousands of kilometers away , needed horsemen of specific type same, war elephants literaly walked them from india into europe , crossbowmen to deal with armored opponents brought Genovese to asia to fight for the Mongols.Needed to deal with succession for a throne somewhere in ME , brought in Serb Heavy cavalry. Why ? because required equipment ,skill set and training could not be infused into local recruits for years if not decades if at all due some physical traits required .
 
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problem is these were used by warriors who grew up with them. required years or decades to master. they were much better physically than the average american. speed,power,strength,coordination mattered. many of us grew up with guns. guns are a lot easier to become proficient with,thus col colt and equality. advanced expert a dif thing but real mastery of firearms not essential for effective use. and,the macuahuitl didn't do so well against very early rifles and horses and steel. all same applies to the katana. IMHO the greatest of all edged weapons. that didn't win over meiji troops with early japanese guns.

In the late 1500s Japan had more guns than Europe. They were decisive in the invasion of Korea where there were set piece battles and massed formations. The Battle of Segikihaara had 30,000 guns and were decisive there as well despite the heavy rain. Japan did not ban guns, but rather banned non samurai (nobles) from owning weapons in general. This was very similar to continental Europe which set up controls on its peasant populations during the early Middle Ages.