I was about 24 yo and in medical training in a big county hospital in North Florida. I was leaving as three nurses in their mid-fifties to early sixties were ending their shifts. I offered to walk them out for their safety. Out of their lockers, each nurse took out at least two weapons including a lead sap, a large fixed-blade combat knife, a .38 snub nose revolver, a 9mm Browning Hi-Power automatic, a lead-filled blackjack, and a WW I trench knife with brass knuckles. They told us this was a bad area but this confirmed to me that admin was not lying. I asked if they would walk me out.

I carried a sap for several years when I was a law enforcement officer. Where a sap excels, strike your opponents hands. I had several suspects put their fist up in a fighting stance. I hit their fist with sap. They’re not expecting a sap strike to the fist. After the first strike, hit their second hand while it massages the first hand. They never knew what hit them, they just wanted it to stop. Most people will lose the will to fight with injured hands.

I started in police work in the early 70s and retired at the end of the last century. Saps and blackjacks were common impact weapons in those early days. I recall two pieces of advice from veteran officers about using them. The first was, 'Don't get emotionally involved using a blackjack, you can kill somebody with them. The second involved the sap. 'always a strike where the bone is closest to the skin. Never strike about the neck except in extreme. Then try to take out the guy's jaw.' A short sap carried in the strong side rear pocket was common in those days. And in a multi-cop struggle to handcuff a combative subject, they hurt I was struck in the forearm by one! I've used one on occasion and found a solid strike to the shoulder or collarbone area usually worked. Nowadays I own a collection of impact weapons including several saps and blackjacks. I would not recommend someone carrying these items as part of EDC gear. Impact weapons have their place when one is properly trained in their use. And practices with them. I used a baton or nightstick, many times more than I used the sap. If one feels they need an impact weapon, get a nice hardwood walking cane or walking stick. You can go anywhere with them and nobody will question them. I recently went through a courthouse security checkpoint with my favorite cane. I put it through the x-ray machine and the deputy complimented me about my nice cane. There are numerous training videos available about cane use for defense. I enjoy watching your channel.

In the late 70s my wife bartended in what would probably be called a biker bar. The owner always had a Sap in his back pocket. He kept a longer one behind the bar, so he gave her some lessons in it's use. He was very adamant about never hitting someone in the head. He preached shoulder or collar bone strikes. Or if the person had their arms raised, to strike their elbow. I saw him use his on 2 occasions, both were drunks that wanted to fight and refused to leave. And both times he gave them every opportunity walk away. One took a swing at him, and earned himself a probable broken elbow. The second most definitely got a broken collar bone. The first guy we never saw before or after, while the other was a regular and came back with a brace on and apologized, saying he had no memory of what happened. Both guys were bigger than the owner but the sap ended the fight both times.

I carry a sap that I made. I used bb’s for the weight. I was attacked in a parking lot, a kid was trying to rob me. I am 71 years old and the kid was about 20. I struck him in the ribs just under his arm and my next blow was on the side of his neck. He went to the emergency room with two cracked ribs and a severe deep bruise on his neck. I did have to go to jail for a night because the officer thought I used excessive force. The next morning the judge set my bail at $1.00. My wife paid my bail. I was found innocent and I didnt pay even pay for a lawyer. I found out later that the guy who attacked me had a long record. They kept my sap so I went home and made another one in about an hour. I do have ccw license but I prefer to not kill anyone. I think me having a pistol and not using it is the reason I got off so easy.

Great video. I grew up as a gringo in South America. It was dangerous to say the least. I liked saps and carried one for years for several years. Here are the benefits to carrying one (if you can do so legally): 1) Choice of Lethality - You can strike someone in a arm or shoulder and cause pain or breaks or you can hit someone in the head and change their life. Knives/firearms don't give you that option. 2) Devastatingly effective - it is surprisingly effective and breaking someone's arm or head (as you pointed out with the coconut) it will make them combat ineffective. It will likely break whatever you come into contact with. 3) Doesn't Get Blood All Over You - I carry a knife with me, but it's a tool and last defense self-defense weapon. A sap can put someone out without covering you in blood. That's really, really useful if you're in another country and are facing a possibly hostile judicial system. If you do resort to some ultraviolence, get out of there ASAP. Better to fight extraction than to face another country's judicial system. Just speaking from some (not fun) experiences. Since you asked in your video, yes I have used one on two separate violent occasions. One was to put the fear of god into someone (used the flat to hurt, but not HURT, them) and in the other, I'm pretty positive I broke a guy's shoulder blade as he turned to run away. I didn't wait around to ask because his other buddy was trying to stab me, so I ran. Not really proud of either situation, but the folly of youth and trying to live dangerously (and foolishly) leads to dangerous situations.

At 71 I carry a round 1lb blackjack to the door whenever someone knocks! I don't know how well I'd do but I'm going down swinging!! I couldn't outrun a crippled snail!! But then, the perp may slip and slide on the trail of poop I'd be leavin' behind!!

Yea OK. In my highly paid suburban PD. That I enlisted in the '80's. The "Black Jack" was replaced, with a "sap" when it was issued, it was called a "slapper" . Mostly so that an officer could testify that he/she "deployed their slapper" while being attacked" as opposed to "I jacked the asshole to his knees". We also called a "choke hold", a "Corited Restraint". Which is what it is when properly applied,( I used to instruct it in the Military Police) and every officer had to be certified in the proper use to be indemnified if they used it. Over the years I found that the best way when dealing with violent " drunks, Junkies, and general assholes, was to deploy your chemical weapon (pepper spray) in your left hand, and your "Slapper", in your right hand. It kind of went like this. "Spray, spray, SLAP. Spray, slap, slap, slap. It never went beyond that. Just sayin'

Years ago I was I the back of a bus station and putting some samples on ice for a lab near Albany. I had an old blackjack that I used to break up bags of ice for the coolers. Three young men came down the street and two had ball bats and they were breaking windows in every parked car on our side of the street. When they got to my van I faced them and did the old slapping my hand thing with the blackjack and gave them the best tough guy look I could muster up. The only guy without a bat said “ Do you think that is going to stop us?” I replied no, but it sure is going to hurt when I stop you! They bypassed my van and continued on with their vandalism on all of the other cars.

I used to work nights in DC. I became friendly with an MPD officer. He gave me a SAP and told me “Never hit them in the head.” He said everything else was fair game. Oh, he also said that if I got caught with it, he didn’t give it to me.

When I joined the PD in ‘74 the uniform pants had a SAP POCKET in the right rear under the regular rear pocket. Saps were issued and we carried them. I’d often move it to the front and slide it under my duty belt with the loop of the strap sticking out. Black against black made it invisible but real handy!

I highly recommend the book: „Saps, Blackjacks amd Slingshots - a history of forgotten Weapons“ by Robert Escobar!

Great presentation. I worked department store security in the 70's, back when store security could carry guns and make arrests, even with force. And we got in a few serious fights. We all carried saps in our right back pockets as a less-than-lethal option. We called them "slappers" in the Midwest. A lot of cops carried them back then also. Some even had special pockets in the upper leg of their uniform pants just made for a sap. As you said, we would have never used them on the head unless it was lethal force, which thankfully never happened during my tenure. My favorite strike with a sap was against an arm the opponent was trying to hit me with. I'd fade back from the punch and hit on the side of the forearm. That was never lethal, it wouldn't even break a bone. But it was unexpected, and the arm you hit would be in excruciating pain and out of the fight.

I know a guy who used one to save himself during some infamous riots. He was trying to get away, but was swarmed by people because of the way he looked. Saved his life.

Hi Daniel, in the UK, where I think these things originated hundreds of years ago, it’s called a cosh, or a blackjack (‘blackjacks’ or ‘jack-tars’ was the slang name for sailors). Usually made of metal (lead shot usually) inside a piece of leather, pretty much like what you’ve got there. They were commonly used by ‘press gangs’ - who were gangs of sailors that would abduct young men in the streets of naval towns in southern England and ‘press’ them into service in the Queen’s navy (Queen Elizabeth I, during the naval wars against the French and Spanish Armadas). They would get a ‘tap’ as they made their drunken way home from the pub at night and wake up at sea on an English man-o-war (naval gunship). Best regards from the Giant’s Causeway coast of Northern Ireland. 😄👍☘️

the sap has 5 striking faces, the two flat sides the two thin sides and the end of the sap for jabbing. the thin side against bone intensifies the shock of the strike. I make saps and live in AZ where they are legal, one stays in my pocket every day, but I never have had to use one.

In my younger years, I had pretty good results with a Gonzalez 415, 22 ounce lead-shot sap. A few strikes to the chest of an opponent were 100% effective in removing their desire to fight. My past employer still authorizes their use. My grandfather was a deputy sheriff in Tennessee in the 1930's, and he carried a ballpeen hammer as an impact weapon. Those were different days.

I used to be a big city bus driver and often carried a medium sized sap in the small of my back, painted in the same color as my uniform shirt. I never had to pull it in ten years, but it just gave me a certain confident attitude that others could perceive. Most "bad-guys" are not stupid and are quite perceptive! We gave each other respect, which prevented a lot of problems. Old timers had a saying, "It is better to be tried by twelve than it is to be carried by six."..................elsullo

Good video. I love saps and blackjacks and regularly carry one and keep one in my car. The fact that police officers (including Abe Lincoln's bodyguards), mob enforcers and street toughs carried them frequently before they were outlawed, shows how effective they were. These guys wouldn't carry them otherwise. My great uncle was a military police officer and security guard and he swore by them. He said if someone got out of line he would aim for the lower or upper arm or the thigh muscle and he said the pain of being hit by that usually took the fight out of the opponent. He cautioned against hitting the ribs as there were cases of the ribs being broken and the broken rib penetrating a lung. He said treat rib hits like headshots, only when your life was on the line. Saps and blackjacks can also be used to jab (painful) the face and are surprisingly decent at parrying knife thrusts. Kevin Secours has many videos on self defense and a couple on blackjacks/saps and how to practice with them.

I like the way you present the item of choice and how you articulate.

My great-great uncle was sheriff of a small Nebraska town in the 1920's. I still have his sap framed. It's a nice, braided, piece of art.

Your"s is first video that I have seen on utilizing a sap for self-defense. I appreciate the information. I am glad that I recently subscribed to your channel.

Several years ago, some undercover cops were making an arrest on Bourbon St. during the Carnival season in New Orleans. The dude was smoking some pot, not a big deal anymore, and it was at night with a hard drinking crowd on the street. As the officer was making the arrest the crowd surged toward him. He was plainclothes so it was difficult to understand exactly what was going on as it looked like it was a typical fight but when the cop pulled out his sap and started swinging it, not to hit anyone, he immediately cleared a large circle. Everyone got the message real fast. I've never seen one person establish a no go zone so quickly in the middle of a mob.

I've always wondered about saps and how they were used. Excellent explanation and demonstration.

Boston leather makes a nice one. Both saps and brass knuckles are as legal as fresh air and sunshine in Texas 🤠

Years ago, in the dim mists of time I went through training in the use of the baton and the sap. The major target we were taught to go for were major muscle groups, headshots were likely to kill the suspect and thus frowned upon. The other thing was to never threaten with a sap. It being a small impact weapon the thinking was it would give them time to prepare for it. That training was helpful when I was called upon to remove a beiigerent drunk who wanted to fight everybody at the bar I was working at the time. A quick shot to the thigh and a headlock and all the fight went right out of him.

GOOD COMMON SENSE STUFF, TY SIR AND KEEP EM COMING !!!

Dang good advice. Thanks for covering topics that most will not in this format. Please keep it up.

Those flat saps were the older style. The preferred saps were made by Convoy, and were basically a lead weight on a spring covered in leather. Not allowed by the department but most of us carried them anyway.

Awesome! It is sad that people like us who promote personal protection have to talk about content in almost every video we post. Great content. Great information. And really honest discussions on mindset, scaling the use of force, and I like that you tell people they need understand the laws in their own location. I will be spending more time exploring your channel today.

I've been carrying and collecting saps/black jacks and beavertails for many years and I've had to use them several times in self defense because I owned restaurants and bars in rough areas with lots of drunks and drug addicts as customers. I also own several billy clubs, expandable batons and brass knuckles. They are very effective self defense weapons but you must train with them to be able to use them properly and effectively so you don't accidentally kill someone by mistake but instead knock them senseless enough to remove them from the premises. Thanks for a great video sir and thanks for being of the very few who makes videos on these types of weapons. God bless and stay safe.

Thank you, sir! I had no idea that these things were so effective until I watched your video!

Great video! Very clear and useful presentation about an object that's almost unknown today!

Love the education. It all makes sense. Cool accessory. Subscribed. 👍

Thanks for all you my friend! "Stay Strong, Chase Excellence Brothers." - Godspeed

Thanks for the video. I have one that I found in a house that I bought years ago. I keep it in my truck in the door. I never realized how effective it could be until I saw your video. Now I am reconsidering it as a true self defense tool.

Glad to hear you mention the "SlapJack" but didn't deliberate on it. My father was in law enforcement back in the 50's,60's and 70's. And carried one all the time. He schooled me on it's usage. He said first off it replaced pistol whipping someone. You only unholstered your sidearm for it's intended use. He had the 12" spring loaded SlapJack. And demonstrated that you actually punched the combatant in the side of the face. And the spring loaded Jack would reciprocate rapidly several times back and forth on the skull 💀 Thanks for the demonstration 👊

Years ago I sewed a small pocket with a couple ounces of lead split shot into the back of a ball cap. The idea was to wear it around and if needed just grab it by the brim and whip it overhand into an assailant. Never used it, thankfully. I'm sure it would be highly illegal.

I have one almost identical that was my Dad's. He was in the British army in India towards the end of of WW2 and through the partition. Locally made and weighted with lead shot, any time he was off duty he carried it in his closed hand.

I love the range of your content

just watched L.A. Confidential a couple days ago and saw them using these in the beginning. I didn't quite know exactly what it was. I'd never seen that before. Thanks for educating me.

Great Video totally agree. I have a old sap my Grandpa had when he worked in the Cemetery for beating zombie I guess. I should tag you and show it I always imagined it being useful but never knew how great to know goes along with my PPCT training.

Yet again great video sir. I like the sap bought one many years ago in the US but it was taken from me back in the good old UK

I like your options and enjoy your videos. I also have a lot of the items that you put in your videos.

Loving the channel, and so glad I found you. Thank you!

The slapjack was my favorite when we were allowed to carry them at the PD 44 years ago. I loved it ‼️

A great trick mu cousin (career detective told me). left hand goes out to push on chest, keep distance and distract. Right hand pulls (small kosh in this case) out of pocket, swings up from centreline (start with back of hand away from you and end with back of hand facing ground) and 'clock' them not super hard on the chin. I like this because it has worked for a detective many many times.

I'd never heard of these, thanks for doing a video on them!

Mean Gene Leather makes slapjacks that not only double as coin holders, but they discreetly snap around a belt for easy carrying. They also come in a wide array of very fashionable colors. They are slapjacks for the man about town. The site refers to them as "snaparound coin purses" for legal reasons.

It is truly an effective weapon. Glad you talked about.

Some people are literally against self-defense. It's insane. 🤦‍♂️

Very cool demonstration. Was impressed with the strike to the coconut on the clothes line. It had give to it because how it was suspended, but still cracked it. Amazing.

My Grandfather was chief of police back home & he carried one of those every day.

Wow! I had no idea of the the hard impact ! I've had one laying around for years and never carried it or really knew much about it. I thought it was meant to hit someone in the head real hard. Thanks again for the great info on another item. I will respect it more now! Keep up the great classes. 👍

Very interesting, thanks. I'm familiar with leather crafting so I'm making one for myself.

I've been carrying one, wedged between the drivers seat and center console for a few years now. This is my first time I've ever heard anyone really talk about them in detail

My Grandpa carried a " blackjack " (that's what they callrd em in Chicago) was a foot long with a led ball in the end not sure the type of spring ran in it Was brown leather with a little flop to it ... Badass . Good stuff bro ✌️

Excellent video on leather saps and thank you for contact to get quality one.

Brilliant presentation! A childhood friend's Dad was an on the road salesman for an auto parts company. He called on vendors in some bad areas. He carried a revolver, but also a sap, which at the time I thought seemed wimpy and useless. Now I understand.

Cops carried these back when spitting on them was hazardous to your health.

In Germany up to 1972 two smaller weapons had been allowed. A) The Totschläger with similarities to sap or blackjack. B) The Stahlrute ( steelrod), a telescopic baton where the telescopic elements had been spiral springs , at the tip iwas a Metal ball of steel, brass or lead.

VERY BALANCED AND WELL SAID BRO!

This is a great channel!

For the countries like mine that dont like saps, you can however carry a folding leather coin purse, and coincidentally when you have a bit of spare change in coppers in it, its almost as effective, just with the downside of if the stitching fails you get to make it rain i guess?

Wow! Interesting, I never heard of the leather saps. Thank you for your good common sense !

I just found your channel and I am impressed with your no nonsense approach to weapons. And I love the fact that you talk about the legality of using these weapons. Like, in this video, you telling people NOT to hit attackers in the head unless it is a life and death situation because saps can be really deadly. (TBH, I thought that you were supposed to hit people in the head with a sap in a confrontation. I did not know it could kill! I thought it would just knock an opponent out! So thank you for that.)

This is a great video because as you said, options are a way to protect your life in the worst case scenario. Thanks for your video 😂

Great video. Concise and to the point. Well done.

Awesome. This was interesting, something i would never have though of.thanks.

Curiosity: What is your background? I earned my Ranger tab in November 1968 and served in RVN ‘69. I enjoy your calm description and review of various self defense tools. As far as what would I do during an actual home invasion, I would rise to the occasion without a second thought. Keep up the videos, they are very educational.

Just recently found your channel. A lot of great content. Keep up the good work!

Idk why I'm just now being recommended your channel, but thank god, I love the content, liked and subbed!

Another great episode! My two main SAPs were also made for me And the leather worker only agreed to do it to my specs because I was serving in a combat unit. He made them one long, and one short to my specifications. Mine have HUGH ball bearings on a flat quarter-inch neodymium magnet. allows me to hook it to my utility belt. The long one is made that way in order to get it into the enemy's TEMPLE - That's a %70 death shot. The long fulcrum allows me to hold and lock his punching//grabbing arm and WAMMO! I have used it to wonderful effect. I have only carried but never used the shorter one The large and longer one really performs well and you can CRACK a nose, mandible, and forehead BEFORE you ever get to his temple. As we like to say . . . "This has been tested - It is effective"

I have one and is approximately 50yrs old. I love it and it is a very good self protection item. Never leave home without it.

Completely legal in my state, and as others have mentioned uniforms used to have a sap pocket just for them. There is a continuum of force available to you, not just with where you target but if you use the flat or the edge. People tend to only use the flat, but if you need to up the pain compliance you can use the edge as well, same amount of energy but on a much smaller surface area. Note this will likely split the skin if over a bone and it may look like a knife cut at first glance, so know what you're doing. Foster coin sap is a good option for less permissive carry. If you're traveling and crossing an area, say a TSA checkpoint, where a sap would definitely catch unwanted attention you can unload the coins into a separate bag and now you just have an empty leather bag. Hook your keys on it, it's just a big key chain. Never got a second glance.

I agree with you. I think most of those gray areas you speak of comes from most people's lack of understand of "What is the legal definition of self defense?" They are not quite sure when they can or cannot use force and then how much force. Its not like TV.

As a law abiding citizen I choose to carry what I need to defend myself and hope society is civilized enough not to try and harm one another. I will have what I need to defend myself l, regardless of the law, and I will expect a sane and emotionally mature jury would understand if I had to defend myself for any reason, it was because there was no other option.

We were not allowed to carry these when I was a Cop!😉😉😉😉

Started carrying a slapper back in ‘81. Took the first out of everyone that chose to fight. I had one of the round ones with a spring handle, but that opened up everybody and wound up turning into a prisoner run to the ER. When we ordered our uniform pants, we were able to order pants with two sap pockets, which were basically right behind your thigh on each leg. I still have the original one, and I remembered the first time I used it, and never had an issue or lost the battle with it. Back in the day, we didn’t have tasers or pussy spray. All we had was the fight in our heart, a slapper, the wood and a revolver. Gave many a wood shampoo back in the day, that’s the problem these days, none of these scumbags on the street had their shit squared away forthwith..

Cool video man I have a longer Sap, with a braided leather middle, about 10 inches in total. It can be used to hit someone across the back of the neck and it will put them out cold almost instantly, it disrupts nervous system. The lead ball all the end won’t even really need to make a direct impact, it’s more or the length of the Sap going perpendicular across the neck

My uncle rip Stanley he was a North Philly cop in the early 70s to90s after the Marines he became cop walking the beat in North Philly under cover detective he called it a Slappy had a spring and lead ball wrapped in leather he carried it every day and his 357 with moon clips he loved the Slappy . Good content 👍

Looks like a nice gift for Mom & Grand Ma !

Great information! I carried one for 25yrs as a police officer, along with the PR24.

I carried and used a sap on the west coast for 34 years LE. We carried the Gonzales model 415. To this day, my old employer still allows the sap and some guys do so accordingly. I loved my sap. Ours were made with lead shot sewn in heavy leather. My dad carried a “beavertail” sap, but the lead fill ones are way more effective.

Fun tip, a Bar of soap tied into a long sock (the thick work sock kind) makes a great swing mace, and its 100 % legal carry !

I for one, appreciate your educational information, and your personal perspective. Thank You

I still remember the sting from a leather strap on the hand I got by the principal back in the day😂Well demonstrated ❤

Cool video about another self defense item I can't legally possess in my state

I was wondering about these. Thanks

Just fell for it. Will make one for myself. Thanks bro

You can use a swift backhand to the chin and mostly it's over for a "bad guy" but really watch out with the skull especially the back of it..the bone is thinner there. On the other side the message in this video is truly spot on when it's all or nothing at all to deescalate any situation.. Awesome review and awesome Channel ❤👍🏻

NYPD needed some the other day... Botta-Bing Botta-Boom solved

Flat sap, black jack.. I ordered mine from Sa-So over 40 years ago in my early 20's. It's maybe 10" long with the sewn in strap. Heck of a tool. Never had to use it on anyone. It stays inside my home, always has. I might have carried it when younger it night because it fits so perfect in the back pocket.

My first training officer in the jail was 5’ 05” and a buck twenty five. He carried a 12” spring loaded beaver tail sap. My first night I got to watch it in action. The edge will significantly destroy skin if not perfectly positioned. Ribs and collar bones are good targets too. I was impressed with how effective it was. This was 1985 and only those grandfathered in with the saps could still carry them. I was authorized to carry a 13” billy club that was very good at busting bones. Illegal as heck now in California.

My Grandpa was a bar owner and kept one under the bar. I inherited it after he died. It looks similar to the larger ones you have but it's got braided rawhide around it. Where I live it's legal to own one but not to concealed carry. I keep it in my truck.

I carried a short sap on patrol back in the 80's . They were very useful in hand to deter violent confrontations .

Carried on and off duty as a law enforcement officer. 34 year career. Authorized to carry for 10 years of that time along with SAP gloves. Both very effective in defense.

Very informative and educational videos and content. Thank you. You should do a review on Stinger Whips. 😁

I just recently subbed, great content. I know you’re a Glock fan, I’d love to see a review of the Glock 81 field knife soon. Bet it’d be a really popular video too 😄

Saps are illegal to carry in my country but I used to own one. It was a hand or palm sap. In case anyone doesn't know, it fits over your hand with the load resting in the palm of your hand. Usually the load was lead but the one I owned had a chunk of steel sewn into the leather. The beauty of it was how unobtrusive it was, saps rely on surprise to be properly effective and, believe me, no one saw it coming. You could knock someone out cold with what looked like an open palmed slap, like swatting a fly. As someone recently said, lead with speed, devour with power. Just a reminder, you don't need to use just the flat part of a sap, striking with the edge is also very effective too.