Home Front: Impact testing

I wanted to do a bit of a demonstration on the effects of some of the impact tools I have been covering of late, and throughout my reviews.

Here's the lineup:
1)Cybernetic Research Labs Tactical Pen
2)Ti2 Techliner pen
3)RaidOps MF Delta
4)RaidOps TM Joe
5)Sharp Shooter keychain




I asked a group of my hitting and hacking peers and came up with "pumpkin" as as good a target for testing as any.

I wanted a good solid target, which would offer a fleshy impact simulation, not be pulped, but also not shatter on impact. I happened to have a butternut pumpkin handy and it being winter here, wanted some with dinner.

For good repeatability of the tests, I chose a downwards punch from about chest height for each strike. I didn't put any hip into the strike, nor follow through, just a static jab type punch. For the pen type tools I used a downward stab, from the heel of the fist. I braced the pumpkin with a pencil, just to stop it rolling, and turned it for each strike to hit a fresh surface 

The CRL. Tactical Pen sunk in only to the depth of the tool tip, stopping at the body of the pen. It collected a lot of material on the way out. In fact, my pen still has pumpkin wedged into the fluting.

The Ti2 TechLiner pen sunk in further than I would have expected for a blunt tool, but it's sleek lining offered little resistance. It also cored some pumpkin, but not nearly as aggressively as the CRL pen.

The MF -Delta had a fairly shallow penetration, with the flat head giving a regular indentation and the bottle opener head giving a shallower, but jagged indentation. I wasn't surprised that the Delta didn't dig in more, but it did feel very comfortable in the hand. 

The TM -Joe dug in a surprising amount, all the way to the "jaw" of the tool, which upon reflection, shouldn't have been surprising, given the chisel-wedge shape of the teeth of this tool.  

The SharpShooter was an interesting test. I did two, one from the key-end as a flail. Again with my hand held around chest height, and the second as a pen-strike as with the CRL and Ti2 pens. 

The flail end of the SharpShooter left a very shallow, but messy set of intends, one for each key, as well as the shackle, and even one from the ring (which I accidentally had left loose, rather than around my finger as per the instructions).






The pen end of the SharpShooter was fairly disappointing, but not unexpected, mostly because of the combination of the rubber stopper and the paracord knot. It left a bit of a bruise on the skin, but no discernible penetration. 

I then started cutting up my pumpkin, and got to see the trauma dished out by each tool.

The CRT and Ti2 pens showed their depth of penetration and the tissue trauma really nicely.

The MF-Delta's shallow penetration belayed the broad spread of trauma beneath the skin, which was quite pervasive all around the penetration, to a respectable depth

The TM-Joe offered a comparable amount of trauma, but deeper and wider. This is definitely the nastier of the two tools to strike with. I shudder to consider the combined effects of skin and flesh and bone when struck by this titanium tool.


The Sharp Shooter didn't display any significant penetration, nor trauma beneath the rind of the pumpkin (which was delicious, I might add).

All in all I'd say that the RaidOps TM-Joe was the most devastating tool to make a mess of a pumpkin with, and perhaps I will move on to some meat-tests with it, like I did with the SuperHammer and KA-BAR knives ...

Review: SharpShooter

I saw a cool impact weapon in one of my feeds, and got in touch with its creator, Karate Master Robert Moran,  to see if I could try one out. Master Moran was kind enough to send me one, and I've carried it in my pocket for some time now, and can give you my thoughts. This is the SharpShooter keychain and what I can tell you about it.

The keychain consists of four distinct components. The core element is the paracord that runs through the center. This is doubled up and serves as the main conduit for the Sharp Shooter's action.

Knotted at one end, a length of steel tubing, covered in a silicone sleeve for grip is set up to run freely, apart from a silicone gasket, which pins it in place as a friction lock.

A steel o-ring is looped into the main paracord loop and is used as the retention system for the keychain, and its as easy to use as wearing a ring. Being free-floating the ring and the steel tube can slide freely. 

The last component is the keychain component, which features a steel oval screw link as you might find in climbing or in boating. It holds your keys in a nice tight bunch, ready to open your doors, or perhaps offer a face-full of "please unhand me, uncouth ruffian" as needed.

The idea of the keychain is to offer an alternate means of carrying your keys as well as offering a flexible weapon, that unobtrusively sits in your pocket or purse.

Master Moran offers an instructional DVD as well as on-site training at his Dojo. The tool works by cinching up the pipe all the way to the top of the knot, up near the screw-link, and by slipping the toggle back, you can transition from a downward strike with the pipe as a pressure point tool, but which a flick of the wrist, you can "shoot" out the keys, to form an impromptu flail or mace. 

The ring keeps it secure and locked into your grip, but subtly enough that it certainly doesn't LOOK like you have anything other than a set of keys dangling over your knuckles. 

I have tried the flick and swipe techniques, and the strikes with the pipe piece a couple of times, on a couple of different materials, and with some of the techniques I remember being shown by Sensei Guest at a Bujinkan winter camp in flexible weapons, I could see how this could give you a very game-changing strike in a last-ditch self defense situation.

I'd suggest you check your local concealed weapons laws, but if you fancy adding a little something to your EDC to give you an edge, that doesn't raise a lot of eyebrows, for the otherwise noncombative members of your family, this might well be something to look into.