The debate rages on: What is best for home defense, a pistol, a rifle or a shotgun? There are definite advantages and disadvantages to each of these when it comes to keeping your home safe. A pistol is easy to carry and easy to move around inside your home, but it lacks the fight-ending punch of a long gun. A rifle, such as an AR-15, is very familiar to most American gun owners, but .223 or similar calibers quite often require more than one hit to stop the threat. A defensive shotgun or tactical shotgun brings a heavyweight hammer to the fight, but it has a low ammunition capacity compared to a standard capacity AR-15 rifle, with more recoil.
Despite these apparent limitations, however, the power of the shotgun is a quite compelling argument for using it to defend your home. Pistol drills like the Bill Drill and Failure to Stop Drill exist because we understand that a pistol is often not able to stop the fight with just one shot. The same is true for the AR-15. It’s very common to see trainers teach that three, four or even five rounds on-target as a normal response to a lethal threat. This means that a 30 round magazine in an AR-15 (which is usually loaded to 28 rounds in the field) suddenly becomes a firearm that can engage 5-7 targets before it needs to be reloaded. Coincidentally, this is the magazine capacity of the typical tactical shogun. All of sudden, the ammunition gap between a defensive shotgun and a rifle or a pistol is considerably smaller, and using a shotgun as a home defense gun starts to make a lot of sense.
Tactical Shotgun Training Shows You What Your Gun Can and Can’t Do
A good tactical shotgun training class can get even more out of your defensive shotgun, which is why I attended a recent Defensive Shotgun Instructor class taught by Tom Givens. Tom is a former Memphis police officer and a legend in the firearms training community. He is a firm believer in the power and efficacy of the defensive shotgun, and his class is a “must do” for anyone who wants to learn more about using a shotgun for home defense.
In this three day class, Givens taught us why a shotgun loaded with a good buckshot round is an absolute fight-stopper, if you understand what it can and can’t do. We first learned to pattern our specific gun with our defensive shotshell of choice to see how large the spread of pellets was at 5, 10, 15 or even 25 yards. Any pellet which doesn’t hit the intended target will fly downrange, with possibly disastrous results. Keeping all our hits on-target, no matter what gun you’re using, is an important part of marksmanship, and with a shotgun, that means knowing when the spread of your pellets exceeds the area of your target.
One of the biggest benefits of a good tactical shotgun training class is learning how to tame the recoil of a full-sized shotgun firing full-power buckshot loads. Givens teaches a “push-pull” method, where the hand that grips the fore-end of the shotgun pushes out towards the target while the other hand snugs the butt of the gun up against your shoulder. This creates a “loaded spring” effect and allows you to rapidly bring the sights of the gun back on target after each shot.
Make The Most Out Of Yourself And Your Gun
The smaller magazine capacity of the defensive shotgun can be overcome by making sure you’re feeding fresh rounds into the magazine whenever possible, and just like other guns, there are two types of reloads, emergency and tactical. An emergency reload is when your gun runs completely out of ammunition and needs to get refilled right away, while a tactical reload is adding more rounds to your gun that is partially empty. An emergency reload with a shotgun means dropping a single shell into the chamber and closing the action, thus loading the gun. Shooting that round, or loading the rest of the magazine via a tactical reload will be dependent on your situation.
There was much more to this class than just those three concepts, as this wasn’t so much a class about shooting the shotgun as it was a class about how to teach other people how to use their shotguns in defense of life and limb. A shotgun can be an extremely effective home defense firearm but is definitely not “fire and forget.” Rather, it needs skill and expertise to be used to its fullest (and most devastating) effect, both of which can be acquired with good tactical shotgun training.
We do the wrong thing when we don’t know any better, but then thinking critically about how our decisions resulted in an undesirable outcome and making a plan for how to achieve a better outcome the next time is the map to improvement. Perhaps the only thing better than learning from your own mistakes is learning from someone else’s. Let’s get into five common mistakes that we aren’t going to make this year, and will all be better for it.
50lb draw weight and a 525gr arrow worked on this bull. This client shot much better than when his bow was set at a higher draw weight.
DON’T HIDE BEHIND TREES
We tend to think of the world the way we experience it as humans. That’s why we are hyper-focused on making sure animals don’t see us. I’m no different. I am careful to make sure I am using the best camouflage available, cover my face, and never cross a ridge on the skyline. As a young hunter, I was always seeking concealment behind the brush, rocks, trees, etc. I am thankful that I’ll never know how many critters got close to me without me ever seeing them because I can’t see through trees in the same way that I can’t be seen through trees.
Your camouflage works, let it do its job. El Sapo Guide Service
On a high desert peak in central Nevada, my good buddy Adam Hutchison and I spent a week hunting mule deer with a long bow. We had the basic pattern of the bucks nailed down after a few days. In the morning they’d graze on one side of the ridge until it got warm then bed down on the shady side until evening when they’d cross again to graze.
One evening we watched an ancient old 4×4 get out of his bed beneath a juniper tree and start working his way towards a pass in the ridge with a prominent game trail going through it. I stayed in place and watched through my spotting scope and Hutch scrambled off our knoll and positioned himself behind a short thick piñon pine that had been stunted by relentless Nevada winds. The tree itself might not have been more than 8’ tall but the trunk and limbs spread out to make an area that was around 15’ across.
The buck climbed along steadily into the pass as Hutch waited with an arrow knocked. I could see the wind pick up small puffs of dust as the buck walked, a wind blowing at the deer’s back, and just knew Hutch was going to get a shot. The old buck walked straight to pine, opposite where my buddy stood. They both waited there a long time, spread by no more than 6 yards. At the same time as Hutch took a step to walk around the tree counterclockwise, the buck did the same thing, also counterclockwise.
They mirrored each other as they walked around the tree, 180 degrees apart, both vaguely aware of the other but neither confident enough to make a bolder move. When the buck got to where Hutch had been standing and could smell his scent on the ground he bolted and we never saw him again.
Good camo breaks up your outline and blends into the background. If you stand in front of a tree, your camo will do its job and you’ll have excellent visibility of animals approaching and a full range of motion to draw a bow or shoulder a rifle. Try to pick locations where an animal will have to pass behind objects that will allow you the chance to move if you need to.
The extendable sun shield on the Sig Oscar 8 can be a lifesaver when you have to look towards the center of our solar system. I had just found a bear in a place I did not at all want to hike.
DON’T GLASS TOWARDS THE SUN
Spot and stalk hunting requires a lot of time spent glassing. When I scout an area, even more important to me than finding animals is finding good places to glass from. I want different glassing locations for different times of day, but above all I do not want to glass East in the morning or West in the evening. At first and last light, deer and elk will glow in the low angle sunlight and are very easy to spot if the sun is at your back. If it’s in your face it will flare out your lens and you’ll be fighting to tell trees from rocks.
During morning glassing sessions I like to take inventory of who is in the area and where they go to bed. Depending on the situation I can then make a mid-day move or be in a good position for the evening. During evening glassing sessions I tend to put myself much closer to the zone I am glassing so I can get into position and make a shot, especially if I am rifle hunting. With a bow, I tend to work towards situations where I will be shooting in the morning to give myself max daylight hours for blood trailing and getting meat hanging.
During an especially bad fire year, I hiked two days into the wilderness to get to a spot I just knew was going to hold deer. I made an especially difficult climb onto a glassing knoll that looked into a basin and settled in about 2 pm. The fires puffed up as they tend to in the afternoons and my basin grew hazy with smoke. I could still glass so I wasn’t bothered by it.
As the sun headed towards the horizon and the color of the light warmed, the smoke picked up that color and became impossible to glass through. My entire hunt depended upon being able to glass from this knob, and if I’d spent 30 seconds thinking about the light and air conditions during my two-day hike into that location I would’ve come up with a much better plan. As it was, I committed to the spot, and after three days of not being able to see, I hiked out empty-handed feeling dumb.
Whenever I glass, I set up the rifle first.
WAIT FOR THERMALS TO STABILIZE
When the ground is cooler than the air, it causes air to settle in a way that makes the wind begin blowing downhill. As the ground heats from solar gain in the morning and becomes warmer than the air, it causes lift that makes wind blow uphill. Animals base their movements, feeding locations, and when/where they bed on these diurnal wind conditions. However, there are transition times when the thermals are switching that you get periods of uphill wind followed by downhill followed by uphill again.
I’d been guiding a group of gentlemen from the East Coast on a backcountry elk hunt in the alpine for a week. We had seen and smelled elk but not many and weren’t able to get them to engage with calls and couldn’t navigate the steep country well enough to maneuver on them, so we headed to a different area that was short grass prairie interspersed with canyons, the north sides of which had timber. We glassed up a herd of around 70 elk with a great 6-point bull and watched them come off a south-facing ridge and settle into a north.
It was going to be an easy approach and I was fully confident we could challenge that bull into archery range. At 8:30 am I felt a puff of wind come uphill and grabbed the hunters and headed into the north. As soon as we got into the trees I could immediately feel the coolness and stopped. Then that dreaded feeling of cold sweat on the back of my neck made colder by a downhill thermal rippled through me and the scent carried on down into the trees and 70 head of elk got up at 150 yards and thundered off, ending our hunt. There was no rush, those elk were going to sleep in that north all day long.
We could’ve taken a nap and waited until 10 am for some really stable wind conditions and slipped into calling range and gotten that bull so mad he’d be willing to fight, but I rushed the thermals and blew it. Lesson learned.
Anyone can be a hero on their home range. Photo by Sean Powell
DON’T OVERSHOOT THE WIND
We seek comfort and efficiency naturally because those are survivable conditions. If you are anything like me, you enjoy going out to the range on days with pleasant weather. I can settle into a bench with my rifle on a bipod and shooting bag and hit targets at will. Even if the wind kicks up a little, I know my rifle range and can tell the difference between a 9mph wind and a 12 mph wind and I know how a three o’clock at the bench turns into a 5 0’clock at 500 yards. I know this because I’ve shot there a lot. The odds of getting to practice in the location you’ll be shooting in a hunting scenario are so low it’s not even worth talking about.
Here’s my point, the wind is doing something on the terrain you are hunting in that you don’t fully understand. Learning and reading wind takes a lot of trial and error. As the earth tilts on its axis during fall it causes massive shifts in weather patterns. The decreased daylight hours and even the change of color on foliage all play a role in fall weather. There is a much higher chance you are going to shoot through storm-driven winds which are also being influenced by diurnal terrain-driven thermal winds. Just because you could hit your target on your home rifle range at 600 yards every time in July doesn’t mean you can do it on the mountain. Take your maximum effective range in practice and reduce it for hunting.
Make yourself practice positional and hasty shots at the range. The bench is to ensure your rifle is zeroed, it’s not a great place to develop field shooting skills. Photo by Born and Raised Outdoors
I missed three consecutive shots, prone, with a shooting bag, on a target at 505 yards at the Sig Hunter Games in Wyoming this year. The wind was blowing between 10-15 mph at 6 o’clock from the shooting location, and around 20mph from 9 o’clock from 150-350 yards, and then who knows how fast at 7 o’clock from 350-500. Whiffed three times in a row. I shot the same target the day before with half that wind and went three for three. I don’t take 500-yard shots when hunting big game for this exact reason. I can’t guarantee a precise hit.
A full-size air rifle is a fantastic way to practice that doesn’t develop and make permanent bad habits. Photo by Sean Powell
DON’T SHOOT TOO MUCH BOW OR GUN
This has got to sound weird coming from me, and a younger version of myself would be rolling his eyes right now. Recoil is a real thing. If you don’t believe you are affected by recoil, the next time you go out to the range get in a contest with your buddy who shoots as well as you and see who can shoot a tighter group at 30 yards. You get to use your hunting rifle, and he gets to use a 22lr. I’ve played this game with guys who are much better shots than me and if I have the 22, I win. I have had a ton of clients show up with rifles that had too much recoil and they couldn’t shoot them well. Same thing with bows. The times I have turned down the draw weight for clients they have always shot better. Take the indoor archery shooters as an example, you know, the guys you see lined up in Vegas shooting half-inch dots over and over and over again from the 20-yard line. How many of them are drawing 80lbs? Zero. 70lbs? Zero
Do I shoot an 80lb bow? I used to. Right now I am pulling 70 and shooting better than I have in a decade. Will I shoot 80 again? Maybe, but only if I can shoot it well enough to satisfy my own accuracy requirements. I’d rather see a client shoot a smaller rifle well or a lighter draw weight bow more accurately than a heavy-hitting contraption that scares them into shooting poorly. Fun fact: If you turn your bow’s draw weight down and increase your arrow weight, you can get the same penetration you had before.
I’m not telling you to run out and buy a new gun. You can reduce recoil on the rifle you have by adding a suppressor, making the gun heavier by adding accessories, or by changing the stock or barrel, or adding a muzzle brake. I despise muzzle brakes and ask that clients do not bring them, but they are a relatively inexpensive way to reduce recoil. Just make damn sure that you and everyone around you are wearing good ear protection and don’t shoot it across the hood of a pickup. If you do decide to buy a new rifle, getting one with an adjustable stock will go a long way toward making the shooting experience more pleasant.
The best way to learn any of this is to not take my word for it and go out and make these mistakes yourself. Like the drill instructors enjoy saying, “pain retains.” The most efficient way? Well, that’s to let my mistakes be your lessons.
I’d love to learn from your hunting mistakes, so if you’ve ever made one, write it in the comment section at the bottom of this article. Let’s learn from each other and improve together.
Night hunting is a different creature, especially when it comes to hog hunting. I never saw them during the daylight hours, and they’ve grown too wise and wary to let a mistake occur. Switching to thermal imaging is your ticket to lessen the negative impact hogs are placing on the countryside.
I love night vision, but thermal breathes new life into the night. I started out simple with the ATN X-Sight, and these optics are chock-full of features that deliver optimal performance. The only restriction I’ve found is distance, and night vision is only as good as the light output and throw of your IR light.
Fast forward, after utilizing the ATN night vision for a few years, I was able to jump into the thermal imaging game. I was fortunate to have ATN send a few Thor 4 optics for the entire Gun Talk team to test out. That moment changed how I looked at night hunting and my day hunt strategies.
The ATN Thor 4 is, again, exploding with features. Here are a few of my favorites.
Detection
With a 384×288 sensor, you can expect detection out to 750 yards, target recognition at 335 yards, and positive target identification at 205 yards. Think about that for a second. If you can detect a target at 750 yards, how easy will it be to develop a plan to get within shooting range? That is why thermal is a crucial night-hunting tool.
The range with the Thor 4 allows me to close the distance, whereas night vision is much closer, leaving less time for a plan. This isn’t 100% the case every time in the field. There are times when thermal isn’t the best. I had an issue a few years ago where the fog rolled through, and I didn’t get the distance I’d become accustomed to. ATN isn’t the only thermal device that runs into this issue. Fog is just a booger to deal with, and humidity builds its own problems. However, if you run at night during cooler months, nothing hides.
The hunting party crested the hill and instantly smelled hogs. It was the musky smell mixed with muddy water, unmistakably the feral pig kind of smell. We were coyote hunting and attempted to get out and set up early, but I knew the dog hunt was over if we located hogs. A quick scan of the area with the Thor 4 detailed 40+ hogs moving away at 300 yards. They had no clue we were in the area, so we hatched a quick plan to head them off. After covering plenty of ground, we took 8 out of the sounder. It was fast, but I can’t imagine that night vision would have offered the same opportunity. It’s helpful, but there’s nothing out there that hides.
Recoil Activated Video
I’m about the most forgetful person. When tensions get high and adrenaline runs rampant, I don’t always remember to hit the record button. Recoil video recording has literally saved my bacon on many occasions. I know most won’t use video recording to publish, but it’s fun showing buddies that come over what these optics are capable of and how much fun they’re missing. In all seriousness, don’t forget to insert the SD Card.
Power
The ATN Thor 4 has enough juice on a full charge to run an entire night. In fact, with the correct settings, you can get 18+ hours of continuous run time. So, if you plan on doing a mix of day and night hunting, never power down your optic. There are nights when I forget to power down the optic, and it’s still truckin’ along when I ready myself for the next day’s hunt.
One-Shot Zero
An easy way to get started on the hunt, the one-shot zero feature ensures you’re on target every time out in the field. The one-shot zero makes sighting in the optic effortless. Plus, think of all the ammo you save. I’d suggest sighting in the twilight hours. It offers enough contrast, but if you must sight in during the day, take hot hands with you and tape it to your target.
This is the first feature you’ll likely encounter when you get a new ThOR 4, which may be your favorite. The bonus of having an easy sight in the process is utilizing several firearms. Once you finish the sight in, save the ballistic profile. Then, at that point, it is pretty much a plug-in and play situation.
Price
I can’t think of many thermal optics that you can purchase for under $2,000, and they just don’t exist. If they do, I guarantee they aren’t as feature-rich or durable as the ThOR 4. One of the best parts of the ATN sight is the opportunity to purchase refurbished units.
I’ve said it a thousand times. Now is the best time to start if you aren’t utilizing thermal for hunting or scouting. Get what you can afford but get it as fast as you can. Thermal is the great equalizer in the field. In fact, it tips the odds completely in your favor. ~ KJ
KJ
Kevin Jarnagin (KJ) hails from Oklahoma but quickly established Louisiana roots after joining the Gun Talk team. KJ grew up as a big game hunter and often finds himself in a different venture often. Whether it’s making his way to British Columbia for elk or training with pistols, KJ always seems to find a gun in his hands and adventure on his mind.
While sword fighting skills may not be as much of a pressing need as it was to our ancestors, most sword collectors have an interest – whether it is largely academic, a lifelong dedication to training or just practicing a few moves and/or doing some occasional (safety conscious) ‘backyard cutting’.
With this in mind, I am pleased to present to you a series of articles that address the more practical side of the hobby – Western, Eastern and general sword principles as well as links to further resources and much more to be added as this page expands over the coming months.
To get started, simply select your main area of interest from the menu below.
Did you know that you can read the classic treatise on Sword Fighting, the Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi for Free Online? Check it out here!
Like the humorous illustration at the top of this page, the basic principle of a sword fight was to deliver a fight ending blow without taking one yourself – or as the Sword Saint, Miyamoto Musashi put it, “the object is to cut down your enemy”.
Simple enough, but as is often the case, the simple things in life are often overlooked.
While battle was and still is essentially chaotic in nature, and no plan survives first contact with the enemy, there are several characteristics and factors common to the winner (survivor) of a medieval duel, trial by combat or battlefield ordeal – and these are outlined in chapter 14 of Hank Reinhardt’s excellent book, the Book of Swords as follows:
Physical Conditioning (modern people were nowhere near as tough as our ancestors) especially of the back and the abdomen, though cardio and strong wrists are key for Sword Fighting.
Deception – fighting fair is a sure way to get you killed in a sword-fight. Historically, foul play was not only expected, it was par for the course.
Confidence and Toughness of Spirit
Rhythm – or rather, the lack of it. Falling into a predictable pattern is anathema to sword fighting.
Intimidation – or rather, not being intimidated or using intimidation against a lesser opponent.
Timing and Distance – simple enough, but striking at the right time and being close enough to actually hit is a skill in itself.
And finally Caution – not timidity, but having enough common sense to not underestimate your opponent.
Most of these factors to winning a sword fight, be it in a duel 400 years ago or in a modern day sports contest, are self explanatory, timeless principles. But while quite a few are more or less the correct ‘winning’ mentality and take years to cultivate, others are simple techniques or tricks.
For example, it is relatively easy to learn a few tricks and employ deception in Sword Fighting. Examples include, feigning weakness or fear before attacking strongly, glancing down at a leg, dropping the shoulder and feinting a downward blow only to whip it up and attack the helmet, or the classic Musashi tactic – feigning to jump aside when the enemy attacks, and then dashing in strongly the millisecond they relax..
Examples of Simple Deception in Sword Fighting
Example One
Figure 1: Fighter A closes the distance with sword raised preparing for what appears to be a mighty overhead strike.
Figure 2: With sword still raised, his actual attack is a hard kick to Fighter B’s liver, groin, bladder or midsection, his sword raised to intercept against Fighter B’s sword if the kick is unsuccessful, or attempt to deliver a follow up strike on his momentarily staggered opponent..
Example Two
Figure 1: Fighter A steps in and prepares to deliver a full force overhead attack on Fighter B with speed and intent.
Figure 2: Fighter B wisely parries the attack with the forte (strongest part) of his sword.
Figure 3: Without missing a beat, fighter A follows up with what looks like the same attack he did in figure 1, however..
Figure 4: While looking at the opponents head and keeping the actual target only in his peripheral vision, he sidesteps out of the way of any potential counterattack and attacks with one hand, suddenly dropping the attack into his opponents foremost leg. Because the first attack was so strong and potentially deadly, Fighter B is likely to fall for the feint.
Simple tricks like these work, but they do not occur in a vacuum. One of the classic Musashi tactics is to utilize everything in the environment to your advantage – such as standing with the sun behind you so that the glare distracts your opponent, or chasing them in such a way that they trip over inanimate objects behind them.
However real skill at sword fighting occurs not from a few simple tricks, but when all the winning factors are present. As Hank and Musashi both note, it all comes together when you are ‘in the zone’ – when you aren’t really thinking about anything in particular and just let everything happen naturally, with the right technique at the right time delivered at the right speed to the right target at the right distance.
To achieve this state of ‘no-mind’ one must train diligently. Below are some training techniques from an excellent resource I found to help you create the necessary foundation.
Basic Attacks and Lines of Defense
There are basically 8 angles of attack with a sword when cutting – straight down, straight up (ouch!), diagonally down to the right, diagonally down to the left, diagonally up to the right, diagonally up to the left and left and right strikes horizontally.
While other angles are theoretically possible, they are all pretty much variations of the 8 main attack angles – as are thrusts.
Most experts agree that if you want to win at sword fighting, you are better off seizing the offensive than waiting for the right time to counter-attack. But no matter how skilled you are on the offense, at some point you will have to take some defensive action, and for that there are basically 5 main counters as shown below.
1: Can be used to defend against an overhead attack and should have enough space so that it can absorb the force of the incoming blow. The same basic principle can be used against a rising vertical attack, though with the sword held downwards instead of up.
2: Simply extending the arm outwards and away from the body can parry most downward diagonal cuts or thrusts or high horizontal attacks coming from the left to the right.
3: Conversely, an attack from right to left is parried by swinging the arm across the body.
4: Diagonal rising cuts, cuts directed to the right leg, or low horizontal attacks can be parried by dropping the sword downwards and bracing with enough space to absorb the impact of the blow.
5: Conversely, low attacks directed to the left side of the body are parried by turning the wrist so that it faces outwards and sweeping the attack aside.
Unlike Hollywood however, parries should be a last resort and should be part of a layered defense as the best option to avoid an incoming strike or thrust is to not be there when the strike comes in, by a combination of footwork, slipping or ducking the attack and having a parry in place as a last line of defense.
Sword Training Drills
It is a controversial book, with stick figure illustrations and somewhat lightweight at only 80 pages. But the Modern Swordsman by Fred Hutchinson is, at least in my opinion, one of the very best books on Sword Fighting and Sword training for the self taught swordsman ever written..
From training on a wooden pell to deliberately practicing sword strikes in slow motion with exaggerated strikes that extend beyond the ideal to simulate the effects of an adrenaline surge on technique, to recommendations to train with overly heavy swords to build up muscle all the right spots and make a normal sword feel weightless, this book is jam packed with unique and innovative sword training ideas.
For example, have you ever thought about training your hand eye coordination by striking or thrusting at floating, randomly moving bubbles?
You would be surprised how hard it is – and how such a simple drill can dramatically increase your precision and ability to avoid focusing on details that will distract you or cause you to lose focus.
Probably the best $7.99 I ever spent on a Sword Fighting Book and absolutely no fluff or filler..
Real Sword Fighting
Why train for it and what it would really be like..
No-one these days who trains in swordsmanship literally expect to end up in a life and death sword fight. But most serious martial artists who study the sword, be it in the Eastern or the Western Tradition mentally train as if preparing for the real thing in order for it to be valid and as Guy Windsor so eloquently put it in his book Sword Fighting For Writers, Game Designers and Martial Artists “Every martial art is, at its root, a way to handle the terror that comes with someone trying to kill you”.
In a very personal story by Guy, he explains how his sword training helped him cope with the stress of almost losing both his wife and his baby daughter to a pregnancy gone horribly wrong in its late stages. Part of this was combat breathing (in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4) but the majority of his strength came from his sword training experiences and mental toughening it brings about..
Because back in the day, real sword fighting was much more hideous, viscous and downright frightening than Hollywood could ever imagine. Forensic archeologists have found that the vast majority of skeletons found on the battlefield took several hideous blows before they finally succumbed to their wounds..
In his book, Guy writes on the subject:
“The mental state of the combatants is usually maximum arousal expressed as rage, especially when wounded. The records abound with tales of men continuing to fight long after a sensible modern person would have stopped and called an ambulance… There is no pain in the midst of combat. That comes later”
Test Cutting
Probably the most exciting part of training, other than sword fighting and sparring practice, is test cutting – and it is practiced at various levels.
From formalized and very serious Japanese Tameshigiri to casual backyard cutting of water filled bottles, often all you need is to take into account some very important safety considerations, a suitable target and – of course – a well made and sharp sword.
So what is a suitable target? Well, here are some that are popular in the sword training community:
Soft rush mats, either tatami mats or cheaper beach mats (though beach mats do tend to scratch up a blade and are not as consistent as tatami).
Water filled P.E.T. bottles and milk jugs
Pool noodles (great for perfecting speed and edge alignment)
Carpet Rolls
Bamboo or River Cane
Cardboard Tubes or boxes (though cardboard can scratch up a blade as well as they often have some of the abrasive grit used in the pulping process left behind).
Rolls of soaked newspaper, either with or without a PVC insert to simulate bone.
Of course, for the sharp sword part – you’ll find plenty of reviews and information on many different types of swords in the various sections of SBG.
But for information on what kind of targets to use and how to cut safely, I think you’ll find the free ebook and video below to be of some considerable benefit:
FREE EBOOKS FROM SBG!
100% free to download PDF eBooks from SBG. Simply click on the cover to download – no messing about, no asking for your email address, no need to subscribe to our newsletter (though you can if you like, its how we will tell you when new ones become available).
Just free information (free to read, free to distribute – just don’t change anything or try to sell them!)
An important Word on Sword Safety
WARNING – GRAPHIC IMAGE DIRECTLY AHEAD…
VIDEO: Sword Safety 101
A MUST watch video for everyone and anyone who handles swords
They say a picture tells a thousand words..
And in this case, the picture sent to me below is the best way to REALLY drive it home that swords are not toys and that a moments lack of concentration can have implications that last a lifetime…
This injury was caused by a Gladius made in the Philippines that cut right through the target and kept going, biting deep into the cutters leg and causing him to lose 6 pints of blood and requiring 66 stitches and emergency surgery…
Swords are not toys. So please, for your own sake AT THE VERY LEAST, watch the video to avoid this kind of thing happening to you…
