Silly Question About a Police Baton

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Flattop5

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Question:

If you have a PR-24S side-handle police baton, that does NOT have a Trumbull Stop on it but does have a rubber grommet in order to create a Trumbull Stop (so to speak), how do you install the rubber grommet? I assume maybe heating the grommet in hot water first? The rubber is too hard to "stretch" it onto the side handle.

Thanks in advance.



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Way back when you gave it hard taps with a hard rubber or such, hammer and it would stay.
 
Some guy gave me a phone number for Safariland. I called them. They said soak the rubber grommet in boiling water for 10 seconds, then install it. Sounds reasonable.



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Update: I tried using boiling water to soften the rubber baton grommet. No luck.

(What I did not know, until recently, was that rubber becomes harder over time. My grommet is as hard as pine wood).

Will try glycerine, or oil of wintergreen, next. Will post results.


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I remember the PR-24 batons when they came on the scene about 1976 or so. All the TV cop shows featured youthful, attractive, vigorous boys and girls whipping up the world with a PR-24. Cinematic excitement, for sure!

For some reason I continued to use my old hickory baton, complete with a braided leather strap. Thankfully I never had to deal with a horde of ninja-wannabes that required careful choreography like the boys and girls on the TV shows. The old school tool got me through somehow. If I left it in the patrol car I still had a 20-oz. leather sap in my pocket if needed, and a roll of nickels wrapped in duct tape came in handy from time to time.

I am sure there is a way to fit a toilet washer to a side-handle baton, but I can't tell you the details.

Best regards.
 
My PR24 never had the rubber ring on the handle. I still have that baton. Hit a few guys with it but more often than not it was left behind in the patrol car. The expandable batons nowadays are a vast improvement. Always on your belt and easy to sit in a patrol car with one. My uncle gave me his blackjack but they were not authorized, I don’t think ever. But nobody can tell me that little slit pocket on the right rear of the uniform pants wasn’t made for a blackjack. Exactly wide and deep enough. What else could go in there?
 
kbm6893 said:
My PR24 never had the rubber ring on the handle. I still have that baton. Hit a few guys with it but more often than not it was left behind in the patrol car. The expandable batons nowadays are a vast improvement. Always on your belt and easy to sit in a patrol car with one. My uncle gave me his blackjack but they were not authorized, I don’t think ever. But nobody can tell me that little slit pocket on the right rear of the uniform pants wasn’t made for a blackjack. Exactly wide and deep enough. What else could go in there?
Click to expand...

Those were called "sap pockets" for a reason.
 
kbm6893 said:
My PR24 never had the rubber ring on the handle. I still have that baton. Hit a few guys with it but more often than not it was left behind in the patrol car. The expandable batons nowadays are a vast improvement. Always on your belt and easy to sit in a patrol car with one. My uncle gave me his blackjack but they were not authorized, I don’t think ever. But nobody can tell me that little slit pocket on the right rear of the uniform pants wasn’t made for a blackjack. Exactly wide and deep enough. What else could go in there?
Click to expand...

Started with a wooden stick, got a PR24 but never like it much and it would warp on hot days if left in the car... never used a rubber ring. The expandable was a good idea but when used on instructed pressure points, you rarely got the compliance you see on the film... Yes, the slit pocket on the uniform pants was made for a billy club / slap jack. A couple guys had claws and they were awesome! We never had the tools available today, but we rarely needed them because we did have respect street that guys don’t get today.
 
The PR-24 side-handled baton is a great weapon. Yes, it is big and a burden to carry. But it is far better than the collapsible batons used today. It can, for example, effectively block strikes from baseball bats. A man with a PR-24 can battle 3 men at once if he knows how to use it properly -- not that I would want to try that...



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Flattop5 said:
A man with a PR-24 can battle 3 men at once if he knows how to use it properly
Click to expand...

They better be three undetermined men. Outside of kung fu movies, beating three men at once seldom works out unless the one has a gun :)
 
Last edited:
ken158 said:
Started with a wooden stick, got a PR24 but never like it much and it would warp on hot days if left in the car...
Click to expand...

Sounds like one of the composite versions?

We were issued those, and one of the senior officers told
me he was knocking icicles off the station eaves one winter,
and the baton broke off, a few inches from the side handle.
He said it had a void in the center of the shaft that was
about a third of the shaft diameter.

After hearing that, I ordered an aluminum model, on my
own nickle. :eek:
 
We were issued the PR-24's and found them to be very useful. The cars we had had a trunk mounted spare tire. The locking mechanism would loosen and the tire would rattle. The PR-24 was perfect to wedge between the tire and the floor of the car and once the lock was tightened the PR*24 would keep it from loosening and keep the spare tire from rattling.

This was the only practical use we ever found for it.

One time during training a fellow agent was joking around and the instructor, who was a Deputy Director, chastised him for not being serious. The DD told the agent that if he did not master the PR-24 somebody would take it away from him and hurt him with it. He said, "I beg to differ" no one would ever take it away, due to the fact that he would not give the suspect his keys to get it out of the trunk.

I only used mine once. The deputies that responded found it in the woods and returned it to me at the hospital, after I got seven stitches over my right eye. I found out that being hit with a metal PR-24 seems to bring out the worst in people.
 
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We were issued batons , night sticks as we called them. The longer wooden ones. The rubber grommet kept it from sliding through the ring on your duty belt. Kept it in the slot on the floor between the seat and door. Policy was you didn't get out of the car on a call without you cover (hat) and night stick. Of course it was always carried when walking a beat. Used mine one time to subdue a suspect who backed into a corner with a wooden coffee table leg in his hand. Never saw the advantage of the PR. Too old school i guess! No stun guns in my day. Model 10, mace, night stick and Remington 870. Otherwise it was hands on.
 
Last edited:
I hated those batons. I much preferred my old hickory or oak baton, or even the plastic baton w/o the side handle. You cannot deploy any baton or sap like we could in the old days, there are more places where one cannot hit.
 
I have NEVER seen a PR24 with a grommet, the handle keeps it in the ring. 26 and 36 inch straight sticks had grommets to keep it from sliding through the ring.
 
CH4 said:
I have NEVER seen a PR24 with a grommet, the handle keeps it in the ring. 26 and 36 inch straight sticks had grommets to keep it from sliding through the ring.
Click to expand...


The rubber grommet is not for the ring. The grommet fits on the side handle, at the top of the handle.

The grommet is designed to create a Turnbull Stop on a stick that does not have such a stop. There are 2 types of PR24: with a stop (PR24STS), and without a stop (PR24S). The stop keeps the PR24 from sliding out of your hand in the heat of battle (presumably).



-----------------
 
I have seen PR-24 experts do amazing things with them, but they were upfront that they required a commitment to frequent practing , where as straight sticks were much more forgiving of users who only did the minimum required training .

In early '80s , I always had a blackjack ( sometimes known in other regions as Slapjack . When expecting possible need in uniform, added 26in synthetic stick .

Late '80s - early '90s was in situation where impact weapons were unnecessary, and contraindicated .

25yrs ago, the current employer offered choice of PR-24 , or legacy wood baton, and probably 90% opted for the wood . Blackjacks were grandfathered for those previously approved, but nobody on going could .

When ASP were introduced , the lagacy blackjacks were then prohibited . ( I did have a chance to discuss with the last authorized user of a blackjack before they were banned .)
 
Flattop5 said:
The grommet is designed to create a Turnbull Stop on a stick that does not have such a stop. There are 2 types of PR24: with a stop (PR24STS), and without a stop (PR24S). The stop keeps the PR24 from sliding out of your hand in the heat of battle (presumably).
Click to expand...

...or even a Trumbull stop.

They're useful, because to spin the shaft, you have to loosen
your grip on the side handle. On a stop-less side handle, once
it starts slipping out of your hand, it's hard to stop.
 
Steve912 said:
Sounds like one of the composite versions?

We were issued those, and one of the senior officers told
me he was knocking icicles off the station eaves one winter,
and the baton broke off, a few inches from the side handle.
He said it had a void in the center of the shaft that was
about a third of the shaft diameter.

After hearing that, I ordered an aluminum model, on my
own nickle. :eek:
Click to expand...

Not to make too much light of his uh-oh moment, but that visual make me chuckle. Glad he did not need it quickly, haha.
 
Last edited:
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