Who carries a blackjack?
- Thread starter dvanncvann
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
StakeOut
US Veteran
Looks like a slapper to me and not a black jack?
The flat surface actually makes it a slapjack. I carried a blackjack, the rounded end filled w/lead on a spring shank, for years until my agency outlawed them. Only used it a couple of times but it was a great fight stopper. It now rests in a drawer w/my other back-in-the-day gear.
Ol' Drover
SWCA Member
I can testify to a slapper's efficacy. My partner hit me behind the ear with one during a fight with a drunk. Accidentally, he said. Fifty years later I had to have the lump removed. Doc called it a "post-traumatic lipoma."
OP
dvanncvann
Member
I have gotten to old to fight with my fists. Just another tool in the box.
OP
dvanncvann
Member
It is. I have heard them called slaps, slapjacks, blackjacks,saps, etc.
SAFireman
SWCA Member
Guy on another forum said he carried a length of 550 cord with a guardrail nut on the end. As he put it, "It ain't whizz-bang tactical, but one shot in the grape and it's coloring books for Christmas."
StakeOut
US Veteran
I think my nose was broken about 5 times.
I remember a bar in Woodside Queens that had a sign in the window....If You Can't Fight Don't Come In
OP
dvanncvann
Member
Yeah I can relate. I tend to heal a lot slower than I used too. Lol.
The old timers at work carried them all the time. They called them blackjacks, saps or convoys based on the design. We can't train on them, so we aren't allowed to carry them. I've heard plenty of stories of them being used, and they work superbly.
Marshal Tom
Member
I have a slapper put away somewhere here. Can't really remember if I ever really carried it or where it came from. I do know that I have no desire to get whacked in the gourd with one. I also have a side handle baton that was popular back in the 70's.
oink
Member
I have a couple of them around here somewhere. One's up on the mantle I think. I always called them slappers. Well at least the flat ones which is what I have. The flat ones aren't as likely to cut if applied properly. I have a couple pairs of knuckles somewhere too but I never carried those. They were just donations.
sipowicz
Member
On the bottom is my dad’s old blackjack from his days in NYPD. It’s illegal in Cali to carry and not authorized for LASD. The 415 Gonzales on top is authorized but very heavy. It’s meant for body strikes only. Some guys still carry it in their “sap pocket” but it really weighs you down. Most carry their SL20x in that pocket. With a taser and pepper spray on my belt, I don’t foresee using it much…same with my expandable baton….but both are great for door knocking. And after watching “Sea of Love” with Al Pacino, I now keep the 415 between my mattress and boxspring. 
Attachments
Last edited:
One of the great tools of a bygone era!
Blackjacks, saps, slappers, night sticks...you name it, I love 'em!
Here are a few of mine. Some artistically and professionally crafted. Others, just some homemade jobs cobbled together, but still able to get the job done.
Blackjacks, saps, slappers, night sticks...you name it, I love 'em!Here are a few of mine. Some artistically and professionally crafted. Others, just some homemade jobs cobbled together, but still able to get the job done.
Last edited:
We were told to get a black Jack or a slapper when we were in the academy but were given no training on them. My first night reporting to the Desk Sgt to assume my foot post he asked me if I had sap gloves. I said no. He let me borrow his and told me to go to the uniform shop the next day and get my own. Several weeks later I was strongly advised by some of the older coppers to get a day stick and order it “loaded” - a short Monadnock stick with a bar of lead in the end. Sometime mid80s I think they outlawed all of that and we could only carry our straight sticks - no PR24s either. Rational was that we were not trained with them. Guess they forgot that we were not given nightstick training either. Now they carry the ASP collapsing batons. They train them well with them. I still have my gloves and my day stick. They aren’t outlawed in my house ….
I remember walking into an ER one night and seeing an officer staring in wonder at the end of his blackjack. That one had a weight at the end of a spring shaft, the weight was covered with smooth leather.
After a moment I realized the weight was bent, seemed to have encountered a round object and sort of wrapped around it. Turned out to be the curve at the top of the guy's head.
Sap gloves can be wonderful things, wonder where mine went?
Considering that many agencies now specify plastic flashlights, I expect saps are officially forbidden. But might be overlooked in some cases. I wouldn't advise toting one as a private citizen.
After a moment I realized the weight was bent, seemed to have encountered a round object and sort of wrapped around it. Turned out to be the curve at the top of the guy's head.
Sap gloves can be wonderful things, wonder where mine went?
Considering that many agencies now specify plastic flashlights, I expect saps are officially forbidden. But might be overlooked in some cases. I wouldn't advise toting one as a private citizen.
Last edited:
blues7
Member
I carry a Midget Sap from Boston Leather.
MetalMan
Member
What about Monadnocks?
Sister carried one as LEO…not so much now that she’s retired…
Sister carried one as LEO…not so much now that she’s retired…
Similar threads
