Indigenous Ability

  We’re going to talk about empirically verifiable methods for determining the best striking surface of the bare human fist, but first we need to take a sojourn to remove the pesky whiff of dogma, tradition, legend, lore, and armchair theorizing that surrounds such seemingly simple matters. That sojourn will take place in another violent realm—that of the “Mob Hit.” Those a bit “in the know” likely are aware that the preferred caliber of choice for mob assassination since the long-ago Chicago “Tommy Gun” days is the .22 revolver. Those even more in the know are privy to the information that often these .22’s are adjusted to diminished loads so that they carry even less firepower than the standard .22 shot. Those “in the know” will also tell you that the “hit” is usually a double-tap to the skull. Now, I ask you, why is it that if professional killers prefer .22 caliber pistols, diminished load at that, why are we the “never-gonna-shoot-anybody-cadre” [hopefully] obsessed ...

  As we get deeper in the weeds of old school authentic frontier weaponry in the RAW/Black Box Project, I am often being asked “ Hey Mark, what sort of ‘hawk do you recommend? SOG, Benchmade, Gerber, etc.?” The answer is… None of the above . This is no slight to any of these fine manufacturers. They all make a stalwart and pretty tool—I own a few of these myself. These are mantlepiece or showroom items, well, in my house Old West gunnery sport the walls, but you catch my drift. Allow me to clarify that “ None of the above ” answer. In a prior essay titled “ Tomahawks, Tradeknives, & Tools ” we go into the work/combat-utility equation. I suggest having a read of that piece to make this one sink in all the more. Tomahawks, whether intended as camp tool, woodcraft implement, survival aid, or combat toy must be put thru their paces to render our skills useful. That’s a no-brainer. Any tool we do not or will not use is no longer a tool but rather a museum piece or yet...

[RAW 245  The Black Box Project #35: The “Switch” Attack: circa. 1820-1933 features much Street Dentist work.] Let’s say you run a small-scale loansharking enterprise. Nothing big. You’ve got a territory of 3-4 city blocks. Having such a small territory, welshers, [those who don’t pay back] can really eat into your profit margin. Money ain’t free and those who come to you agree to your off-the-books terms. If they welsh, you the loaner, have no recourse to legal action. No garnishing of wages, no extended court wrangling, all you have recourse to is…  A] Chalk it up on the loss column or…  B] “Enforce” the debt, that is, collect and/or encourage a non-welshed payment plan. The common knowledge is that welshers will be visited by enforcers [those who collect and/or inspire adherence to terms.] These enforcers became known as leg-breakers, and we all can imagine where that rep came from. It plays out in numerous gangstery scenes in celluloid “history” as in the fol...

Just what is The Black Box Project? I’ll turn 55 just over 30 days from now and I have put out a boatload of material over the years—I’m mighty proud of the work but I’d be a liar if I didn’t ‘fess up to three things. THING ONE -Some of what a young man does in practice, tactics and strategy is just that, what a young man does. One with vim, vigor, speed, around 300 less injuries, and far less experience. If we are playing the Game of Life right, the older we get, the wiser we get, and in this particular case the meaner we get. THING TWO -I am a far better archeologist now than I was decades prior. Oh, I’ve always been not too shabby in the research, test, trial and error department, but, again, that age thing leads me to believe that I’ve only gotten better at my obscure digging for old school combative gold. Hell, I never would have thought that I’d learn the Comanche language simply to dig even deeper under layers of wicked dust. THING THREE -We have always present...