Good Reasons & Real Reasons or Mob Hits & Closed Fists by Mark Hatmaker

 

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 with calibers and weaponry over and above the .22?

I’ll give you a moment.

“Those in the know” will counter with this very good reason.

“Mob hits are done with .22s because the reduced firepower allows the projectile to rattle around inside the skull and do maximum brain scrambling damage.”

Oh. And why the diminished load?

“More of the same, Mark. If we reduce the .22 power even more it decreases the chance the projectile will exit the skull and increases the chances of the brain-scrambling effect.”

Oh, yeah, that makes sense.

I do ask, would not a higher caliber weapon do as much brain-scrambling? I mean, there would be messy exit wounds, but the hit would still be a big cerebral mess?

“Oh, Mark, how naïve. The pros knew what they were doing with this low firepower double tap to the skull. Trust the wisdom of experience.”

The above explanation from my “in the know” compadre sounds on the money and is, in fact, the “good reason” offered for the diminished load .22 scenario.

The only exceptions to the explanation, it is mostly wrong.

What is correct is the diminished load .22 and the use of double-tapping.

But…all else, not so much.

“Wait, so mob killers use diminished load .22’s and a double tap, but don’t even aim for the skull? So, what’s the deal? How can the ‘in-the’ know’ explanation make any sense at all if none of that is true?”

First, a little role-play.

Let’s say you are ordered to “take someone for a ride.”

You and your partner pick up the Contract. You see to it that the Contract sits in the front seat, your partner drives and you, the Shooter, sit in the back. Having to turn and awkwardly shoot over a shoulder or between armrests is imprecise.

When it’s “time,” you the Hitter, place the firearm on the soft-tissue of the neck [in mob parlance, a “Neck Job.”]

Why the neck and not the skull?

Well, you the experienced Pro, an old hand at these sorts of things have many a horror story of skull-deflected projectiles playing hell with the driver or ricocheting to the backseat which you now occupy.

No, the Pros know a “Neck Job” is the wisest course of action. It does the job and you excise ricochet risks.

Now, if the “rattling around the skull making brain mush” explanation no longer holds because the skull was not and is not a target—why the .22? And why, often, a diminished load at that?

I’ll give you a moment…

Got it.

Place yourself in that car. You are the Triggerman. You are not at a firing range. No ear protection—confined space. What happens to your hearing?

You nailed it.

Larger calibers will deafen the hitters, no one would choose that job.

Showing up to pick up your Contract with ear plugs in or taking the time to do so while on the “ride” has too many tells.

Diminished .22s and a neck-job will do the job at a lower risk to you.

Now, what does this have to do with the striking surface of a bare fist?

I’m sure you’re ahead of me. Legend, lore, mythology, and a smart sounding bit of “theorizing” often get in the way of good mechanical or pragmatic sense.

“I was told to land this way with the first two knuckles as you can use them like a gunsight.”

Or…

“You use these three cuz, Dempsey…”

Or…

“You see, the vertical fist is the be-all end-all because…”

Like the “wise-sounding” “small caliber/brainpan-rattling” explanation, we can make most any tactic sound wise.

Sound pragmatic.

Sound cool.

But, when rubber meets road, Hitter places ass in backseat, when clinched fist meets hard bone we damn sure better have more than a nice sounding explanation for why we do something.

It’s best to have empirical, pragmatically tested experience from in-the-trenches veterans who know of what they speak.

Better yet if they provide subjective self-tests that allow you to know deep in your marrow bones what IS in fact true, and how hurtfully wrong what “sounds good” can be.

We can so deafen ourselves with high-caliber myths that we will never hear the truth of actual experience.

On RAW 214: The Black Box Project Vol. 1 we provide 7 self-tests to test your own fist caliber. On RAW 215—available September 1^st, four more tests for striking surfaces as they pertain to The Street Dentist Lead Hook.

For skinny on The Black Box Project

[For techniques, tactics, and strategies of Rough and Tumble Combat, Old-School Boxing, Mean-Ass Wrestling, Street-Ready Frontier Scrapping & Indigenous Ability culled from the historical record see the RAW Subscription Service, or stay on the corral fence with the other dandified dudes and city-slickers. http://www.extremeselfprotection.com