What's the name of the weapon that Nick Nolte uses to hit people with?
shareIve heard it called a slap jack. Its two pieces of heavy leather with a mass of lead on the business end. Itll give ya a nice little goose egg.
shareThey used to call it a "cosh" in England.
shareThe flatter variant, that I think Nolte had, is a sap. The rounder type is a blackjack. Either one is very dangerous to use - for the officer using it. (Same with wooden nightsticks.) It's all too easy to kill someone with it if you strike him on the skull; then, your life turns to sh it. I suspect that few cops have ever carried them for long after acquiring any amount of experience.
shareWhat Nolte had was a "slap", I've held several of them. They have some lead in them, but not that much, just enough to give them some oomph. Slaps have a slightly flexible flat, flexible piece of metal in them that gives them an extra impact.
Of all the cop impact weapons, it's actually the least dangerous to use because the flat surface distributes the force. Direct skull strikes are a bad idea, but pretty much anywhere else it just leaves a huge welt and hurts like a mother.
Actually, cops loved the slap because it was super painful but relatively safe to use. Most got really good with it and knew how to inflict maximum pain with minimum permanent damage. It also had amazing psychological value -- people who have been hit with one or seen someone get hit with one become very cooperative.
The "sap" and "blackjack" are similar. The sap is usually smaller than a slap, with more lead but no inner spring. I think it was often used to knock people out and is probably pretty risky to use, hence the slightly less destructive slap.
The blackjack is like a little club, with a hefty lead weight on the business end and the inner shaft is a coil spring so it has extra impact when swung. The one I handled had been carried by a prison guard; you would not want to be hit with that under any circumstances. I'm pretty sure it would break bones easily and probably be lethal in a direct head strike. I'm pretty sure they didn't care in prison and its extra power was why the guards carried them. A blackjack beating probably was a lesson learned permanently.
Interesting tidbit of info there.
Nolte wielded that thing like King Arthur wielded Excalibur. He looked like a true badass in that film whenever it came out.