Pistol-whipping
Encyclopedia
Pistol-whipping is the act of using a handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....

 as a blunt weapon
Firearm as a blunt weapon
Firearm as a blunt weapon or firearm as a blunt instrument is the practice of using a firearm as a blunt weapon, rather than the conventional role of shooting with it...

, wielding it as if it were a club or blackjack. "Pistol-whipping" and "to pistol-whip" were reported as "new words" of American speech
Americanism
Americanism may refer to:* Americanization* A word or phrase considered typical of American English, English as spoken in the United States* An attitude or conviction which gives special importance to the nation, national interest, political system, or culture of the United States* Americanism ,...

 in 1955, with cited usages from 1940s. However both the term and the practice trace back to the Wild West of the 19th century.

Paul Wellman
Paul Wellman
Paul Iselin Wellman was an American journalist, popular history and novel writer, and screenwriter, known for his books of the Wild West: Kansas, Oklahoma, Great Plains.-Bibliography:*Death on the Prairie, 1934...

 notes that clubbing an opponent with the butt of a gun held by its barrel, seen in some western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

s, has its problems. There are several reasons why it would be wrong. One of which is that the gun would be rendered useless for its primary purpose which is to fire a projectile out of the barrel. There is also the danger of an unintentional discharge which could fatally wound the "clubber". Plus there would also be a loss of precious time to switch from holding the barrel to holding the grip in the standard shooting way.

Instead, pistol whipping was done with the long and heavy barrel of the gun held in an ordinary manner, thus removing the issues involved with holding the gun by the barrel. This form of pistol-whipping with an 1860s style revolver was tested on the Spike TV
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...

 television show Deadliest Warrior
Deadliest Warrior
Deadliest Warrior is a television program in which information on historical or modern warriors and their weapons are used to determine which of them is the "deadliest" based upon tests performed during each episode...

. The testers showed that a whip using the long barrel of a Colt revolver produced enough force to fracture a skull and could potentially kill a man in a single blow.

In modern times, pistols are much more compact generally only extending around four inches past the trigger, making a modern pistol much less suitable for this style of pistol whipping than their predecessors. Because of this, pistol whipping is mainly performed by hitting a person with the base of the grip while still holding it normally, striking in a downwards motion. This adds the weight of the gun to the force of the blow and uses the metal frame (rather than the barrel) as the point of impact, but deprives the blow of the leverage provided by barrel length.

Pistol whipping may leave unusual lacerations on the body of the injured due to various protruding details of the pistol. Semicircular or triangular lacerations on the skin may be produced by the butt of a pistol. The magazine well and the base of the magazine produce rectangular lacerations on the skin. These lacerations can vary in depth and severity, but if "whipped", fractures are common.

Pistol-whipping should not be confused with buttstroking
Buttstroke
The buttstroke or butt-stroking, i.e., striking someone with the buttstock of a rifle, is a common case of the use of a firearm as a blunt weapon. Buttstroke is among the major offensive techniques with the rifle and bayonet...

, a close combat
Close combat
*Close combat is a generic term for both Close Quarters Battle and Hand to hand combat.*Mêlée generally refers to disorganized close combat.*CQB is an acronym for Close Quarters Battle, such as that which occurs in urban warfare....

military discipline.
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