Expandable baton

[joe yang]

I got an airweight baton a few years back. It seemed like a good idea at the time. (I also use aluminum handcuffs, a class II vest, a P97, anything to save weight.) I figure the lighter my gear, the more I'll use it. It isn't any use if you leave it home.

Here's the problem. The darn thing finally locked open for good. No hint from ASP this could happen. Of course a web search, after the fact, suggested I was snapping it out too hard.

Okay, fair enough, I'll eat the loss. I'm switching to a push button baton. Was I unreasonable to snap open the baton so hard? Sure, I was back handing it open with the same speed/force I intended to use to forehand counter strike. Was I wrong? Is it a double action kind of thing? You know, light snap, hard snap, instead of long pull, short pull?

Okay, maybe I was subconsciously looking to get some "sound of power", you know like racking the slide on a pump shotgun, or a semi automatic pistol. Seems to me an expandable baton has that potential.

I can't return the baton. I deformed it with a hammer. I wrote it off on my taxes. I really liked the rust free maintenance. But, I lost faith in it. I don't like the way the push button baton wiggles, among other things, but I'm headed that way.

Any input. I'm also in the process of upgrading, customising a lot
of duty gear and will be looking for input there.

[Jason Chambers]

If you purchased an ASP, it came with a lifetime replacement warranty.

[Bustillo, A.]

'Snapping it, the ASP, out too hard', ridiculous.

When police officers are taught to handle the weapon, thay are instructed to 'whip' , snap it out forcefully.

A. Bustillo
www.SteadyTraining.com

[joe yang]

I can only speak from my own experience. My 21 inch, airweight ASP won't close. I wiggled the ends. I soaked it in penetrating oil. I took it apart, slipped the two stuck sections out of the handle. I set the tip on a cobble stone and tapped the other end with a hammer. It still didn't collapse and I deformed the other end, now it won't go back into the handle. Anyway, I probably voided the warranty. More to the point, I don't trust the tool. I'm replacing it with a Monadnock AutoLock. I'll chalk the loss up to the "learning curve".