Targets for Impact vs. Edged Weapons

"Wood seeks bone; steel seeks flesh."

Old saying in the Filipino martial arts.

If you are employing an impact weapon (baton, flashlight, beer mug, etc.), think hands, elbows, points of the shoulders, ribs, hips, knees, and lower legs for non-lethal strikes. Anything to the head should be saved for deadly force options.

If you are using an edged weapon during a deadly force encounter,target the fleshy areas: throat, triceps, biceps, abdomen, armpit, forearms, quadriceps, hamstrings.

There are other, more lethal, targets such as the subclavian artery and the femoral artery, but those are usually discussed more in the context of killing someone rather than driving someone away in a typical self-defense situation.