Any experience with the BlackJack Tac-Ops 6?

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Jul 17, 2007
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Hey guys I've really been considering this knife for general outdoor/camping use. Don't know much about them (I guess they're owned by Bark River now?) but the few reviews I've found gave it very high remarks. It won't replace my Fallkniven A1 (best survival knife in my opinion) just looking for an alternative and want to stick with a 6" blade. My other consideration is the well-proven ESEE 6.

So, does anyone have any experience with the Tac-Ops 6 or BlackJack Knives in general? What are your thoughts and would you go with this one over the ESEE-6? Feel free to post any photos along with your opinons, thanks in advance!

Here's a picture I ripped from the internet:

BJBCBTO6CB1.jpg
 
Not sure who the name is owned by now. I think it might be Blue Ridge Knives. Blue Ridge is certainly a huge distributor of them. Blackjacks come in two flavours – the stainless and rubber ones are made in china, and Bark River makes the rest.

I don't feel qualified to give much comment on them, but to get the ball rolling:

I owned some Blackjacks years ago. The Rio Grande was an awesome knife, the style just wasn't for me. I did tote an Anaconda for a while. I really liked that. Too much knife for me now, but I can't fault it – nice Tarzan beater.

Although the Blackjack quality has bounced about a bit over the years, depending on who was making them and blah, I think think there is much more variation now. Bark River tends to polarise people. Some see their grinding to a thin cutting efficiency as a great thing. Others find such edge thinning an incongruous step too far on designs that a clearly otherwise built for rough work. There's plenty of threads crying about that. Personally I don't give a hoot about it. People that moan about that sort of thing shouldn't own knives. It's like having a car when you are only capable of making left turns, or having to get someone to put fuel in for you. Get off the road. Anyway, point being, whatever you stance on Bark River is it should generalize well to the non-stainless Blackjack stuff.

Of the stainless I have mixed views. I have bought two of the newer ones. One is great the other not so good at all. I've kept the Grunt. The move to China may well of actually improved that with a steel now more in line with AUS 10. That's a well done knife and very sharp NIB. I have thinned mine out some. That's not because there was anything wrong with it, that's just how I roll. I like rubber handled stainless knives with vicious cutting power.

If I were in your position and liked the look of the Tac-Ops 6 I'd grab it. In common with a lot of other knives of that type the scales look a bit flat sided for my personal taste. I wouldn't hold that against it. I've been spoiled by some loved contoured rubber handles. They are easy to make. Machining off micarta, G10, wood, to get the contours I like is always going to be much harder for makers to do. That aside, looks great to me.
 
I bought one of these, but a prototype in A2 steel, not the 1095 steel that the regular production knives use. While I like the knife a lot, I don't often carry it when I hike or camp. I don't feel it is really shaped for bushcraft tasks, and would not pick this over an ESEE 6 for woods work.
That said, it holds a wicked edge, and makes an almost perfect urban hiking knife. ;)
 
Thanks for the input guys. I actually just ordered an ESEE 6. I was really really close to buying the Blackjack though, and I am still drawn to it for one reason or another, so I may end up getting one in the future. It sure is a handsome knife, especially compared to the "boring" ESEE 6. But, ya simply can't dispute the ESSEE's track record for being a woods/survival knife and that's why it ultimately won out.
 
Had the 4 inch model my only complaint is the handle was a little small for my hands otherwise it was a nice knife.
 
I bought one of the tan 6 inch models and use it as my primary outdoors knife. Mine is in A2 and has been stellar in the field. I have big mitts and the handle feels good in my hands. It does all I ask without a problem. I don't abuse my knives but I would have no issues with this being my only knife in a real survival situation. Well worth the money.
 
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