Anyone know anything about the Meyerco "Bolt Action" ?

RH

Joined
Jan 31, 1999
Messages
2,094
specifically... does the lock work like the Axis (auto-engage), or do you need to push the bolt to lock it ? Are these good qulality ?
 
Designed by Blackie Collins back in the '70s, Gerber used to use it a lot. In the old Parabellum, it worked GREAT.

It handles a lot like the Axis, and is sort of an "ancestor" of the Axis. It's not quite as strong, and was fairly expensive to produce, but it's not at all bad. I'd trust it ahead of almost all linerlocks.

Jim
 
Right as rain - in the 80's it was called the Bolt Action and made under the Gerber name - Blackie Collins was the designer.. first versions were either white or black with polished blades and stippled handles.. then came the checkering and the white got lost. It was/is a good knife when Gerber made it.. I know nothing about Meyerco
except there's a heck of a deal on that model in the last Smoky Mountian Knife Works Catalogue - $16.00 for the model with a pocket clip - which the origional didn't have . .. I've been thinking about ordering a couple for myself. I retired my white one
and my Son has it now - I still have the black one.. Had the fun of field testing it for Pete Gerber. not a bad knife for the price.

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Don't wrestle with the hogs - they enjoy it and you get dirty !
Jonesy

[This message has been edited by Revvie (edited 08-10-2000).]
 
revvie, you read my mind. My catalog came yesterday. I was thinking either the Gerber AR3.00 (also on sale in SMKW) or the Bolt-Action as a first knife for my wife. I think the lock on the Bolt might be easier to disengage for small hands than Gerber's liner. At < $20, I think either is the perfect price/quality point for a knife that won't see a lot of daylight.
 
RH - like I said - I've had that design since the mid 80's and never had a problem with it ... my Son used one as well without a problem.. It's not state of the art materials but very very servicable.

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Don't wrestle with the hogs - they enjoy it and you get dirty !
Jonesy
 
Mini-review. Meyerco Bolt Action Half Serrated Edge Utility/Clip. I received mine the other day from Smoky Mountain for $15.99. According to SMKW the list is$59.99, I have seen it before for an asking price of around $39. I got more than one, to either give away or sell, or accumulate. I picked two at random, to keep. One has a medium strength clip the other one is tighter. (I checked another, it had a weaker clip, but could probably be adjusted.)

The clip is designed for deep pocket carry, which I have decided that I definitely prefer. The clip fold is almost at the end of the knife, with screws to each side to allow this high fold over. This differs from the SERE 2000 deep pocket clip which is actually screwed into the end of the knife.

Fairly substantial Zytel type handle, what SMKW calls black polymer. Weighs 2.9 oz. (For comparison the SERE 2000 or S2Kweighs about 6.1 oz, although as I recall, with the manufacturer stating the nominal weight as 6 ounces. They may have better scales and the digital postal scale would have to give the next increment up, even if the weight was an infinitesimal amount over the ounce. The Boye folder weighs about 2 ounces.)

I am using the one with the medium strength clip as it opens easier. The amount of blade play up and down seemed about the same, slight, and neither had any side to side motion, so I chose the easier to open of the two. A straight forward flick while holding the lock button open to reduce tension easily opens the blade, and then let go of the button. This is somewhat different then some I have, that require or work best with a downward wrist snap and turn to flick the knife open. That method does not work very well with this knife. The amount of force required, with exercise of moderate care, does not seem excessive, although using the ambidextrous thumb studs, most of the time, is probably the better part of discretion, especially around other individuals.

It came sharp out of the box. I assume the steel being 440 stainless is probably only 440A, not B or C, so I do not know how long the edge will hold up. I have only shaved some hair, opened a package, envelope, and a few other small cutting jobs. Fit and finish seem good, with the variances noted above. The blade is flat ground, which I consider a plus. I bought the combi-edge as I figured it might be preferable on a blade of modest steel, for general utility purposes.

The manufacture has an insert which warns against abusing the lock, in that, “strong impacts or twisting forces may damage the safety mechanism and may result in the blade folding during use.” It also has a limited lifetime warranty to the Original Purchaser. I have no idea how reputable they are in backing up the warranty, or what they consider the original purchaser. In other words do you have to buy it from a dealer, or what if you buy it NIB (new in box), but from someone else. They do ask that proof of purchase be sent in for warranty repair, but how many of us will have that 10 years from now? There is no registration.

Back to the lock. Pinching the knife between thumb and fingers and bringing it down onto a 6 inch high stack of paper and newspaper causes the blade to close slightly. It does not seem to go any further with another modest whack or two. This is not a lot of force, so I am mildly disappointed with the blade movement; on the positive side, it does not seem to go any further.

I do not know if this typical of this type of lock, or whether it depends on how close to tolerances the fit is. I know that a custom maker is using a similar lock as his knife was on the cover of one of the knife magazines a while ago. As I recall, it had a striking orange handle. He had apparently developed it independently and when he found that Gerber had a similar one, was relieved to be informed that they were not going to make an issue of it, considering the number of knives he could make. It is refreshing to see some reason in the world.

Revvie, Does your Gerber knife and bolt action lock react this way? It helps that you do not report any problem.

Does anyone have both a Gerber and a Meyerco Bolt Action knife to compare? I do know someone that I see occasionally, that has one, and if I get the opportunity I will compare them, as much as a brief examination can do. His seems to have held up to some use.

I also recall Gerber having some of this type knife that had interchangeable blades. Does anyone have one of these, and if so, how do they work?

Bottom line, a nice serviceable knife, especially at the price. The sharp, flat ground blade, easy to use lock, and deep pocket clip are positive features.
smile.gif
 
Donald -
Just got back to this thread - My Gerber original has take lots of use - I guess I never tried to wrist snap it open -there are no assist thumb studs on the original. The lock smoothly rides open and falls shut on the tang slot very positively - no lateral or vertical movement after it's locked open.
The lock actually seems to become tighter as the knife is used. The one I have is advertised as 440-C and has a slight but noticable hollow grind over a large part of the blade's surface making it very easy to re-sharpen which I did not have to do very often.
I did have one of the "exchange blade" models but picked it up second hand and only had one blade.. removal and replacement was very simple and it did not seem to loose anything in the strength at the axis. I hope this helps - but I don't know what it means for the Meyerco other than it's apparently the same design. I really liked the "bolt action" well made, simple and very serviceable.

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Don't wrestle with the hogs - they enjoy it and you get dirty !
Jonesy
 
I just got mine this week from SMKW. Excellent review above, so I'll limit my comments.

Pro's:
- hollow grind
- sharp !
- feels robust
- fills the hand
- lock seems very strong, the design would indicate that the handle would need to be torqued out of line for the lock to fail
- lock design allows closing without having any fingers in blade path
- subdued blade finish
- deep pocket clip
- knurling on both sides of handle
- $15.99 !

Con's:
- 440-series steel
- boxy and thick handle (if you like thin better than 'sturdy')
- stud is a little hard to get a thumb on
- no solid "thwack" when lock engages, kind of a dull "dunk"

Overall, I would actually feel better doing mildly heavy work with this than my Delica, it just feels sturdier. The blade is also very wide, so point breakage would not be an issue.

Due to the quality/price, I would like to have several as gifts, but frankly any non-knife person would be put off by the size. The boxy handle and >3", wide blade make the knife bigger than the Delica, significantly larger than the Rookie, for comparison. Not an "office" knife, but a great worker if you really use your knives.

By the way, if I want to notch out the handle for stud access, would a half-round file do it ?
 
Mini-review. Meyerco Bolt Action Half Serrated Edge Utility/Clip, I received mine the other day from Smoky Mountain for $15.99. According to SMKW the list is$59.99, I have seen it before for an asking price of around $39. I got more than one, to either give away or sell, or accumulate. I picked two at random, to keep. One has a medium strength clip the other one is tighter. (I checked another, it had a weaker clip, but could probably be adjusted.)

The clip is designed for deep pocket carry, which I have decided that I definitely prefer. The clip fold is almost at the end of the knife, with screws to each side to allow this high fold over. This differs from the SERE 2000 deep pocket clip which is actually screwed into the end of the knife.

Fairly substantial Zytel type handle, what SMKW calls black polymer. Weighs 2.9 oz. (For comparison the SERE 2000 or S2Kweighs about 6.1 oz, although as I recall, with the manufacturer stating the nominal weight as 6 ounces. They may have better scales and the digital postal scale would have to give the next increment up, even if the weight was an infinitesimal amount over the ounce. The Boye folder weighs about 2 ounces.)

I am using the one with the medium strength clip as it opens easier. The amount of blade play up and down seemed about the same, slight, and neither had any side to side motion, so I chose the easier to open of the two. A straight forward flick while holding the lock button open to reduce tension easily opens the blade, and then let go of the button. This is somewhat different then some I have, that require or work best with a downward wrist snap and turn to flick the knife open. That method does not work very well with this knife. The amount of force required, with exercise of moderate care, does not seem excessive, although using the ambidextrous thumb studs, most of the time, is probably the better part of discretion, especially around other individuals.

It came sharp out of the box. I assume the steel being 440 stainless is probably only 440A, not B or C, so I do not know how long the edge will hold up. I have only shaved some hair, opened a package, envelope, and a few other small cutting jobs. Fit and finish seem good, with the variances noted above. The blade is flat ground, which I consider a plus. I bought the combi-edge as I figured it might be preferable on a blade of modest steel, for general utility purposes.

The manufacture has an insert which warns against abusing the lock, in that, “strong impacts or twisting forces may damage the safety mechanism and may result in the blade folding during use.” It also has a limited lifetime warranty to the Original Purchaser. I have no idea how reputable they are in backing up the warranty, or what they consider the original purchaser. In other words do you have to buy it from a dealer, or what if you buy it NIB (new in box), but from someone else. They do ask that proof of purchase be sent in for warranty repair, but how many of us will have that 10 years from now? There is no registration.

Back to the lock. Pinching the knife between thumb and fingers and bringing it down onto a 6 inch high stack of paper and newspaper causes the blade to close slightly. It does not seem to go any further with another modest whack or two. This is not a lot of force, so I am mildly disappointed with the blade movement; on the positive side, it does not seem to go any further.

I do not know if this typical of this type of lock, or whether it depends on how close to tolerances the fit is. I know that a custom maker is using a similar lock as his knife was on the cover of one of the knife magazines a while ago. As I recall, it had a striking orange handle. He had apparently developed it independently and when he found that Gerber had a similar one, was relieved to be informed that they were not going to make an issue of it, considering the number of knives he could make. It is refreshing to see some reason in the world.

Revvie, Does your Gerber knife and bolt action lock react this way? It helps that you do not report any problem.

Does anyone have both a Gerber and a Meyerco Bolt Action knife to compare? I do know someone that I see occasionally, that has one, and if I get the opportunity I will compare them, as much as a brief examination can do. His seems to have held up to some use.

I also recall Gerber having some of this type knife that had interchangeable blades. Does anyone have one of these, and if so, how do they work?

Bottom line, a nice serviceable knife, especially at the price. The sharp, flat ground blade, easy to use lock, and deep pocket clip are positive features.

RH, I am not sure about the file, sounds OK to me, then finish with some fine abrasive wet/dry paper or round diamond hone for serrations. The Dremel fanatics should know. I know that when I try to smooth regular plastics I often have trouble getting a smooth finish. I did smooth off the points caused by the finger grooves on the G-10 handles of my SIFU using some fine wet/dry abrasive paper. I believe however that this is a denser, harder, material. Further, I was doing very little material removal.

 
I received one of the plain edge MeyerCo bolt actions, and I concur with the reviews already posted, particularly with regard to the dull and unimpressive lock "dunk." It's a pleasant knife overall, and while the handle is a bit chunky, I like how it fits my hand.

The pocket clip on mine was incredibly tight out of the box. I unscrewed it (it took some doing to dislodge the screws, which were almost frozen at first), then bent it with a Gerber Multiplier until the tension suited me.

Definitely worth 16 US.

Razor

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AKTI #A000845
And tomorrow when you wake up it will be worse.

 
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