Are autos dead ?

I have a single switchblade kept in home...can't carry it because its illegal...use it to open letters at home...that's about it. Never thought about buying more because you only need one letter opener right?
 
Ken44 said:
Can't explain why you sell more, but in when I had my FFL and sold at shows no one here wanted them, and I've never know anyone personally that has ever owned one. I know some here do, but like I said the demand is nothing like that for manual knives.

You can call any major online dealer and ask them which they sell more of, and they will tell you. If you do call let us know who it was, and what they said please.
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Could depend on what part of the country you're in as to how well they sell at gun shows. For example, in Atlanta the mid to low end ones sell pretty well but you don't see many high quality ones. Its legal to own in GA, carry is a bit more iffy. Also there are almost no knife stores in ATL, so options for picking up one are minimal.

Not much point in calling dealers. I'm sure the vast majority sell way more manual or assisted vs. autos. Heck, even BladeHQ/BladePlay might sell more non-autos. Be interesting to know if Cam happens to see this.
However, if you call Protech they likely sell way more autos :D.

I can't see autos ever being a huge part of the market. Even if the current trend continues and they became legal in every state the percent of autos in the total market would probably not change dramatically. For one thing, they are not everyones cup-of-tea and if they were legal they'd loose that illicit/bad-boy appeal that seems to attract many.

It doesn't take a lot of looking around to realize the auto is far from dead, and no where near being on life support.
 
sellers. we can carry them with out a cc permit. now Dade county has outlaw them in there county and when you go there you need the cc permit to carry them on you. if you go to the real knives auction sites not eBay you will see they have a big section just for the auto. I know of several sites that sell nothing but the auto knifes. maybe up north it is deferent for the auto knives.
 
I've never been big on side-opening autos, but I really like OTF knives, at least some. Sure, more to break, yada yada... but come on—how many of us buy knives (or anything) for pure function. Gadgets are fun. We're moving (hopefully!) to a state that has more lenient laws that does California. That will be nice.
 
whetrock said:
Today I ventured into the automatic/switchblade sub forum and well... I found it to be somewhat vacant and inactive this lead me to think that possibly in this world of "assited openers" and "flippers" automatics could be considered unnecessary or obsolete, anyhow I'm not in any way condeming their use or supporting legislation that prohibits them but I honestly have no desire to carry or own a switchblade seeing as AO's and flippers offer 90 % of the speed of an auto without the legal hassle or cost even the novelty aspect of them has very little appeal to me when I was 13 or 14 I felt that they were all the rage but know it seems I could care less oh well I suppose that's maturity for you.
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ya gotta guard against thinking the world feels as you do, and that the way you feel is the way others should think.

Personally, I always get a kick out of pushing the auto button!
 
Oddly enough, strict laws on autos seem to have been a bonanza for the knife industry in general, spawning an endless variety of one hand openers and assisted openers utilizing very high quality materials and craftsmanship, all for lower prices than ever. Demand for a quick deploying, one hand opening pocket knife never subsided, despite the laws. So the market responded with knives that went around the law. And competition for that created market spawned more variety than I'll ever be able to exploit.

It seems kind of odd, but were it not for those restrictive switchblade laws, we might never have heard of the likes of Ken Onion or Spyderco or had a chance to enjoy their wares.
 
Alann45 said:
Not much point in calling dealers. I'm sure the vast majority sell way more manual or assisted vs. autos. Heck, even BladeHQ/BladePlay might sell more non-autos.
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Yes, I know this, that was my point:p
I would think that most all would sell more of the most popular knife from each of the major companies than all of the auto's put together.
 
I'm rereading some of my older post and I come across a bit... well lame. I'll try and obtain a good quality auto in the future as funds allow. I actually own an old Camillus Paratrooper and had it at the time of my posts, but forgot. I'm not saying they are useless, but kinda expensive in conjunction to the performance you receive IMHO. Still they're cool and I want one. I might as well go all out and try and obtain something that will hold its value well like a Microtech of a sort definitely OTF. They're illegal to carry hear. From a collectors standpoint though I feel the need for one all of a sudden, and I'm not much of a collector of any kind.
 
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