Benchmade 300SN Ball Axis Flipper?

I also cannot get with the 154CM bashing. I know I have been on Bladeforums a long time, but for years, 154CM was seen as a premium steel. Even though it is no longer cutting edge, it did not suddenly become subpar. To be honest, almost anyone who owns more than a few knives, probably never puts any single one of them through such stress that the limits of the blade will truly be tested although test their knives just to see how they respond.
 
Completely agree. ATS-34/154CM didn't get magically "bad" just because we got newer, better steels.

I do think this knife is in a different category than knives like the Southard, however. Better materials, better design and possibly better manufacturing.

anthony cheeseboro said:
I also cannot get with the 154CM bashing. I know I have been on Bladeforums a long time, but for years, 154CM was seen as a premium steel. Even though it is no longer cutting edge, it did not suddenly become subpar. To be honest, almost anyone who owns more than a few knives, probably never puts any single one of them through such stress that the limits of the blade will truly be tested although test their knives just to see how they respond.
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JNewell said:
Completely agree. ATS-34/154CM didn't get magically "bad" just because we got newer, better steels.

I do think this knife is in a different category than knives like the Southard, however. Better materials, better design and possibly better manufacturing.
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Yes, I am sure that the Southard is equal to the ZT Hinderer knives. The BM 300SN is more like my Knockout.
 
anthony cheeseboro said:
Yes, I am sure that the Southard is equal to the ZT Hinderer knives. The BM 300SN is more like my Knockout.
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Being left handed, the Southard isn't on my radar at all.

I fondled ZTs and didn't buy one.

I will probably get a 300SN. I'd like to wait until after the first production run is over. I want to use this knife but I wouldn't use a LE or FP knife.

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Ok, I couldn't take it. I pre-ordered a partially serrated version.
 
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Poez said:
BTW: what "ball axis" means? Does anybody have any idea?
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Ball is the designer. I only know that because he posted a comment in the top youtube vid

Hell everyone,As the designer of this knife I will try to answer some of the questions here.There is a possibility of different color scales and a black blade version eventually.This knife is built almost identical to the proto I submitted but Benchmade use their axis lock vs liner lock.I chose this color g10 because at that time I was building knives headed to troops in Astan and that is what they wanted and I had plenty of it.
Butch Ball 1 day ago 8
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There's a lot of things about it that aren't to my tastes but I bet they'll sell tons of them. And count me in with the group that doesn't understand the 154CM bashing. It's good steel, guys. It cuts stuff. The stuff that's better than it isn't THAT much better than it, and Benchmade knows how to treat it right.
 
2 shot said:
Won't open without wrist flick? They need to work on that.
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I want to say this is probably due to the way the Axis Lock sort of "rides" the tang the whole way through the opening process if you use the flipper (like how a back-lock does - only much smoother due to the fact that the Axis lock uses a round bar up against the tang). I honestly think making the flipper a tad bit taller and longer would help give some extra umph to the flipping action, but I don't design folders so I'm just guessing.

For those saying it looks too thick, I just broke out the calipers and the mini-Axis Bone Collector (Walnut) is .61" thick. The mini Barrage is .57" thick. Both knives are 3" long (and the mini-Barrage looks to have almost the same blade-shape minus the flipper). The Griptilian (H2O model, I don't have a mini-grip handy) is .64" thick.

From the KnivesHQ review video, the 300SN is .59" thick. The blade-stock is thicker than that of either the mini BC or the mini Barrage (barely .13-.14 vs. .10-.11)

I pre-ordered mine already and am pretty excited about it.
 
I handled a BM300 SN again and brought my Kershaw RAM and Knockout for comparison. The BM is very close in size to the RAM. That makes it a winner for me. I will certainly buy one when I recover from Christmas.
 
Just got home and found a BM300SN on my doorstep. I wasn't even sure I'd get one or I just made the preorder list. What a great surprise. First impressions: Smaller than I thought. Darker brown G-10 than in the pics. Nicely finished, especially for the price. I can still see machine marks on the blade through the stonewash but its pretty subtle, looks good. Thick blade, thick liners, thick G-10, thicker than my ZT560. If I removed one of the G-10 scales it would still be thicker than my Les George Eagle. Fun to flick but definitely needs a little wrist snap, not a deal breaker. Overall I like it. Finally, the only reason I might let it go someday is it seems a little small for my hand (I wear a men's large size glove). Well, enough rambling, off to bed.
 
Man that is what I get for waiting. GPknives is out of stock. Anyone know anywhere else that has them in Stock? Thanks everyone
 
Coalman said:
Just got home and found a BM300SN on my doorstep. I wasn't even sure I'd get one or I just made the preorder list. What a great surprise. First impressions: Smaller than I thought. Darker brown G-10 than in the pics. Nicely finished, especially for the price. I can still see machine marks on the blade through the stonewash but its pretty subtle, looks good. Thick blade, thick liners, thick G-10, thicker than my ZT560. If I removed one of the G-10 scales it would still be thicker than my Les George Eagle. Fun to flick but definitely needs a little wrist snap, not a deal breaker. Overall I like it. Finally, the only reason I might let it go someday is it seems a little small for my hand (I wear a men's large size glove). Well, enough rambling, off to bed.
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Thanks for the review. I have large hands also and if it were just a tad larger. Both in blade and handle I'd be all over it. Still may one day. Never know but for now I've learned that the smaller knives just don't fit my hand as well as I'd like.

My BM Rift (one of my favorites) is about a small as I like but I always wished it were just slightly larger and my wishes were answered with the Contego lol....

Congratulations on your new knife!
 
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Thanks for all the comments. I hope there will be some variations such as black blades and possibly other color scales offered at a later time.Benchmade did a great job with this knife.THANKS
 
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I like it personally - just ordered one. Will update when I get it. I tend to like blades with a certain look and operational characteristics and this looks like it fits right in. We'll see...
 
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