Benchmade 581 Barrage M390

[bluesmandan]

Last week I purchased a Benchmade 581 Barrage. It was the most affordable M390 blade I could find, and fit my specs well. I wanted G10 scales, M390, a blade between 3-4 inches, smooth one handed opening, a good tip down pocket clip, a non-serrated non-hollow ground blade of decent thickness and... I think that's it. Oh yeah, made in the USA with a good warranty and not too expensive. The only think the Barrage didn't fit was the tip down carry which I prefer; it is tip up, but I can live with that.

PRICE​

So I found the Barrage on Ebay for $148.75... I thought that was a decent deal for M390 from other price comparisons.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS​

Out of the box it was nice and sharp, with smooth and QUICK assisted deployment. Fit and finish was very nice, though it came with a weird asymmetric grind of 20/25. I used it a day or so with the weird grind, and then took the 25 down to 20 because it was just annoying to me (I have a knife sharpening business, and it was an OCD thing I guess). Anyway, it looked good and felt good in the hand during deployment and use.

[/url] [/IMG]

THE BLADE:​

The Blade is a high flat grind with a drop point. It has a hexagonal cross-section at the tip, and pentagonal near the choil, the transition happening attractively in the middle of the blade. It is 3 5/8" long, almost 1 1/8" wide at the widest point near the choil, and 1/8" thick. It is neither beefy nor delicate, awkwardly long nor unsatisfyingly short (no innuendos, please, ladies) which I think is quite perfect for an EDC. The blade is similar in some respects to other EDC's I've had... an old Buck Crosslock (drop point with hollow grind), a Kershaw Blur (mild recurve), and a cheapo stainless folder (my most recent EDC, pictured for comparison in this post) that has served me well for awhile, but I'm tired of having to resharpen its weak steel every day.

Almost the entire length of the blade has a cutting edge, except for a small part near the choil that is rounded out to allow for a locking mechanism to secure the blade from accidental deployment. It is NOT a choil that can double as a fingerhold; it is too small. I think I would prefer no choil or a useable choil to this non-useable mini-choil, but like I said, it's there for the locking mechanism. The kick is never exposed except for a tiny bit of it during deployment or closing.

The M390 steel is HARD and really holds an edge. I don't have the capability to test rc, but from the tiny bit of sharpening I did on it to fix that 25 side down to 20, I could tell its up there. I'm very impressed with the edge holding capabilities so far. The other day I chopped some branches off a small tree when we were tidying up the church grounds for an upcoming funeral, and the blade really cut well, and afterward didn't even need touched up. By far the best steel I've used in a knife.

WEIGHT​

The whole package weighs 5.1 oz. Light enough not to be a bother, but weighty enough to know it's there. When deployed, the weight is balanced slightly in favor of the grip, such that the weight center is right between your index and middle fingers when gripping - pretty practical balance, I'd say.

AESTHETICS​

The aesthetics are classy semi-tactical... reminds me of the Sog Tomcat. Almost gentlemanly, almost aggressive. The Satin M390 and the Matte Aluminum bolsters blend together really well, and the soft black of the G10 mates well with them.

GRIP and CLIP​

The G10 scales are not aggressively checked but it is still grippy enough; there a couple of deep lines that blend into the aluminum bolster and its 8 grooves, and there are 4 half dimples at the edges on both sides (8 total). These are not merely cosmetic, they are perfectly placed for your finger pads to sit while you deploy the blade, and they help grip the knife during use. The clip is comfortable in your hand when you grip the knife, which is I guess an advantage of tip up over tip down carry; the clip doesn't dig into your knuckle pad, but fits into the hollow of your hand. The smooth G10 allows the knife to be easily removed from or placed in the pocket. My old Kershaw Blur had that sandpaper grip under the clip, and removing or replacing the knife to its place on the pocket was a bit of a pain, I imagine was rough on the pants. No worries with the Barrage, even with my wool suit slacks. During carry, only 1/2" of the knife is visible, and as it is tip up carry, it is only the solid black of the butt that is visible, rather than the silver of the aluminum bolsters, and as the clip is black, when carried with black pants, the knife is barely noticeable.

Other thoughts...​

Not really much to add. Everybody knows about the axis lock, which works great. I'm looking forward to having a knife I don't have to continually resharpen. :thumbup: :thumbup:

 

[Buffalohump]

I had this knife for a while and it had a lot going for it, which you have described above. However I have since sold it.

My reasons were: Handles a bit too fat. Wasnt wild about the bolsters with grooves, would have preferred them plain. Would have preferred textured G-10 to smooth for extra grip. Wasnt too sure about the assisted opening, regular would have been fine.

Other than that, great knife!

 

[brownshoe]

Welcome to the forums blusemandan. Thanks for a nice review.

 

[bluesmandan]

Thanks for the welcome, Brownshoe!

I had this knife for a while and it had a lot going for it, which you have described above. However I have since sold it.

My reasons were: Handles a bit too fat. Wasnt wild about the bolsters with grooves, would have preferred them plain. Would have preferred textured G-10 to smooth for extra grip. Wasnt too sure about the assisted opening, regular would have been fine.

Other than that, great knife!

I agree in part with you, Buffalohump. I don't find the handles too fat; they fit my hand quite well and are comfortable. I don't really have an opinion about the bolsters. Like you, though, I WOULD prefer textured G10 to the smooth, at least on the parts of the grip that don't fit under the clip. And I, too, think that the assisted opening is not necessary; it has a nice wow factor when you first use it, but smooth unassisted opening is almost as fast, is much quieter, and allows for easier closing of the blade.

The sliding blade lock I think is unnecessary, too. BUT it is fun to flip the knife open several times and then hand it to your wife and say "Here, you try it" and secretly click the lock into place as you give it to her. :biggrin:

 

[chiral.grolim]

Thanks for the review :thumbup:

I bought a 585 Mini-Barrage when they first came out and it is still the knife I carry most. The fat handles allow a lot of purchase and also provide a wide surface for your thumb on forceful cuts. :thumbup: I think the grooves in the index area (min doesn't have bolsters) are supposed to enhance retention/control, and they do help prevent slipping, so *shrug* I too am impressed with the placement of the scallops in the handle, also with the curvature of the handle spine, makes it very comfortable to put a LOT of force into the handle for hard or extended cutting.
The assisted opening is useful in emergency situations when you need that blade to lock fully open without thinking about it. However, it does detract from that wonderful flip-close feature of Axis-lock knives. That said, it is the best spring-assist I've ever handled, far better than any torsion-bar, with powerful deployment but ease of closure with a nominal bias toward closed thanks to the omega-springs.
Regarding the safety, there have been numerous incidents of spring-assisted knives opening accidentally and injuring people, enough that I don't buy any spring-assisted knife lacking a safety-switch unless it is very difficult to deploy (e.g. microtech otf).

Regarding the choil, it makes sharpening easier at the blade heel, pretty standard really.

Good review :thumbup: