Recommendation? Best Ka-Bar On the Market ATM?

Unicorn161 said:
If you want the closest to the older issues knives the only option new is a Ka-Bar or Ontario. Both made them under military contract and I think are the only two still making them (none are for military issue anymore though).
Camillus, one of the other companies making the MK2 Knife, fighting and utility, stopped making them a few years ago unfortunately.

Remember that Ka-Bar is not the type of knife, it's the name of one of the companies who made and still makes them. They were the most well known because I think they made the most, and had their name very easy to see so people started calling every MK2 a "kabar," regardless of who made it.
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Camillus closed its doors in 2007. Only the name remains, owned by another company which outsources currently produced knives.

Ontario closed its doors in 2024.
(edited to add, they got purchased by Blue Ridge Knives, who closed the US plant. But I think I've read that Blue Ridge plans to continue having the foreign made Ontario knives made offshore.)

KaBar is the only original manufacturer left.
 
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Unicorn161 said:
If you want the closest to the older issues knives the only option new is a Ka-Bar or Ontario. Both made them under military contract and I think are the only two still making them (none are for military issue anymore though).
Camillus, one of the other companies making the MK2 Knife, fighting and utility, stopped making them a few years ago unfortunately.

Remember that Ka-Bar is not the type of knife, it's the name of one of the companies who made and still makes them. They were the most well known because I think they made the most, and had their name very easy to see so people started calling every MK2 a "kabar," regardless of who made it.
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Some interesting notes about this. The modern manufactured KA-BAR USMC Fighting Utility knife (1217) moved back to the original "high grind" specified in the original blue prints for the 1219C2 and USN Mk 2 several years ago. The primary grind goes clear up to the fuller. I don't remember when they started doing that again, maybe mid 2010s? Prior to that (but sometime after WWII) they were setting the primary grind much lower (which is not in spec to the original drawing).

Also, the modern KA-BAR 1217 has an oval handle. I don't have any WWII or Korean War vintage KA-BAR manufactured 1219C2s or USN Mk 2s, but I do have a WWII vintage Camillus USN Mk2 and the handle is round as opposed to oval.

They aren't issued anymore, but both the Ontario and KA-BAR versions have an NSN, so can ostensibly be purchased through GSA. I was never in the military and my dad was a Corpsman, not a Marine; but I can't imagine any USMC unit would give anyone trouble for carrying a KA-BAR branded 1219C2.

Sure, KA-BAR isn't a type of knife, but if someone asks you to envision an KA-BAR it seems likely you'd think of the 1217. Much in the same way a "Buck knife" usually means something that looks like a 110, or a "Leatherman" means multi tool, or "Velcro" means hook and loop, or "Kleenex" means facial tissue.
 
Count Zero said:
Ideally, I'm looking to get one as close to historical USMC specs as possible. That's my overriding criteria.
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Considering that the knife you linked to is literally the knife the USMC used back then, made by the company that made it back then....it's impossible to get more accurate than that unless you go shopping for one made back then.

Guessing this is for a shadow box with some other militaria?
 
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