Buck 300 Series Trappers?

K

knifeaholic

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Oct 15, 2001
Messages
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I'm hoping that 300 Bucks will fill me in on this question but of course others can chime in as well....

I recall that for a few years in the 1990's Buck offered a full size trapper and a smaller size trapper as part of the 300 series that were made in the USA with the typical sawcut black handles.

I recently saw some of these (old stock) at a gun shop. These are not to be confused with the newer imported line.

It always seemed odd to me that Buck discontinued these trappers so soon after they were introduced, given the popularity of the trapper pattern in general.

So I was wondering about the history of these, years produced, and were they made in house at Buck or by Camillus?

Thanks
 
Buck's Trappers have included.

Domestic Made:
311 Slimline Trapper (Made by Camillus)
312 Mini-Trapper Trapper (Made by Buck)
314 Jumbo Trapper (Made by Buck)
329 Freedom Trapper (Made by Camillus)
334 Millennial Trapper (Made by Camillus)
330 Set of models 312 & 314 with Ironwood scales.

Imports:
380
382
384
 
Bear Claw Chris Lappe said:
Buck's Trappers have included.

Domestic Made:
311 Slimline Trapper (Made by Camillus)
312 Mini-Trapper Trapper (Made by Buck)
314 Jumbo Trapper (Made by Buck)
329 Freedom Trapper (Made by Camillus)
334 Millennial Trapper (Made by Camillus)
330 Set of models 312 & 314 with Ironwood scales.

Imports:
380
382
384
Click to expand...

Chris;

Thanks...sounds like the 312 and the 314 are the ones that I was thinking of.
 
Search for posts by 300 Bucks and I'm sure you'll eventually find what you're looking for. (unless he posts here and answers it himself)
 
Ok,

PhotoBucket is back up.

I think the fellows have narrowed the questions to the 312 MiniTrapper and the 314 Standard Trapper.
Those designs ares discontinued, except in some slightly different versions in the overseas Buck line.
Cataloged:
312 - 1991 to 1999; 314 - 1991 to 1997.
Made only by Buck not by Camillus. The the first blade tang date code is X or 1990. Several variations. Offically, Six for 312 and Five for 314 but I wouldn't bet a nickle on that due to special orders.

First versions will have black sawcut scales with brass spring rivets, then the SS rivet shows up and a couple of limited editions.
They both borrow some of there looks from other companies trappers. The 314 especially looks like a handful of other folks trappers.
The 312 hides in the pocket well, the 314 lets you know its there. All versions were Bos 420HC. There is a Buck Workman sub-line 312 which is a plain 312 with Workman image and some writing pad printed on main blade. A big batch of 312 were also made with upside down escutcheon plates.

As you can see from the many 1990 tang date stamps of X, it was a exciting year for blades stamped that way.....they must have made a big batch of blades right at first.....
300Bucks/ch

Here is an example of the brass to SS spring rivet change of the first two models showing the 312s. Same for 314.
brasstrapper.jpg

The high dollar trappers are the David Yellowhorse versions.
YHFrt.jpg

Both made in jigged bone one year(or so). Also shown a Prof. Rodeo Cowboys Assoc. 312.
Trappers-1.jpg

Here is special run, blue scales.
312Blue.jpg

112Bluebladecloseup.jpg

Heres a 314 speical Coal miner run with jigged bone scales. Came with special clam box.
Coal314.jpg

If you have come this far, you will be treated to the piece-day-resitance. The Limited Edition, numbered, Ebony scaled versions. One of the rarest versions. My two don't match numbers.
bebonytrapper.jpg


Now as an addition there is a model 329 Buck two blade trapper that was a special order for SMKWs and was made by Camillus. It has a Camillus twin I believe. Made in two versions during 1988. Note the print of the pledge. I believe historically, that was the original pledge version, with 'under God' added later in time. Somebody at the printing company copied the wrong one.
b329trapper.jpg


For those interested, this is the 311 trapper spoken about in above posts, this is the very first version.
311Rivets.jpg

And this is the large 334 version mentioned above by Bear Claw. Too large for my carrying.
Buck334Trapper.jpg
 
Last edited:
Nice collection there 300Bucks! :thumbup:
What's the closed length of the 312 Minitrapper?
 
Thanks for the detailed reply 300 Bucks. Odd that those were not successful patterns (312 and 314) for Buck given how popular trappers are in general.
 
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