Buck 303 Cadet spacer

[bertl]

Camillus made the Buck 303 Cadet, a stockman pattern, for almost 15 years. Viewed from the back, all of those knives had 3 brass strips: a middle spacer and a brass side frame on each side. However, throughout that period many knives had a fourth brass strip, what I call a side spacer. Does anyone know why some knives had that fourth strip and others didn't? Was it some sort of management decision or was it dependent on the individual putting the knife together? If that variation only occurred at one time period, I could understand, but it happened throughout the production of the 303. A similar situation exists for the Camillus Buck 301 Stockman.

Any help from the Camillus people will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bert

 

[RickR]

Well, it's what we called a side center. I would imagine that there were times when the blades were ground differently, a swage on the blade removed from the process, etc. This would make the space needed to have the blades fall together without hitting each other greater. A side center was added to give the blades more room within the knife. Hope this is what you were looking for.

 

[bertl]

Thanks Rick. Now I know the right terminology. If I understand, the use of the side center was up to the individual and the result of variations in tolerance, especially the blades.

Bert

 

[Bloefield]

Interesting. Thanks, Harold