Choice; benchmade 710 m4 or strider sng

tirod3 said:
The 710 isn't an optimal design for a game knife. The high swedge grind and lack of belly compared to the SnG is more a tactical wannabe design. The SnG isn't great either, especially because of the blade thickness and edge angle, which was optimized for rough cutting in the field. A Krein sharpening would be much better.

I've seen whitetail processed with a 2 1/2" Case folder, up to a Kabar. If someone who processes 40 elk a year thinks a tactical folder would be a good choice, I guess I still have a lot to learn about hunting, and maybe Loveless has it all wrong.

Then again, I've seen people use M1 carbines, .22-250's, and AR15's. They get their's, too.

:confused:
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what's that lassie?

a blue box? you mean it was deisnged as an edc knife and tirod is just being an ass?

how is it that you go around defending the single most TACTICOOL and OPERATOR knife that exists that doesnt have cold steel stamped on the blade and call several every day carry knives wannabe military knives? the irony is astonishing. Im not gonna knock striders as a knife but go look at their site, it speaks for itself how they market their knives.
 
tirod3 said:
The 710 isn't an optimal design for a game knife. The high swedge grind and lack of belly compared to the SnG is more a tactical wannabe design. The SnG isn't great either, especially because of the blade thickness and edge angle, which was optimized for rough cutting in the field. A Krein sharpening would be much better.

I've seen whitetail processed with a 2 1/2" Case folder, up to a Kabar. If someone who processes 40 elk a year thinks a tactical folder would be a good choice, I guess I still have a lot to learn about hunting, and maybe Loveless has it all wrong.

Then again, I've seen people use M1 carbines, .22-250's, and AR15's. They get their's, too.

:confused:
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Now hold on a second .I have been doing this for quite sometime and the thing I notice about most knives people choose for hunting is that is that they are designed around marketability instead of real use. For large game like elk I prefer about a 4 inch drop point blade with some belly and a fairly rounded spine as well as a thin blade . When you cover as much country as we cover ever year HEAVY is not even an option . There are guides that prefer different tools in all parts of the country , usually the first thing i notice about a guide is that alot of guides dont see that many dead animals in a year and even if they do they generally just field dress alot of animals. Most of them carry a really big showy knife. In my outfitting business we hunt 5 states and average around 1 animal per 3 days of hunting per hunter. So what i know is from wearing out all defferent kinds of knives. A bad design makes you work alot harder at it . Most animals are boned out on the ground in all conditions and what I notice is that most guides that are my type of high production hunter use a knife similar to what i use. I can have an elk loaded , thats gutted , skinned , caped and boned with the skull capped and meat tied down on horses 4 wheeler .etc. in two hours if the hunter helps hold a leg now and then. Most big knife guys can piddle for hours just skinnin and capin. This in no way equates to the caliber of guys hunting with assualt rifles etc.
 
I'd go with the 710. I picked up one in M2 when they came out and it's been great. should be a much better slicer than the strider, and the lock doesn't wear at all, near as I can tell.
 
I would go with a fixed blade. The M4 would be a great steel but the Mule M4 would be a better skinning knife than the 710 M4. Neither of these knives would be easy to obtain though. As far as toughness goes, the M4 at 62 hrc scores 55 J/cm^2 versus S30V at 60 hrc's 30 J/cm^2 on the Charpy impact test. Bend fracture strength M4 scores 5000 N/mm^2 which is amongst the highest for a steel.
 
straight knives are the only way to go when doing a lot of game processing.folders are too hard to clean & in general folders do'nt have durability as great as straight blades.on elk & hogs a 4.5 blade speeds the processing.
 
They are both great knives. I own an SnG and a 710 (with M2 blade), and I'd say they get about equal pocket time for me, and are actually probably my main two EDC knives.

I honestly think that for your purposes the SnG would be a better choice. The 710 would work, but I personally don't like the idea of getting blood and guts and what not into the inside of the steel axis lock on a regular basis. The titanium framelock is a much better choice as far as cleanup goes, as it is impossible to clean the inside of an axis lock without taking the knife apart, which voids Benchmade's warranty (which is about the only bad thing about BM's warranty). You could maybe spray some high pressure water in there, followed by some air to dry it, but you still never know if it is actually clean or dry on the inside. The framelock doesn't have these hidden areas.

Also, contrary to popular belief, the SnG is a good slicer if it is sharpened correctly. From the factory, they are not, as they come with a 22-25 degree per side edge bevel. If you thin that down to a 15 or a little less though, the high flat grind of the wide blade makes it a fine slicer.

If you are talking about skinning, the extra belly of the SnG is going to work better too.

Like others have said, there are probably better choices than either of these for what you are doing, but if it between these two, the SnG is clearly better IMO.
 
For hard use, I would go with a Strider over the 710. I have never owned a Strider, but in my own experience, while both locks (axis and frame) are very strong, a well executed framelock is more reliable.
 
I'll second ginshun's comments about the axis lock. It is a fine locking system no doubt and I have knives that employ it that are among my favourites ever. That said, the mechanism is somewhat complex compared to a framelock and I'm certain with all the blood and guts you will be dealing with that it would fail far sooner than a framelock ever would. Both of the knives you mentioned are fine blades but of the two, I would guess that the SnG would serve you better.
 
The Mastiff said:
Elkpro, if you are skinning out that many animals per year you might think of getting a custom Dozier, or a Phil Wilson custom in something like 10V, S110, or S90V.

The Dozier D2 skinning knives don't really compare to most D2 you probably have encountered. Joe
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I believe he said he has a Dozier...
 
710 and SNG are great knives. SNG has a wider blade, and is 3.5". 710 is 4". I have had both, and love both. I would go with the SNG. The Axis lock on the 710 is great, but that lock on the SNG is rock solid. The only thing I don't like about the SNG is the thickness of the edge.
 
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