I thought I should post something instead of always asking questions of my fellow forumites so here is my first review.
As an Infantry Squad Leader in the First Infantry Division, I need a knife that I can depend on. My choice, after a lot of deliberation and lurking in the forums, was the Busse Natural Outlaw.
I have taken my Natural Outlaw to the field three times now and I can only say that it lives up to the "Nuclear Tough" standard.
The first trip to the field was running a station for "Individual Readiness Training", while the knife did not see much hard use I did chop some good size branches and a frozen tree stump between tests. This caused much damage to the surrounding foliage and only minimal damage to the edge. After some work with a ceramic rod from my sharpmaker I was able to get rid of the nicks in the edge.
The next test came during two rotations to the Combat Manuever Training Center in Hohenfels, Germany. This is one of the muddiest and wettest places in the world. My knigfe was wet and muddy for two weeks at time both times and showed no signs of corrosion on the exposed edge.
I used my knife to chop branches to build a hooch, pry open ammo crates, pound stakes with the butt end, chop through recovered commo wire and trip wire, and also opening the ocasional MRE. My Natrural Outlaw did all these tasks easily with no damage to the knife.
The crinkle coating also held up well, in fact better than any other coating I have ever had on a knife. Even after repeated use the worst damage to the coating is a "smoothing out" effect.
The Quilted Micarta Handle provides a secure yet comfortable grip even when muddy, cold and wet, the three prevailing conditions at CMTC. The quilted handle is a vast improvement over the handle on my old Steel Heart II. The only improvement I would make to the handle is subdued handle fasteners. I colored in mine bith a black marker.
In addition to field use I have pried open a locked file cabinet drawer and destroyed various items in the scrap metal and wood bins in the motor pool. The comment I hear the most is "I wouldn't do that with my knife!" to which I reply "You CAN'T do this with your knife"
The only drawback to the Natural Outlaw was the Cordura/Kydex Sheath. Mine is deteriorating rapidly. Somehow while mounted on my LBV a spot rubbed through the black trim aroung the edge and the metal gromets on the bottom of the sheath are getting corroded.
In addition to the durability of the sheath I think there are two design flaws in the sheath (at least for military carry on an LBV). First the whole sheath comes up when you draw the knife if you don't have it tied to your leg. While tying the sheat to your leg at the bottom may work for some people it hinders you if you need to remove your equipment in a hurry. This could be fixed by adding a piece of kydex to the belt loop as a stiffener. The second flaw is the outside pocket/pouch. I like the pocket and use it to carry all manner of things, however it need some improvement. The velcro is noisy and therefor untactical, in addition once it becomes muddy velcro does not work. A simple fastex buckle would fix this (I have always been taught not to bring up a problem unless you have a solution ).
Overall I would give the Natural Outlaw and A+ and the Sheath a C-.
In my opinion the Natural Outlaw is the perfect Infantry Field Knife (possible future model name? ). Performance, size, quality, and price put it light years ahead of the competition. Mine is now scratched, beat up, starting to look ugly,and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Now all I need is the Folder.
Yours in Nuclear Toughness,
Nick
I posted the on the Busse Site and thought I would post it hereas well since I can post pics here also although no knife pics. Just some of Kuwait.
Now that I am back and have had a week or so to settle back in I thought I would post a review of my Euro 4 and Natural Outlaws performnce in Kuwait. Unfortunatly the pictures I took didn't come out
Natural Outlaw
I put the Natural Outlaw throught some hard use and of course it performed beautifully.
We had two morale tents set upone for a Gym and another for watching TV, Movies, etc. When the crates came in with the things to fill the tents, weights, benches, exercise equipment, Ping-pong tables, etc my company was detailed to break open the crates and set up the interiors of the tents. So I of course broought my NO along for the job.
The crates were aprroximatly 8'x8'x8' wooden structures held together by heavy duty bolts and great big ribbed nails. Let me tell you, those crates were built to withstand some punishment. Once we removed the bolts we had to pry one of the panels off to get inside and unload everything. I used the NO since we only had two prybars and three crates to open.
While the job was difficult the NO performed well as a prybar. Everyone watched as I put the NO to work and kept cautioning me that I would reak my knife. After many such warnings I patiently explained that my knife would not break and that since it was guaranteed not to break, in the unlikely event that it, did all I would have to do is let Jerry know and I would recieve a new one; the only question being "What happened". I also explainined that the reply would most certainly be "That shouldn't have happened". While prying, I did experience about 10-15 degrees of flex and of course my knife returned to true after each time. No problems there.
Once the crate was open there were several havy boards supporting the structure of the crate as well as holding the heavy workout equipment in place. It was necessary to remove these boards in order remove the contents. at this point I used the NO to both hammer and pry. It took alot of work to completely disassemble the thing and remove the contents. But I had fun using the NO so brutally and watching the faces of everyone who watched. My only regret was that I didn't have a length of pipe or a camo net pole to use as "cheater bar" so that I could have gotten more leverage.
I also used the NO along with the head that had broken off of a sledgehammer to make chair out of the remains of the crate. Since furniture was scarce in camp we had to make our own. I used the NO to do some joint work and square off the ends of some of the boards and finish off some of the joints I had cut as well as as an adze/planer. I only wish that the pictures I took of the chair would ahve came out. The chair was a heavy duty as my Natural Outlaw.
While the knife performed as well as always the coating did suffer some. I have worn off the coating a few places and worn it smooth in several others. My NO has really taken on that nice "beat up" look. The crinkle coating is the best I have come across to date. Much better than any of the other knives I have had had with other black coatings.
The only thing I have a problem with on this knife is the the sheath. I pretty much beat it up in Hohenfels, Germany while training and it has only gotten worse. I have caved in the kydex liner at the bottom and the eyelets at the bottom corroded while in Germany. I took it with me anyway since I have not gotten around to replacing the sheath. I am still lokking for something that I like design wise.
All in all I would say that I have successfully beaten up my NO in yet another country with only damage to the coating to show for my effforts.
Euro Four,
I recieved this knife in December and I really like it. I think that it is the best small utility knife I have ever seen or owned.The size is perfect for general use for almost any task aroung camp, military or civilian. I would not hesitate to use it for hunting or food prep in the wilderness.
At first I was hesitant to use it. It was so nice and new I didn't want to beat it up. Finally I couldn't stand it any longer and I had to use it. At first I used it for everyday chores; cutting 550 cord, opening boxes and MRE's, and things like that. Then I took it out for about a month for Gunnery/Qualification and really put it to use. One of things that I used it for was splitting some wooden tent pegs used for the large army tents to make expedient mine probes for breach training. The tent pegs were well seasoned oak and hard as hell. I really had to whack on the Euro ith another tent peg to split those things. I worked great, although I wore off some of the crinkle coaing in the process. In addition to splitting the tent pegs I pried open some ammo crates and cut up some heavy card board, all in all the Euro worked out up to expectations of a Busse.I don't think I have ever been happier with such a small knife. Now it looks properly beaten and scarred
Again the sheath was a disappointment. Since I an left handed I have to put the knife in "backwards". Because of the way the kydex insert is formed the knife only fits well in the right hand configuration. And due to the way the insert is made it cut a deep groove in the crinkle coating leanghtwise along a good portion of the blade. I am going to have to get new clothes for both of thase knives since they are my primary fixed blade users.
Performance likethis is why I continue to buy, use, and enjoy my INFI toys.
Hope that was helpful. As far as I am concerned for real life military use and real utility use the whole "fighter" thing is a crock of
poo . If I stab or slash you with one of my knives you are going to bleed and most likely die. I only say this not because I am a super dooper high speed tough guy only because my knives are sharp, well made, and always in reach in the field and I have the will to use them on the enemy (or a rack of spare ribs) if necessary.
Bottom line buy 'em, use 'em and abuse 'em. If you don't like them you can always sell for what you paid for them or a little more.
Nick
I'm on the list! I will have an NO, oh yes I will! 
