Gerber AR3.00 - the good and the bad

[AlphalphaPB]

I'm a newbie to knives, which you probably know from my choice of knife, the Gerber AR3.00. I recently acquired it on Ebay for the low sum of about $30, and it's been serving me well for a couple of weeks.

I might as well review it here. Out of the box, the plain blade was pretty sharp, sharper than other Gerbers that I have, and my SOG S42 Autoclip. The blade is pretty thick and has a nice bead-blasted finish, which looks quite nice. The only problem with the blade is that it "Taiwan" printed crappily (looks like it's going to chip off) on the right side.

However, the knife looks pretty cool, with its machined aluminum handles and Kraton rubber inserts. The action was a little too tight for me right out of the box, so I loosened it a bit with a #10 Torx screwdriver. It feels hefty enough to be solid, instead of light and weak, much better than anything else I have.

It also flips open (and closed) very quickly, with a minimum of practice required.

The lanyard hole is bigger than some I've seen, but at around 4.5 mm, probably not big enough for some people. The clip is solid, and not much of the knife shows when clipped in a pocket. Mine had some nicks on it after wearing for a few weeks in a rear pocket.

Now on to the bad point. Yes, I've only found one, but I'm considering leaving this knife at home because of it. Just now, when I was sitting, with the knife clipped in the rear pocket of my trousers, I heard a muffle "pop" sound.

Wondering what that was, I pulled the knife out, flipped it open, and everything was working properly. I repocketed it, and shifting my rear-end to see if I could reproduce the pop, it happened again. Nothing seemed to be wrong with the clip, so I felt the length of the knife through my pocket. Guess what? That pop sound was the blade poking through my pants, and my fingers came across the point of the blade through the fabric.

I guess the easily accessible thumb studs are *really* easy to use, because my posterior was able to open the knife with them. Since the knife opens even when I'm doing something as common as sitting down in a chair, I guess I'm going to have to shelf this one. Now I've got to buy a new pair of trousers

 

[Leemah1]

Bummer....so to speak.
Maybe tighten up the action and see if it will still shoot open.
Don't give up on it yet.

Cheers,
Gord

 

[AlphalphaPB]

That's what I'm trying right now. Though it's harder to open now, I guess the 0.1 seconds extra opening time don't really matter, eh?

 

[Leemah1]

Oh ya...Welcome to the forum!

Let us know how the knife tuning works out.

Gord

 

[Jason Burns]

AlphalphaPB,
Sorry about your bad experience! I have given several of those away as gifts and no one has had that problem. However, I have never loosened the action. They break in pretty nicely. I ya have to shelve it the Gerber Air Ranger is it's big brother and is a great blade for the money!

 

[RH]

wow! If your posterior can consistently open up the knife, you may have an interesting career ahead of you! A rare talent indeed.

It's not healthy for your back to sit on any kind of lump in your back pocket (like a wallet, knife, etc.) I keep my blades in my front pocket.

 

[Chiburi]

No wonder I have back aches often; I carry my wallet in my back pocket (like many of us do), and when I sit down, I don't take it out. LOL, but I never thought of this before. The reason why I don't carry knives in my back pocket is that I don't want to cause any damage to the knife . The bad thing about carrying knives in the front pockets is that sometimes they might suddenly fall out when you're sitting down etc. and cause a little trouble --especially when their length sometimes (!) exceeds the maximum allowed (5 cm here in Finland).

Thanks for the enlightment, RH