Hinderer question

Chris Bruce said:
Hey guys,
So I have ordered my first XM-18 but I have a question. On the tri way knives what do yall find to be the best between the phospour bronze washers or the bearings? Im debating on changing out to the bronze washers once the knife gets here but idk if that will change the action all that much. Opinions?
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Best way to find out is try the different options and see what YOU like best. No one here can tell you what you will prefer.
 
Most likely the flipping action with the ball bearings will be smoother, faster, and crispier. I tried PB washers with one of my tri-way XM-18s and the action was not very impressive. Maybe it just needed more time to break in but I did not try for long enough before I switched back to ball bearings.
 
I've switched a few around, most tri-ways work best w/bearings. I have early gens that run on Teflon washers that work better than the tri-way w/Teflon's, PB's on tri-ways haven't worked very well for me. I've returned all the tri-ways to bearings but I really like the action on the early gen Teflon's, not as drop shutty, I'm not a fan of guillotines. I honestly wish they would work w/washers as I find bearings a little too free falling for my liking. I've stiffened the detent on a couple, makes them flip/flick better and they're more hydraulic closing.
 
Agree with above . The tri way knives are made for bearings .

I've run mine on pb's for around 6 months - action was nice but not great.

Real shame as the gen4s on the big Teflon washers were better than the gen6s on bearings imo.

Rick should of stuck to his guns instead of caving to the Instagram crowd .
 
The bearings provide the best flipping action, but decide on which you want to use depending on how clean, or dirty, the environment is where you will be using the knife.
 
I've had my XM-18 for about 8 months and find no reason to switch out the bearings.
 
I swap my old gens with PB. Got a bag form knife maker supply. never really liked the teflon, but the PB take a while to break in. on the tri-ways, all reports say the bearings are the best option.
 
Tried the pb on my xm-24. Works OK on the 24, but switched back to the bearings. After that experience, decided to stick with bearings on my 18. Haven't had a bit of trouble out of it, even in dirty environments.
 
Would one be able to get pb washers thick enough to not use the spacer? With the thought of cutting down on surface area friction would make it smoother after breaking it in.

Instead of having friction on both sides of the spacer and the washer. Just friction on a super thick pb washer.
 
I think if you do try the PB washers in the XM-18, you will definitely need to give it a long time to properly break-in before you decide if you wish to use them or bearings. This may be my personal experience, but I haven't owned a non-bearing flipper than compared to the action of any of my flippers on bearings.
matt009au said:
Agree with above . The tri way knives are made for bearings .

I've run mine on pb's for around 6 months - action was nice but not great.

Real shame as the gen4s on the big Teflon washers were better than the gen6s on bearings imo.

Rick should of stuck to his guns instead of caving to the Instagram crowd .
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This is a surprising statement to me. I owned 4 Gen 4 XM-18's and I wouldn't say the action is better than gen 6 in bearings.
 
I find on the Xm-18 3.5" Gen6s: Bearings are the smoothest, followed by Teflon and then by PB. I find the same is true on my 3" Xm-18s (Gen 4 - which is only Tri-way version for this size).

The PB will need time to break in, you can also help it along by LIGHTLY stropping them. I mainly carry a Gen4 on PBs. Its not as smooth as Teflon, but I prefer the more "hydraulic" feel. XM-18 3", I prefer on bearings.

Best part is you can play with all different variants to see what you like the best.
 
It takes 5 mins to tear down and put an xm back together. Switch them to see what you like best. Both of mine are on bearings they're just better.
 
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