is a buck nighthawk good for bushcraft

sherlockbonez said:
Why? What's there to chop in Afganistan?
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Exactly.


Take a good Multi-tool *This topic has been done to death on this forum over the past few years.

If you have the budget, get a Fallkniven A1 if you need something large (although other than levering open crates and smashing stuff up I can't see the need unless you are going to be deployed to Iraq too)


Stay safe and scour this forum there is a lot of infro from current and past service personnel in that part of the world.
 
Like was shared, the Nighthawk is designed with the military in mind, but in my opinion, is more of a fighting/combat knife than a utility knife and what you will need for bushcraft is the utility of the knife. Meaning, a combat knife is great at killing people, but so-so at everything else, where a bushcraft knife, being a utility knife, is better at most everything around camp and will do in a pinch in a knife fight.

Will it work for bushcraft? Sure it will! But so will a pocket knife. For bushcraft, get yourself a Mora and stuff that Buck in your pack for when you need it.
 
Take both. The Mora weighs what, a couple ounces? If that's too heavy, use the remaining time before you ship out to build some muscle !! ;)
 
Sherlock, in case your unaware kukri have been used on several occasions in Afghanistan already.
 
ok the worst thing to happen to me, is either a road side bomb
or my sa80 jams in a firefight and i have no sidearm, what should i do if the latter occurs?
 
Well, I'm currently here in Iraq. I take it your a Brit from the SA80 comment, so it kind of depends on what you'll be doing (military occupation specialty). My door-kicking days are long gone, and I woud now consider myself one of the ubiquitous FOBbits:D given my current position. Depending on your chain-of-command, some actually frown upon big knives; my fond quote is "we've gone to War and Garrison has broken out":eek: I've seen everything from tomahawks to large-bladed bowie knives over here (even saw short sword, but didn't get a good enough look at it to ID).

Big blades are being used, but it really depends on the MOS and the task. We don't have too many trees in my particular location, but when I travel up to Mosul, it's much greener. Personally, I like a fixed blade with a blade no longer than 5", something that I can wear on my IBA or belt without interfering on my entering or exiting helos or vehicles. I do quite a bit of traveling, so getting hung up on a quick exit doesn't win you any cool-points:D

The Nighthawk is more than enough blade for 90% of your combat zone tasks. I carry a pair of fencing pliers in my ruck for "urban problem solving" and I use to carry a machete in the same capacity when I was in South America...just depends on what you'll be doing. Definately get a multi-tool, another often-used tool in this AO.

Keep your head down, shoot straight (as straight as that SA80 will shoot;), and look out for your fellow brothers-in-arms,

ROCK6
 
Hey Guys..


sherlockbonez said:
Why? What's there to chop in Afganistan?
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binsimpson.gif



ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
I know at least two US soldiers who has been in sandland who brought a Fallkniven F1.
Get a good multitool (like the old LM Wave) and a good 4" like the Fallkniven F1. Then you have your cutting tools. To pry and dig things there are cheaper things, like Ka-Bar, SRK, Glock and other huge "combat knives".
With a 4" knife you will most likely bring it along all the time. Bigger knives tend to be left lying somewhere else.
If you ask around you might find people who can give you a "combat review" of the F1. If around Swedish troops you might ask them to get you one.
 
luckly for me the sa80 is one of the most accurate assault rifles in the world,
because of its free floating barrel, but many squaddies in iraq and afganistan have experienced reliability issues. Hopefully ill be fine and thanks for your support guys. .:thumbup:
 
Night Hawk the problem with the SA80 is you have to be right ontop of the cleaning , to keep it functioning properly. The M16 and the AK47 are easier to maintain, one of the reasons they are more popular with a lot of British Troops, but unfortunately the MOD stayed with the SA80 for political reasons, its more robust than it used to be, and as you say very acurate, but how much more acurate do need your assualt rifle to be than an
M16?
Take a decent kuk as back up, you just never know out there, don't forget that the Light Infantry recentley had to do a good old fashioned bayonet charge to get themselves out of trouble!!!
 
night_hawk said:
luckly for me the sa80 is one of the most accurate assault rifles in the world,
because of its free floating barrel, but many squaddies in iraq and afganistan have experienced reliability issues. Hopefully ill be fine and thanks for your support guys. .:thumbup:
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Clean your magazines every day.
Keep them protected from sand.
Sand gets in Double stack magazines and stops the ammo from rolling into position causing jams.
This is why the single stack 1911 is the best combat pistol there is.
 
I have never been in the military so judge the following by that. You asked why the Buck for the military? I have never been to Afghanistan but it seems to me that "bushcraft" is not really what you are after. When we talk of bushcraft we mean cleaning fish, wittling necessary tools, slicing food, and stuff like that. For these things a strong but thin knife is often preferred. I am not sure you would be likely to do these things in the modern military.

What you might need to do is pry open a door or window for a firing port of to rescue a buddy. Something that a rather hefty fixed blade is rated for. For general purpose I agree with the Endura and a multi tool. Just my opinion.
 
i have a victorinox "handyman" as a multitool, i have never got round to buying a leatherman,are they really that much better than a good old swiss knife?
 
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