Kabar fighting knife

Blackcat471 said:
Ive seen the bks for 70 bucks too. I may get him that and get myself a fighting knife as a personal self defense knife.
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I've had a Ka-Bar USMC ever since I was in the Marines. And to tell the truth, I've never really liked the way it felt in-hand. I keep it now mainly for sentimental reasons. And got more suitable knives for the tasks at hand.

IMO, for $70, I'd get something like the Becker BK5 or BK16. The BK5's are on sale for $65 at Coyle's and the BK16's are $73 - great deals!

The 4.4" BK16 would make an excellent hiking/camping knife. So would the 8" BK5.

For a self-defense knife, I'd rather use a BK5 than my USMC (along with my BK24 in my other hand).
 
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why does "hiking knife" automatically = "beating it thru logs"? if you use it as a knife, and just for cutting stuff, the KaBar will work just fine. add a small SAK (always a must imo) and a hatchet if you plan on splitting wood and a fella would be set. I am one that understands the attraction to the old design...use what you like.
 
Funny timing. A friend of mine who is a veteran just picked up one of these up for me at the base he still goes to on occasion, so I'll put my BK16 plans on hold for a bit. What a great knife! Classic look and feel. I still would not take it on anything more than a day hike due to weight, but for the money, it's a crazy good general utility knife. It's clearly a "jack of all trades and master of none" type thing. It will do pretty much anything you ask it to but you can find better knives for specific things like bush-craft, or skinning, or chopping / batoning. For the $, it's a great deal and a piece of American history as well.
 
I take my ka-bar recon {old with v0 carbon} camping and I use it to chop wood and cut anything I need to..little heavy but thru bear hunting to anything it stays sharp and works good..jeff
oh excuse me its a cold steel not ka-bar...jeesh gotta think..
 
I just don't see what is the attraction with the Kabar, a poor, if acceptable for the times, WWII design: Inefficient way off-centered point, dull low sabre grind, thin blade with a useless blade-light feel, plus an uninspiring handle unless you want to hammer stuff. I'm sure it can behave well enough, but for 11 ounces you barely save 4-5 ounces of weight, and for that bit more weight, and half an inch of blade length, you can get a Cold Steel Recon Scout that will just pummel the Kabar into the dustbin of history... The fact that the Kabar doesn't have a vibration-inducing weight-wasting full tang is actually one of the few good things about it: Gosh, I wonder how Crusaders even considered conquering Jerusalem with just stick-tangs...

Gaston
 
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