M 43 experience...

wildmike said:
John the M-43's handling is far superior to the WWII froma martial arts point of view. Remember the M-43 was designed as a superior replacement for the WWII model. Its handle alignment was improved to msake it more instinctual in use as well as to improve its thrusting abilities. The blade drop was accentuated to lengthen the sweet spot and improve it chopping performance (which was already considerable) while allowing it to be lighter weight which makes it easier to carry and faster in the hand. The M-43 was designed to be what it is the perfect blend of weapon and tool.

You really need to handle one in order to experience what I mean. Get an M-43 and it will spoil you for anything else.

I have a chitlangi and it does not chop nor handle anywhere as fluidly as the M-43. My 15" Ang Khola weighs the same as my Sher made M-43.and neither handles nor chops as well as the M-43.

If you get an M-43 mine were made by Bura and Sher (the Tiger) Both Kami's do great work from personal experience.
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Yeah it's a shame that I can't physically handle these guys. You guys have me sold on the M-43. I'll grab one if the Deal of the Day falls through.
 
You won't be sorry. Either way welcome to the HIKV disease. Now here's the chalenge see if you can stop with just one........
 
By the way, this thread lacks M-43 pictures or links to pictures! If anyone has any in-hand shots I'd love to see them to get a better idea of what they look like.
 
As you can see this older M43 by Amtrak kami, is close in size and weight to an original WWII MKII.

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All I have are a couple pics of my brother's M43. Neither are an in-hand shot.

He practically worships that thing.
 
wildmike said:
Wolf sounds like me and your brother would get along well.
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He'll be out here tomorrow. I asked him to bring his M43 to put it up against the Super CAK. There's something I want to be sure of. I was chopping a little bit of firewood with it today and I think I figured out what's so odd about it; it feels somewhat like a large M43. I want to handle his M43 tomorrow to be sure of this before I begin altering my scale.

The point being: the more I consider it, the more I am compelled to create a different category for certain khukuris. I place the Chitlangi and M43 in the 3-ish range on my scale. But the Chitlangi and M43, although they occupy the same niche as weapon/tool khukuris, they are totally different. This is observed by the better ability of the M43 for taking on heavier duty chopping tasks.

So what I am thinking is some khukuris need to be evaluated differently because they are unlike other khukuris.

I theorize the M43, like the Super CAK, is not a compromise design between tool and weapon. It is not a 3. Like the Super CAK it is a 1 and 5 at the same time.

I've already been texting my brother about this today and he agrees 100%.



Background:

I got that M43 for my brother as an Xmas present a couple years ago. He wanted a khukuri. He was in the Marines and he has a thing for WW2 USMC history. I wanted to get him something that would have been used in the Pacific theater of the war and decided on the M43.

When he opened that package, it was love at first sight. I could see it on his face.

He sleeps with that M43 under his pillow and a .40 Beretta 96 on the nightstand. He takes the M43 hunting and hiking and camping with him. He says he will use it to cut his wedding cake when he and his fiancee are married. It's almost like it's his pet rather than his main blade. I feel the same way about my favorite two khukuris so I can't be too hard on him for that;)

I asked him if he wanted another khukuri some day and he told me only if it's another M43.

It gets worse. His fiance is a vietnamese-american girl. Her father saw the M43 a couple months ago and now he wants one too.

What have I started? :D
 
Wolf. Tell your brother Semper Fi for me.

My service was in First Force Recon. Also where I picked up my first kukri.

Him and I both feel the same way about that kuk. I have two. I also agree that it does indeed qualify as both a 1 and a 5 on your scale. It is indeed a totaly different beast.

Most of my experience has been in some extreme survival situations ove ran extended period of time. It served me in a most exceptional fashion no matter how much I asked of it.

In my honest estimation it cannot be beat. Mine is always with me as well. Though I now own several knives (including customs) My M-43 is the first knife I grab when puting my kit together for a camping or hiking trip.
 
I'll be picking up an M43 to add to my H.I. arsenal eventually. It's a good, solid, rugged, and effective design.

Right now I'm too busy worshiping the Super CAK :cool:
 
Here you go, in hand pictures of my M43. Note: My hands are on the smaller side, while the handle on this M-43 was noted to be longer than most regular examples. Thus you'll see more space on the handle in the photos, which will not be the case with bigger hands than mine and/or shorter handle. Although I must say, some of the M43s I've seen in DOTDs the past 1-2 months (the ones with 3-rivets on handle) seem to have a length similar to the one here. Hope you find this useful.

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b.c.molin said:
Now that is just too beautiful to ever use!
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:p I saw you jumped on it. I put myself in line in case you change your mind.

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But definitely keep those pics coming. Sta94, how tall are you roughly? So I can gauge the size. What's the length and weight on that one? The width looks almost 1/2" at the base and tapering out towards the end.

If anyone can... can you post the specs on the length of the long and short handles? I don't know if anyone has both or can just post theirs. Sta94 if you can measure your long handle I'd appreciate it. Yangdu says there's two styles of handles and I'll want to know which to get that'll better fit my hands.

Wolf_1989 said:
I'll be picking up an M43 to add to my H.I. arsenal eventually. It's a good, solid, rugged, and effective design.

Right now I'm too busy worshiping the Super CAK :cool:
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I'd love to see a comparing review of both together. I'm confident now that my next is an M-43, but then I also wouldn't mind getting an S-CAK. I wonder which rates higher than the other.
 
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B.C. Molin, you slick fellow!!! Got yourself a B'day gift huh?! That was a really nice snag, super neat & rare stag handles! :thumbup: I almost went for it myself, but am a little too thinly spread after a couple of recent splurges. :( Do share pics when you get it.

John Shields, do let us know if your Obi Wan Kenobi Jedi mind trick works!!! :D

And to answer your question, the handle is around 5.6 inches/14.5cms (only the horn part of it NOT including the bolster). I don't have a proper weighing scale at the moment but I feel it weighs around 30oz gave or take 1-2 ozs. I am around 5'9" or so, weigh around 185 lbs, and so you can gauge size, here I am handling a pretty big rough villager khukuri (bigger than the M43, around 22" or so OAL, maybe more):

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John Shields said:
:p I saw you jumped on it. I put myself in line in case you change your mind.
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Sorry John, no chance I'd change my mind on such a rare beauty as that Antler handled M-43.

sta94 said:
B.C. Molin, you slick fellow!!! Got yourself a B'day gift huh?! That was a really nice snag, super neat & rare stag handles! :thumbup: I almost went for it myself, but am a little too thinly spread after a couple of recent splurges. :( Do share pics when you get it.
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sta94, I owe you one for finding it ... now it seems you both do both test reviews which reveal suitable Khuk's for me and also alert me to second hand
deals as well ...I owe you a nice Christmas present!;)

And I know the feeling about being spread financially thin ...this will be the last purchase for the year. :o

I have a few items on the way, and when all arrive I will take the best photo's my poor old Kodak digital camera can manage.:thumbup:
 
Yeah, B.C., I highly doubted you would be changing your mind about this M-43! And you owe me nothing bro, just happy to share info with like-minded folks :)

John S, just keep your eyes open and run regular searches on the Sales section as well as here, something interesting turns up every so often!
 
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