Military vs Police

ashtxsniper

ashtxsniper

Joined
Oct 28, 2006
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Here I go again with the questions. I just purchased a Spyderco Police and a Spyderco Military. Which one do you guys prefer and why? I can wait till they get here so tell me the ups and downs strengths and weaknesses. Thanks guys.
 
I like the Military better as a general purpose utility knife, and for food prep. Had both, gave away my Police.
 
Are you looking for a utility or SD knife or a combo of the two? I EDC one of each usually, alternating a dodo for the military depending on the day. But my
SD is always a G-10 flat ground PE Police as I find the SS too slick for SD and do not like skateboard tape on them either. The flat grind is a slicing fiend in
either PE or SE in both knives.

You can find the G-10's on evilbay off and on (in fact there are a couple there now.) I would recommend one of those wholeheartedly.

The Police is a better SD blade (no likey liner locks for SD) and the Mil is a better utility blade and a passable SD blade.

As they say "The choice is yours".

Bigk6
 
Now I dearly adore the G-10 handled Police. That makes me pop fuses when I try to rationalize why it didn't go over better than it did :confused: It by all rights should be a comeback candidate for sure.

Now I think the Military truly gets a bad rap because of it having a liner lock. I've had several Spyders with liner locks and I've not had any problems. The Captain which is one of my current favorite Spyders has a liner lock and I've had great luck with it. I guess it would depend on the blade design as to how well the lock would work.

If I had to pick between the 2 I would go with the Police model. But it would have to either be the G-10 or the Carbon Fiber Police model. I'm kind of spoiled and picky you see :cool:;)
 
I have a G10 Police on me right now - awesome slicer, great blade to handle rato, but a bit heavy. Want to try Millie and have one on the way. So far Rat Trap occupies the niche of big flat linerlock knife.
 
I prefer the Military. I really hate being arrested for carrying a knife that is over the legal limit (4" here in Kansas). If it weren't for that minor little detail, my G-10 flat ground Police would probably replace the BGCF Military in my back pocket at least part of the time. The regular SS Police is amazingly comfortable for IWB carry, but I still haven't learned to like SS handles for anything else.
 
The Police will give you 14+ years of regular service. It is super thin and carries very well in the jeans pocket. Since it is thin it will also serve well IWB. The handles are fairly rust resistant...at least in drier climates, while exposed to perspiration. The handle ergos are well designed for pulling cuts. Unless you have gorilla hands, the butt could easily work as pressure point or striking device.

On the downside, it is right pocket carry only, has SS handles which can become slippery if you have sweaty hands or other moisture is involved, is not designed for thrusting activities. Other than sweaty hands or cutting in the rain the downsides won't affect 99.999% of its use.

The military is very light, and almost as thin. But it is also only RP friendly and isn't the best for thrusting activities.

It is pretty hard to complain about either one. Like JD, I think it is high time for a Police sprint with peel ply CF or G-10, colored would be my preference.
 
Also, there is a great many variations of each model, should one get the collecting bug. The g-10 police is grippier, the CF Police is very smart looking (slick shiny CF). Probably the best Military is the BG-42 model...it has more soul, I think they worked extra hard to get that one just right...you gotta get one of those. That is just the tip of the ice berg of variations.
 
i have both, i prefer the military as im not a fan of SS handles. the military is more practical for me. i carry the fully serrated military for self defense only. i dont use it for cutting anything. the police is more of a large dress knife.
 
The Millie I have is an older PE 440V version.
Although I prefer lockbacks over linerlocks, I like the general shape and grind of the Military better for general cutting and slicing, though I like the appearance and solidity of the Police's blade more.

I find the Military in open position is more comfortable in hand, but I find the Police an easier carry overall. Honestly, I don't mind the slight extra weight of the SS Police. I own about 4 blade/steel version of the SS Police, and only the one Military. THough I like the grippiness of the G10 more than the SS handles, IMO the Police looks great in SS, and it clips quite hard to a pocket, yet causes minimum pocket wear due to the handles' slickness.

I've been concentrating on going back to carrying the Endura/Delica more recently, esp. my new Delica 4 CE. But one or other of my Police models have spent more time in my pocket than my Military; just turns out that way.
Jim
 
I carry the millie more than the police model. Mainly because I can't quite get used to the slick handles and the flat ground is superior for EDC chores. I do occasionally carry the police when I require IWB carry.
 
I've handled both. I'd pick the Millie over the Police just because of the G10 handles and the slightly shorter blade length. But the Police is still a pretty sweet knife, and I do enjoy SS handles once in awhile.
 
I've had both and both are knives to be reckoned with. My Police got used hard. Fully serrated it was like a pocket saw and it cut some pretty hard materials. I wound up giving it to a friend who got all cow-eyed every time he looked at it. My son confiscated my Military last time he was in town. I'll eventually replace them. The Police will be replaced first though. I really miss that knife.
 
Zenheretic says:
"The military is very light, and almost as thin. But it is also only RP friendly and isn't the best for thrusting activities."

So Zen, uhh just what are you basing that statement on? I've got two Military's and it was all of five minutes work with a drill to set one up for left pocket carry.

As for thrusting, have you experienced the liner lock disengaging on a thrust or perhaps you are referring to it's ability to thrust deeply?

I was a little concerned about that as well as the Military was the first linerlock folder I'd ever carried. So I taped a telephone book to 75# bag and along with a few other knives, both folder and fixed blade, did some thrusting tests. The worst penetration performance was from tanto bladed knives, the Military was one of the top two performers. I took fencing for awhile and they teach that it takes four pounds of pressure for the point of a foil to penetrate skin. When thrusting with the Military I set that bag swinging several inches. I didn't have any force metering equipment but how much force does it take to set that bag swinging? And the blade penetrated between a quarter to a third of it's length into a telephone book. How far would that be into the relative softness of the human body?

Because I was unsure how folders might react I started with very light thrusts and worked up to thrusts so powerful that I couldn't hit any harder because of the pain of the impact. I could feel the the body of the Military flex and twist, but the engineering was so good that when I checked the lock it was still dead square on the heel of the blade.

So what more do you want in performance?
 
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