Spyderco models missing from Spydiewiki! Any info? CPM-440V Military and ATS-55 Civilian

Hashishiin

Hashishiin

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Dec 29, 2021
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I recently have purchased a few older Spydercos, neither of which is on the Spydiewiki. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about them, and thinking I should help document them. I was looking for a reason to get a Millie when I know the comp lock Military 2 is coming out, and there are barely any S30V Millies around, let alone fancier steels. Funny thing is? I have 5, going to be 6, PM2s, and I am generally a fan of larger carries, if there is an XL of it, I prefer that one. So, finding this 440V (S60V) Military was a reason to get one! Classic Spyderco, yeah! I kind of want to put this knife into use... First non reverse-S Spydie with Spyderedge!

Anyways!
https://imgur.com/a/f5LolYv


The first is an ATS-55 Civilian, that looks like it should take it's place right between the listings for the first ATS-55 Civvie and the last GIN-1 one. It has what I THINK is the "3 screw standard" old clip (looks more like a new clip but it has a square and not circle edge), and Phillips screws on the side. Is this correct? Should the listing be updated to account for this model? I think, since it was only catalogued post 2000, that there are a lot of Civvies we may not know about. Is that the case with this, ya guys think?

https://imgur.com/a/1Dj1AdR
Civilian clip + Phillips screws

Then, this 440V Military, which has what looks like a normal Torx pivot, small, small, small Torx screws for the scales, and no liner on the right side. Spydiewiki is listing the first 440V Millie as having the "Triangle Military Clip", but, unless this is a Franken-Spydie, I do not think this model is listed. Actually, that was a thought in my head about both, could they be Frankens? Doubtful, at least from the guy who sold it to me, who was second owner.

https://imgur.com/a/hGpXkc2
The Military clip.

https://imgur.com/a/PQYWze6
No liners on one side of Military - plus, never seen a backspacer like this!


Any info is very much appreciated, thanx much! I'd love to know exactly when the knives are from, if I can, and fill a missing passage of Spyderco history while I'm at it, that Wiki needs some love!
 
Your Millie is listed on Spydiewiki...C36G (SE) pre-1998 with two screws. That knife in new condition is a unicorn.

"1996-2001; "MILITARY" & place of production on blade; 1998: many improvements done, incl. a slightly curved, strengthened clip with 3 mounting screws"
 
HP2114B said:
Your Millie is listed on Spydiewiki...C36G (SE) pre-1998 with two screws. That knife in new condition is a unicorn.

"1996-2001; "MILITARY" & place of production on blade; 1998: many improvements done, incl. a slightly curved, strengthened clip with 3 mounting screws"
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Oh, see, I saw that one, but thought the number screws were why I thought a different model had to be put up. I guess with the CQI, that is a catch-all for them?
Wow, that's really cool, though, pre 1998! I'm really hoping that these both come from '96, that would be amazing.
Thanks for the info, really appreciate it!
 
Great purchases, congrats! :)

I've seen an passed on a number of 440V 2 screw Millies because I'm looking to buy/collect a pair (PE/SE) of the earlier ATS-34 2 screw Millies because they were the start of the series but they are EXTREMELY rare. :(
 
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Actually, Sal told me the ATS-34 and 440V were released at the same time, both with 2 screw clips.

The second partial liner wasn't added until the BG-42/CF Sprint Run.

That backspacer was originally going to have a tritium glow tube in it, but those plans didn't pan out.
 
sgt1372 said:
Great purchases, congrats! :)

I've seen an passed on a number of 440V 2 screw Millies because I'm looking to buy/collect a pair (PE/SE) of the earlier ATS-34 2 screw Millies because they were the start of the series but they are EXTREMELY rare. :(
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Thanks, I'm loving them! Holding up great after all these years, and I finally "get" the affection for the Military. Now I just need a Police, but I am having trouble consolidating the virtues of the classic stainless/saber vs a new steel and it looking like a weird Endura.
Good luck finding yours, I haven't seen any ATS-34 around as of yet.

yablanowitz said:
Actually, Sal told me the ATS-34 and 440V were released at the same time, both with 2 screw clips.

The second partial liner wasn't added until the BG-42/CF Sprint Run.

That backspacer was originally going to have a tritium glow tube in it, but those plans didn't pan out.
Click to expand...

They did, but it appears there was an even earlier ATS-34 run on Spydiewiki, but then again, I think whatever Sal says trumps what's on there.
 
yablanowitz said:
Actually, Sal told me the ATS-34 and 440V were released at the same time, both with 2 screw clips.
Click to expand...

Looking at Spydiewiki again, that appears to be true.

Looks like the ATS34 was cheaper than the 440V when 1st released, so I guess they were offering different price points.

So, maybe I shouldn't have passed on those 2 screw 440V's.

Oh well . . . LOL! ;)
 
That was the other thing I was going to ask, was this the first production PM steel? And it seems that yes, yes it was! S60V - it seems that the public's problem with it was it was impossible to sharpen, they'd never heard of PM technology and were not using diamond strops and stones, and information was slower to spread... so, S30V was created as an easier-to-maintain steel. In today's world where S90V and S110V are upgrades to S30V, S60V would certainly be favored to S30V by some today, properly heat treated.

It was supposedly hard to HT, but I saw a lot of people raving about this steel's performance specifically in SE on the thread from the Wiki where I'm getting all of this from.
So... I got the first model powder metallurgy Military?
 
It certainly looks that way. The two-screw clip models are pretty rare these days. There were problems with the clips that led to the more familiar 3 screw clip. Also, they were harder, resulting in some chipping issues. As Sal said, when you're leading the way, there are no footsteps to follow in. All he had was Crucible's best guess for the heat-treat, and it needed some adjustment.
 
As Yab said, we made the model in two steels to Cover our A$$ is the market wasn't ready for powdered blades. We had a lot of learning to do.

We found nice Tritium vials in South Africa to put into the back spacer, but they were illegal for us to install. We were supposed to hire a "government certified company to install the vial into the back spacer for a $5.00 per unit cost (not counting the vial) which we felt was too high.

FYI, We managed to get the front cover of Blade magazine and we had an ad on the back cover as well.

sal
 
Sal Glesser said:
As Yab said, we made the model in two steels to Cover our A$$ is the market wasn't ready for powdered blades. We had a lot of learning to do.

We found nice Tritium vials in South Africa to put into the back spacer, but they were illegal for us to install. We were supposed to hire a "government certified company to install the vial into the back spacer for a $5.00 per unit cost (not counting the vial) which we felt was too high.

FYI, We managed to get the front cover of Blade magazine and we had an ad on the back cover as well.

sal
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You were going to put a tritium vial in the back spacer back of a Millie in the late 90's? Wow!!!

I remember buying a Trijicon scope back then and when the image started to fade it was near impossible to buy a replacement due to the restrictions on the stuff. Still have the scope lying around somewhere.

Never thew it away because it was expensive but never did get it working properly again. :(

Now they don't seem to care at all about the "risk" of the radioactivity that they made such a big deal about back then . . eg., the Protech Operators w/the titrium in the buttons. LOL! ;)
 
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yablanowitz said:
It certainly looks that way. The two-screw clip models are pretty rare these days. There were problems with the clips that led to the more familiar 3 screw clip. Also, they were harder, resulting in some chipping issues. As Sal said, when you're leading the way, there are no footsteps to follow in. All he had was Crucible's best guess for the heat-treat, and it needed some adjustment.
Click to expand...

Well, if there were chipping issues w/the 440Vs, then I don't feel so bad about passing on the one's I've seen. Besides, there were other issues that made me pass on them -- mainly the asking price and condition, which generally were too high and too poor, respectively.
 
Sal Glesser said:
As Yab said, we made the model in two steels to Cover our A$$ is the market wasn't ready for powdered blades. We had a lot of learning to do.

We found nice Tritium vials in South Africa to put into the back spacer, but they were illegal for us to install. We were supposed to hire a "government certified company to install the vial into the back spacer for a $5.00 per unit cost (not counting the vial) which we felt was too high.

FYI, We managed to get the front cover of Blade magazine and we had an ad on the back cover as well.

sal
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Man, that sounds like a cool plan! Too bad it couldn't be realized. Love the knife though, glad to own a few pieces of Spyderco history!
 
sgt1372 said:
Well, if there were chipping issues w/the 440Vs, then I don't feel so bad about passing on the one's I've seen. Besides, there were other issues that made me pass on them -- mainly the asking price and condition, which generally were too high and too poor, respectively.
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Man, that sucks! The dude I bought from was selling everything decently cheaper than the normal, base, modern models of either knife.
 
Hashishiin said:
Man, that sucks! The dude I bought from was selling everything decently cheaper than the normal, base, modern models of either knife.
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Not to worry.

I've got more than enough knives and most people would be shocked to hear the total amount that I have "invested" in them. So, whenever I "lose out" on a knife these days, I just feel "lucky" that I didn't have to spend the $. LOL! ;)
 
sgt1372 said:
Not to worry.

I've got more than enough knives and most people would be shocked to hear the total amount that I have "invested" in them. So, whenever I "lose out" on a knife these days, I just feel "lucky" that I didn't have to spend the $. LOL! ;)
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Oh yeah, I am finally coming around to this method of thought, where I'm actually relieved if something about the build of a knife makes it a no-go 😂 Like "YES, I don't have to get that knife this second!"
 
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