survival knife for military personal

Without knowing what kind of self defense that you will need the knife for, Don't overlook the Glock Field Knife. It Is rugged, efficient and very reasonable priced. Back in my military years, this knife would have served me very well.
 
Busse all the way. Damn near indestructible and hold a sharp edge like no other knife I know of. The Reeve one piece in A2 are very stout and also hold a fine edge. Bark River has some good choices as well. The downside of A2 is corrosion. INFI's corrosion resistance puts it over the top in my book.
 
koyote said:
I think oonce you start getting over about 7, maybe 8 inches depending on the person, you are looking at dirk and sword style carry. It's possible to do and to do well, but you have to - have to- do it right and know your gear. I've carried, and nowdays made, knives fro 1.5 to 16 inches in blade length. what I did carry for field gear back in the day (that was a while ago) was a SOG Government, a gerber multiplier (first generation, customized by an unit shop), an Al Mar slim pocket knife, and a supertinker (that varied with a swisschamp original. the corkscrew is just TOO USEFUL).

The SOG was fine for carry for me, but I practiced wearing it a lot when I was on deployment in the hooch in Jeddah doing comms and not actually in the field. (office chair, run, drive to airbase, load and unload shit, drive back. repeat endlessly) I also never had to actually kill anybody with it.

I'm also a natural leftie who shoots right handed.

I think this discussion has taken a turn where survival is being equated more with combat- and if I was going to suggest a survival knife I'd go with a completely different answer than most of what's being talked about.

For a CUK, I'm still fairly fond of my SOG, the gerber looks nice, and the Kabar is still - with reason- a top choice. Heck, I carried a Meula Ranger I picked up in Rota for a few months before I got the SOG and used it plenty. (I keep meaning to make my version of that knife, someday)
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Yeah, it's drifted a little:o I do agree, I've carried longer blades, but you really need a good sheath and carry system to do it and it needs to integrate into what you're wearing and what you do....good point...

And for the record, I knew I liked you for a reason Kristof...I'm a natural left that shoots right handed as well:D:thumbup:

ROCK6
 
kdstrick said:
Busse all the way. Damn near indestructible and hold a sharp edge like no other knife I know of. The Reeve one piece in A2 are very stout and also hold a fine edge. Bark River has some good choices as well. The downside of A2 is corrosion. INFI's corrosion resistance puts it over the top in my book.
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Certainly Busse has several models that would do, as do Swamp Rat and Scrap Yard. They come in just about any size and configuration one can think of. But not all models are readily available for purchase and some are rather expensive. The soon to be released Scrap Yard S5 should be an excellent and affordable military knife.
 
Lots of good points and comments here. Personally, I prefer not to utilize a hollow handle knife for one reason that I haven't seen mentioned here. If in the unfortunate even that, God forbid, you do loose that knife somehow, you also loose whatever you've stuffed into the hollow handle to aid in your survival. I don't like keeping all my eggs in one basket, so to speak. Just food for thought.
 
I see some recommendations for some pretty expensive knives. If you can afford a Busse, CRK, etc. go for it they are excellent knives.
Your idea for a RAT-3 or 4 is a good way to go also.
I don't mean to confuse you even more but Bark River makes a knife called the Gunny that you may want to check out.
Don't forget a good multi-tool and some way to sharpen. Those small folding DMT sharpeners would work good 1 fine and 1 med.
If you forget a sharpener and just need to touch up the edge, you can use a chunk of cardboard or piece of fabric, just moisten and rub on some of that talcum like sand and strop away.
 
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ejes said:
Lots of good points and comments here. Personally, I prefer not to utilize a hollow handle knife for one reason that I haven't seen mentioned here. If in the unfortunate even that, God forbid, you do loose that knife somehow, you also loose whatever you've stuffed into the hollow handle to aid in your survival. I don't like keeping all my eggs in one basket, so to speak. Just food for thought.
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Yeah that's a good point. The only stuff I put in my CR is tinder, small fire steel, needles and a couple of safety pins. This is all "extra" as I always have another kit on me. A good reason why I like the sheath mounted kits...if you loose your pants then you're in deep doo-doo:D

ROCK6
 
sandgroper said:
gday gday

hope u guys r well...was wondering if anyone had any experience with Chris Reeves knives, specifically the project 1 and 2 and the shadow 1 and 2. Im thinking about ordering one. The sort of tasks it would need to cover are all the basic survival tasks u expect from a decent survival type knife and id also like it to cover defence/attack type situations as im in the ADF (Australian Defence Force). I also like the Randall made knives as well, im a sucker for the hollow handle survival knives!

cheers fellas
have a good one
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I have no experience with hollow-handled knives of any variety.

Note -- as an Infantryman, and if you're strictly looking at weight, for the weight of a big knife you could carry one extra magazine for an M4.

Also... Take into account the environment you will be working in as well. Will you be in a small unit or large? What will your support structure be? Is having to escape and evade a legitimate scenario? A good example would be Infantrymen in Iraq due to being mainly vehicle bound and having a good support structure may be carrying a small fixed blade knife from the RAT series. In Afghanistan were one operating out of isolated locations in small teams one may want a slightly larger / stronger knife due to the terrain and the likelihood of having to survive while running through the mountains.

For Infantry work I would suggest something with slab handles for strength, a 4.5" to 6" tanto-styled blade for ease of sharpening in the field and prying, a good guard to ensure you don't cut your hand in the field which could lead to infection or make you a liability to your unit, and make sure it fits into a good sheath such as the one from Spec-Ops Brand.

Doing a solid Mission Analysis before purchasing gear is essential IMHO.
 
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