Very Lame

O

OrdnanceBubbaUSMC

Joined
May 23, 2004
Messages
1,496
Stopped by the Marine Corps Exchange on Miramar last night to see how the knife selection has changed (or not) in the past 10 months or so. As the usual 90% are combo-edge and about half of them are "Ruko".

They had Benchmade Griptillians with USMC logo and sand/khaki handle for $85 but for the combo-edge on all of them just seems to kill it.

One Zero Tolerance knife, the 0150, of all the models...

A crap-load of the same Gerbers and SOG's, which most service members end up buying - about the same prices as online and of course all combo-edge. Sad to not see any Spyderco or Kershaw folders for much better bang-for-buck.

Going to see if I can actually talk to "the buyer" and ask what's up with the choices.
 
It's been my experience that most folks in the military are no different than your everyday citizen when it comes to knives. They know little about steel and basically assume that one knife is as good as another. Most military folks I know carry multi-tools rather than knives and generally they spend less than 30 bucks on them.

Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary. :D
 
Boozoo Chavis said:
It's been my experience that most folks in the military are no different than your everyday citizen when it comes to knives. They know little about steel and basically assume that one knife is as good as another. Most military folks I know carry multi-tools rather than knives and generally they spend less than 30 bucks on them.

Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary. :D
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Not back when I was in we didn't..... (82-86)

Knives mattered a lot to us, edge holding, strength etc.

The problem was we really didn't have many good ones to choose from back then unless we went Custom.
 
I doubt "the buyer" can do much or really care.

Those decisions are made higher up and it is a contract bulk buy.
 
ankerson, what did you carry. guessing a ka-bar, just because your usmc. but then again, my marine cousin never even looked at a kabar, then again he did have a randall model 1......
 
It would just be nice to see a few more of the better options in there. A lot of times the guys go through a couple $30-50 knives and then end up getting a better one, could have saved money and frustration. Most guys have been carrying multi-tools since '02-'03 but it's not really the same.

My second trip in Iraq '04-'05 I brought a bunch of knives and sharpening supplies, would hook up someone's knife for some beef jerky, pack of cigarettes, etc. Got to check out around 300 knives that were being used on a regular basis and a lot of the knives were in bad shape pretty fast.

Gerber Paraframes were a hot ticket and the tips would snap if dropped on a wood pallet and locks were garbage.

One thing I did a couple times was a group buy for the guys in my unit for Cold Steel, about 80% of the best internet prices, one big check and one big box of knives w/free shipping.
 
Thats all they sell at the PX here. Benchmades, Gerbers, Sogs and a couple Cold Steel knives. Years ago they sold Spydercos, but I havn't seen them in years.
 
Ankerson said:
Not back when I was in we didn't..... (82-86)

Knives mattered a lot to us, edge holding, strength etc.

The problem was we really didn't have many good ones to choose from back then unless we went Custom.
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Was in the Army 82-86, I remember seeing a lot of guys wearing Buck 110's or Rambo Spin-offs:D
 
I was in from '81-'01 and I carried many knives over the years. As an Armorer daily carry was a handy Leatherman on the belt and a small lockback in the pocket. When deployed it was those 2 plus a Gerber TACII on the harness and a KaBar in the pack. Never really carried a large folder for duty because I figured a good fixed blade could do the necessary if needed and the Leatherman and small lockback the small tasks. Back in the day the PX had Gerbers, Schrades, Buck, etc.. All made in the USA back then.
 
nutnfancyfan said:
ankerson, what did you carry. guessing a ka-bar, just because your usmc. but then again, my marine cousin never even looked at a kabar, then again he did have a randall model 1......
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I carried a few K-Bars, Some Buck Fixed Blades, some Gerbers, a few Case Knives.

Found over time the K-Bar was the best other than a few Customs that I got to use. But we are talking about the early to Mid Eighties.

Just about everyone used K-Bars and Buck FB's, Customs were out of the range of almost all the guys I knew. We didn't make a lot of money back then I can tell you that, pennies by today's standards. The wait time on the Customs was also way too long as we were deployed a lot.
 
They sell Spydercos at the PX here but they're also combo edge. I think they have the Native and Endura.
 
My buddy just finished basic training for the Navy and was spending some money at the PX. He took some pictures of the knives because he knows I'm a collector. Here are the pics if you're interested.

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Happy Birthday USMC!

Happy%20Birthday%20USMC.jpg
 
Charlie Mike - thanks brother, I hope all Marines have some nice drinks tonight and know we are thankful and proud of them and stay ever mindful of the ones who are not around any longer to have a drink.

Vicarious Reality - I think Ruko, Fox, and Muela are connected but I'm not sure. A lot of the Ruko folders have 440a steel on the package and $70-100 price tag. Can only imagine how cheap they buy the stock.
 
Happy Birthday Marines! If I may I'd like to post 3 pics from the Retiree Ball at Camp Lejeune.

My Wife and I, The current SgtMajor & One of my old SgtMajor Harold Overstreet & last but certainly not least a group of "China Marines" If you know of them they were some old, tough Marines. These guys were kicking up their heels and slugging the whiskey all night!

ncball.jpg


sgtsmajor.jpg


chinamarines.jpg
 
bigmo66 said:
Happy Birthday Marines! If I may I'd like to post 3 pics from the Retiree Ball at Camp Lejeune.

My Wife and I, The current SgtMajor & One of my old SgtMajor Harold Overstreet & last but certainly not least a group of "China Marines" If you know of them they were some old, tough Marines. These guys were kicking up their heels and slugging the whiskey all night!

ncball.jpg


sgtsmajor.jpg


chinamarines.jpg
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Three up, four down, I still shit kittens everytime I see that. Great pics, Semper Fi.
 
bigmo66 said:
Happy Birthday Marines! If I may I'd like to post 3 pics from the Retiree Ball at Camp Lejeune.

My Wife and I, The current SgtMajor & One of my old SgtMajor Harold Overstreet & last but certainly not least a group of "China Marines" If you know of them they were some old, tough Marines. These guys were kicking up their heels and slugging the whiskey all night!
Click to expand...

Great pictures, thank you for sharing and for serving so long.
 
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