What Are Brands known for "Tactical" Knives?

AND Spyderco AND Benchmade AND Kershaw AND RAT AND Ontario AND Ka-Bar AND Busse AND Strider AND Chris Reeve. And a whole bunch of others. You'd have a shorter list asking who doesn't make tacticals.
 
Indiana Joe said:
admittedly, I'm a newb so, that's a good question for me. So, "tactical" means hunting/survival knife or one that's good for SD? I just want to make sure I understand correctly.
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Tactical doesn't really mean anything, actually. It can mean good for self defense or offense; the Benchmade 806 AFCK (a very well regarded, and widely held to be a tactical knife) was supposedly an acronym for either Advanced FoldingCampingKnife or Advanced FoldingCombatKnife. A tactical knife most often opens letters, cuts bread, cardboard, and gives working stiffs something to enjoy with their hard earned money. A tactical knife can be used for anything. It is all about innuendo for what it can be used for. That's why a widely lambasted company, Dark Ops, meets so much ire here on the forums, aside from price and stealing original designs, they take away the innuendo. What's a pinup girl vs. sports illustrated swimsuit edition? Hard to tell. Vs. Penthouse? Big difference.

To understand why there is so much ambiguity, and latent hostility to actual definitions of "tactical" I refer you to the Wall Street Journal article that is viewed suspiciously as trying to drum up support to ban "tactical" knives.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06206/708441-28.stm

What kind of knife are YOU looking for, is the more important question? Are you looking for a "cool" knife, are you looking for a knife that's good for X activity, are you looking for a knife to show people you're dangerous? We can recommend particular knives, companies, and all sorts of things, but we need to know what you want. If you're a meticulous organizer who wants there to be hard and fast definitions of survival knives, kitchen knives, tactical knives, then you're probably out of luck. But if you want a particular knife for X reason, I'd be happy to help.
 
tactical sort of tends to mean an army/police type of knife imho, its not good at any one thing, but its damn tough, can be abused, genearlly its a utility knife that can be stuck in someone.
A hunting/survival knife is different again, and a SD knife is different again.

A hunting knife, generally, should be able to skin; a survival knife should be able to be battoned; a SD knife should be quick to deply, have a solid grip, and be able to cut both ways (double dged);. A atctical knife should have some of the above chacteristics in one package.
 
It's a marketing gimmick/phrase.

It should be defined as a style of usage, not a style of knife.
 
isnt tactical a nice way of saying its meant to be used against other people? i guess it could apply to rescue type situations too?
 
udtjim said:
To me, it mostly implies military or mainly defense use.
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From the word itself, the idea is for use in a military or combat zone operation. Not necessarily a fighting knife, but a field knife or camp knife, since soldiers at war don't put up in motels for the night.

The term quickly morphed into a cover for any tough, stealthy, hard use knife, particularly folders. This is ironic, since the original tactical situations called for medium-sized fixed blades like the Ka-Bar or Pilot's Survival.
 
Well, not every knife is suitable in a tactical situation. The ones that are, which are tactical knives I think should have: (let me know if I'm wrong, I'm a newb.)

Anti-reflective
Very very robust
Deep hand grooves and hand guard.
A blade that is designed to stab.
Thick blade
Concealable
Grippy handle material...

others too.

I'm asking for brands solely known for tactical knives, like Emerson and ZT.
 
While there are true "tactical" knives out there (think Gerber Mark II), I personally don't consider any folder to be much use in a fight, so I really don't think much of the current "tactical folder" trend. In most places, it's actually more legal to get a concealed carry permit and carry a gun than it is to carry a knife with enough blade to actually be worth anything in a fight. Still, if you live in one of the few places where a concealed carry permit isn't available, or if it's out of the question for other reasons, just about any knife is better than using your bare hands. I wouldn't place too much faith in the whole "tactical" thing, though. Mostly it's just an excuse for them to charge more money for the knife.
 
Tactical knives are all over the place. Due to their nature, they don't have to be made of super steels, but they do have to be tough, sharp and reliable. Cold Steel is one of my favorites because they distinguish themselves from the rest in that offer blades of 3, 4, 5 and 6 inches in a variety of blade configurations. Their serrations are exceptional for tactical and emergency use. The Voyager and Gunsite 5-inchers are exceptionally good knives and are reasonably priced and stronger than they need to be.

For those who want even more serious knives, the Voyager X2 and Vaquero Grande are even more impressive. These each sport 6-inch blades, the Vaquero having a recurved blade and serrations. The 4-inch Voyager is strong and lightweight, too, though there are many very nice 4-inch tacticals on the market.

If not for Cold Steel, there would be few choices of a long blade length. The Spydercos offer a good line of tactical knives as well, and the Military is a good choice.
 
Tactical can mean a lot of things, but I take it as a knife having the following qualities:

One-handed opening through either a thumb stud, hole, flipper, assisted or full-auto opening.

Blade anywhere from 3 (or very close) to 4 inches.

Not designed specifically for dressing game.

Usually designed to be clip carried.

While it may not fit the original definition, it seems that manufacturers are calling these types of knives tacs.

Any slip-joints wouldn't be considered tacs, nor would any knife having a nail pull.
 
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Tactical just means made to function effectively and easily. Most companies try to make knives along those lines these days.

If you want all black stuff with combat propaganda, I can't help you. That is long dead to me.
 
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