When Were the Bantams US Made?

J

JNieporte

Joined
Nov 1, 2004
Messages
3,352
When did the change from China to USA take place for the Bantams? I have a 2010 dated Bantam 285 that says BUCK over USA on the blade, but I have some other Bantams (don't have them handy to look at the date stamps) that are clearly from China.
 
It took place sometime in 2009 although the catalog didn't reflect the change until the 2010 issue. I have two in front of me from 2009, one is marked China, the other made in USA.
Here's two images of the announcements made in the 2010 catalog.

bantamcat2010b.jpg


bantamcat2010a.jpg
 
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Yep all the ones I have seen are US Made. Are they discontinuing the Bantam and Bucklite Max series? Went to the Buck website and Knifecenter, and neither has them in stock. I have one back home and thought these would be great knives for the real hot/humid/sandy weather out here.
 
Kyui Su Kim said:
Yep all the ones I have seen are US Made. Are they discontinuing the Bantam and Bucklite Max series? Went to the Buck website and Knifecenter, and neither has them in stock. I have one back home and thought these would be great knives for the real hot/humid/sandy weather out here.
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I don't believe being "not available" on Bucks web site is necessarily an indication of being discontinued. If that were the case, half their line is being dropped! Check out many of the new for 2012 and you'll find that they also aren't available.

It seems to be that they don't make them available on their website until all their distributers orders are filled or something like that.

Also, it seems that it's only the black handled models that aren't available at this time. The orange B&C Max and the pink camo Bantams are available right now.
 
Plumberdv said:
I don't believe being "not available" on Bucks web site is necessarily an indication of being discontinued. If that were the case, half their line is being dropped! Check out many of the new for 2012 and you'll find that they also aren't available.

It seems to be that they don't make them available on their website until all their distributers orders are filled or something like that.

Also, it seems that it's only the black handled models that aren't available at this time. The orange B&C Max and the pink camo Bantams are available right now.
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I was thinking that they were still being made but I have had it where other companies would start listing as out of stock and the main retailers would follow, indicating a stop on production. I think I will have to wait on the black ones to come out. Looks a bit odd in uniform to have pink or orange :P
 
Keep in mind that even when they actually ARE discontinued, Buck sometimes gets an offer from a retailer to make up a bunch of a "discontinued" model and suddenly there's a bunch of "discontinued" knives popping up for sale on e-Bay and elsewhere.

The 120 is a good example of this, but it's probably less likely to happen with a more complex knife.

You never know.
 
Kyui Su Kim said:
I was thinking that they were still being made but I have had it where other companies would start listing as out of stock and the main retailers would follow, indicating a stop on production. I think I will have to wait on the black ones to come out. Looks a bit odd in uniform to have pink or orange :P
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Unless you're just bound on buying one direct from Buck, there's no shortage of them out there for sale. The auction sites are lousy with them and I've checked a couple of online dealers myself and there are plenty of them.
 
What uniform are you wearing, Kim?

Maybe you should call Buck direct and see what you can find out. They take good care of military folks.
 
Plumberdv said:
Unless you're just bound on buying one direct from Buck, there's no shortage of them out there for sale. The auction sites are lousy with them and I've checked a couple of online dealers myself and there are plenty of them.
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I was pretty set on either direct or a company that I trust to handle APO's. I hear that the customs where I am at sometimes confiscates/steals knives because of "improper packaging". It is no huge rush though. I brought my 110 and it works well minus the weight.

BG42EDGE said:
What uniform are you wearing, Kim?

Maybe you should call Buck direct and see what you can find out. They take good care of military folks.
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I may shoot them an email.

I appreciate all the help and thanks for clearing up about the discontinued vs just out of stock.
 
Kim, So, good to see you on here. Hope you obtain the Bantam you desire. Happy Independence Day and thank you for all your doing. Yes, purchase it from Buck and tell them your story. DM
 
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