The Ontario SP1 is the only "fighting knife" currently being issued to the military.

[deadeye]

The KaBar is no longer "tough enough" to serve in the military. The Ontario Knife has taken its place.

Opinions? Comments?

I do not see a link to any information that this actually is true, so is this just your personal opinion.

 

[Tarawa86]

I do not see a link to any information that this actually is true, so is this just your personal opinion.

I will say anecdotally that when I handle a new Ka-Bar, it doesn't 'feel' like it has the build quality of the one I bought at the Camp Pendleton PX in 1986.

 

[Captain O]

Ask Ontario Knife Company. They'll tell you of their military contracts.

 

[Cucv]

My OKC3 and my MK2

 

[Camelfilter]

That's a great looking knife. Does it hold an edge well?

Yah.

 

[rick benjamin]

My opinion is for whenever time (75-81), in the armory/arms locker, was what was issued.
Bayonet was M7 in an M8A1 scabbard. Utility knife was KABAR. Cpl Barjeron tried to break his KABAR by clamping the blade in a 6 inch jaw vice and sat on the handle. Finally smacked it with a sledge hammer to break it. Barjeron's handle was "BEAR" think he weighed about 200 while I weighed 160. He turned it in and they gave him another one.
Most of us in the Battery wore folding Buck 110 on our belts when in the field. In garrison we were unarmed.

 

[The Heretic]

Everybody and their dogs in the knife making world, says their knife is the official knife of the SEALs or this or that military special forces outfit.

Not saying that it isn't true that the Ontario SP1 is the 'fighting knife' of the US military, but I reserve the right to ask for confirmation from the US military. Until that happens, it is just so much marketing hype.

Also, having been in the military, I know just how f******* cheap the gov is when it comes to issuing personal gear to their enlisted - so being Government Issue doesn't impress me. It might be a pretty good knife, or it might be crap, but being GI doesn't mean it is good.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

What branch gets a fighting knife issued? Or even fighting knife training? I served in the modern era Army during OIF deployments, deploying several times, and nobody I know - officers or enlisted - had a fighting knife issued to him or took any knife fighting training. People bought their own and I saw Kabars, Beckers, Gerbers, and Cold Steel, maybe some others. It's possible infantry MOS received knife fighting training, but I've never heard of anything significant.

For the record, the military would do well to provide knives and knife fighting training to replace all the down-time, and many of the stupid useless and online training they have for a variety of social justice or other nonsense.

In several units in which I served while in the Army...we had training on how to use a knife...not really knife fighting..
But , to be blunt , were taught , the best way to use a knife to simply and quickly as possible kill someone.
We had no "issue" knives....but used bayonets and many a private purchased "field" knife...
My Blackjack model 5 served me well on four combat deployments and still does duty as camp , hunting and kitchen knife...
Andy

 

[Wombat of Doom]

In several units in which I served while in the Army...we had training on how to use a knife...not really knife fighting..
But , to be blunt , the best way to use a knife to simply and quickly as possible kill someone.
We had no "issue" knives....but used bayonets and many a private purchased "field" knife...
My Blackjack model 5 served me well on four combat deployments and still does duty as camp , hunting and kitchen knife...
Andy
View attachment 575616

I love the lines on that knife. It looks great and looks effective.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

I love the lines on that knife. It looks great and looks effective.

It is and was...thank you...
Andy

 

[American123]

Well at around $25 on sale the SP-1 isn't too expensive to try out. Only gripe I have about knives isn't even about knives, it's that cities can enforce ridiculous knife laws which make fixed blades illegal to even carry. So I can carry legally, a rifle slung on my back with enough firepower to supply a squad, but that fixed blade is illegal because the city says so... how pathetic of a culture are we?

 

[Andy54Hawken]

So there I was...In the very first unit I was in while in the Army....
We had a bantam size Sergeant Major who loved to run up to troopers who were carrying a knife and ask as only a very worldly Sergeant Major with their "unique" language skills , can ask ...
"DO YOU HAVE A PLACE SETTING TO GO WITH THAT KNIFE...?"

Me being Private SmartAzz First Class at the time...gave this situation some thought....

So the next time we were qualifying with our rifles , I wore my Blackjack model 5 , proudly on my hip...
We march on in...and there he was , in all his glory our Sergeant Major...
I turn ever so slightly so my knife is in his line of sight...

Now keep in mind that I was "Brand new " to the Army...fresh from Basic , Airborne and Ranger school...
A new minted PFC with an attitude that only a cocky young Airborne Ranger can have....

So up runs our Sergeant Major....right in front of me he stops ....eyes dead on my chest 'cause that about how tall he was...
Says he to me , loudly and with words that I dare not utter here on the forum...
"DO YOU HAVE A PLACE SETTING FOR THAT KNIFE PFC_____?"

Rapidly assuming the text book position of Parade Rest...I reply :
"Yes Sergeant Major , Oddly enough I do"

At this moment every eye in the Company is on our little drama that is being played out and the Medics are about to called , 'cause PFC____Went off script....

I reach into my thigh cargo pocket of my BDU's and pull out a :
Red and white checked hankerchief...
A spoon and fork "borrowed" from the chow hall...
And a paper plate....

I then lay out my place setting with my knife and all , on the hood of a HumVee...
At this moment one could literally hear the pin drop , from the figurative grenade I just produced...

The Sergeant Major looks at my "place setting" ...looks at me...back to the place setting , fists clenched , face a reddish purple...veins I didn't even know existed popping and throbbing...beating out a rhythm , like John Bonham on the drums...

Well this is it ...I am dead , I thought...

Then our Sergeant Major about busts a gut laughing...after awhile he says to me :
"I've been pulling that stunt for 30 years and you are the only one with balls enough to call me on it."
I did get some flack for pulling my stunt...but since every time I saw the Sergeant Major , he would re-tell the tale , again as only a Sergeant Major can ...it was well worth it.

That was a fun day ....
Andy

 

[Captain O]

Only in the Army...

 

[Jasonanddeonna]

So there I was...In the very first unit I was in while in the Army....
We had a bantam size Sergeant Major who loved to run up to troopers who were carrying a knife and ask as only a very worldly Sergeant Major with their "unique" language skills , can ask ...
"DO YOU HAVE A PLACE SETTING TO GO WITH THAT KNIFE...?"

Me being Private SmartAzz First Class at the time...gave this situation some thought....

So the next time we were qualifying with our rifles , I wore my Blackjack model 5 , proudly on my hip...
We march on in...and there he was , in all his glory our Sergeant Major...
I turn ever so slightly so my knife is in his line of sight...

Now keep in mind that I was "Brand new " to the Army...fresh from Basic , Airborne and Ranger school...
A new minted PFC with an attitude that only a cocky young Airborne Ranger can have....

So up runs our Sergeant Major....right in front of me he stops ....eyes dead on my chest 'cause that about how tall he was...
Says he to me , loudly and with words that I dare not utter here on the forum...
"DO YOU HAVE A PLACE SETTING FOR THAT KNIFE PFC_____?"

Rapidly assuming the text book position of Parade Rest...I reply :
"Yes Sergeant Major , Oddly enough I do"

At this moment every eye in the Company is on our little drama that is being played out and the Medics are about to called , 'cause PFC____Went off script....

I reach into my thigh cargo pocket of my BDU's and pull out a :
Red and white checked hankerchief...
A spoon and fork "borrowed" from the chow hall...
And a paper plate....

I then lay out my place setting with my knife and all , on the hood of a HumVee...
At this moment one could literally hear the pin drop , from the figurative grenade I just produced...

The Sergeant Major looks at my "place setting" ...looks at me...back to the place setting , fists clenched , face a reddish purple...veins I didn't even know existed popping and throbbing...beating out a rhythm , like John Bonham on the drums...

Well this is it ...I am dead , I thought...

Then out Sergeant Major about busts a gut laughing...after awhile he says to me :
"I've been pulling that stunt for 30 years and you are the only one with balls enough to call me on it."
I did get some flack for pulling my stunt...but since every time I saw the Sergeant Major , he would re-tell the tale , again as only a Sergeant Major can ...it was well worth it.

That was a fun day ....
Andy

Great story and thanks for sharing.

 

[DunRanull]

Well at around $25 on sale the SP-1 isn't too expensive to try out. Only gripe I have about knives isn't even about knives, it's that cities can enforce ridiculous knife laws which make fixed blades illegal to even carry. So I can carry legally, a rifle slung on my back with enough firepower to supply a squad, but that fixed blade is illegal because the city says so... how pathetic of a culture are we?

They are after that rifle and those mags too..

 

[NW Backpacker]

Ontario SP-1 test video. It passed. His channel has a lot of test videos. A common complaint online is that the edge is ground to 25 degrees, so not as sharp as a 20 degree grind.

 

[titsonritz]

I'll stick with ESEE over Ontario.

 

[UnionMillsNW]

Serving 12 years ago in the Marines we had a significant amount of knife fighting and bayonet training.

On deployment everyone was issued bayonets.

They ended up at the bottom of our sea bags.

On my kit I carried a Gerber Strongarm.

I had previously carried a Kabar but the retention system of the Gerber sheath was better.

I still carry the Kabar on my hikes.

 

[Patriot1775]

Spent 24 years as an 11C and the last half in SF/SOF. Never was issued a blade other than a bayonet early on. When I went to the dark side, Yarborough knifes were presented with your Green Beanie, but almost everyone purchased their own blades. Busse, Treeman, Spartan Blades etc.

 

[Ura-Ki]

I usually carried a Spiderco Folder Krambit as an emergency extraction knife, and a Gerber LMF as a primary! K-Bars were issued to all flight crew, but most were forgotten in place of better designs!
I also carried my own personal Gerber MK-1, Not the most useful field knife, but in a fight, it really had no equal!
Nowdays, its a CRKT Hammond FE7 as my primary and the same Spiderco I had!