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Kershaw Scores a Knockout!

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I’m pretty pragmatic when it comes to pocket knives. Looks matter but the knife must also be something I can use as a tool. For me, I am always having to cut down boxes, cut plastic, strip wires, and so forth and a knife may well get wet from rain, snow, or plumbing. Furthermore, I need something that I can readily carry in a pocket. Kershaw has made a knife I really like with their 1870OLBLK Knockout. Let me take a few minutes of your time to say why I am impressed.

Made in the USA

The first thing I noticed when the knife arrived was Kershaw’s proudly placing the USA label on the box. Many of Kershaw’s blades are made in China but the Knockout is made in the USA – Tualatin, Oregon, to be specific.

Usually, I get excited and forget to take photos right after I pull a knife from the bag. This time, I had the camera ready and took the following:

The olive drab handle and blackwashed blade really make a good looking combination. You can see the holes for the pocket clip if you wanted it positioned up front on the nose. There’s a generous thumb stud and the Speedsafe flipper lever protrudes from the bottom.
Here’s the reverse side with the clip plus use can clearly see the black colored sub-frame lock. The handle has three positions drilled and tapped so you can move the clip around. The stylized US flag is a nice touch just under the clip plus you can see “Made in the USA” on the blade through the sub-frame.

Specifications

The Knockout has some nice stats:

  • The blade is 3.25″ long
  • The blade steel is 14C28N. I appreciate blade steels and this is a pretty decent middle-of-the road steel made by Sandvik. It can take a keen edge, is corrosion resistant and holds up pretty well.
  • The blade is colored black using the DLC – Diamond Like Coating – process.
  • The handle is made from 6061-T6 anodized aluminum
  • The handle is colored an olive drab green
  • When closed, it is 4.6″ long
  • When open, it is 7.9″
  • Overall weight is 3.4 oz.

The Feel

It’s fairly thin and light. I wear XL-sized gloves and the knife fills my hand very nicely. The combination of a relatively tall blade and the weight of the handle gives it both a good heft and a balance that I like. It does not feel cheap by any means.

The flipper mechanism is solid and does a good job. The sub-frame lock does its job firmly yet is also is easy to unlock. You can’t say this for all frame locks – some can be more cumbersome to move out of the way than others. By using the sub-frame they can get the right geometry and tension to do the job yet also be easy to move out of the way to unlock the blade. This cut out, or knock out, that they did in the frame to hold the riveted in sub-frame is actually where the knife gets its name.

Look carefully at the handle and then look at your hand with the fingers bent just a tad. The handle’s curve and the bumps will conform to most hands very nicely. Your hand will index on the big finger groove they made for your index finger – no pun intended. In other words, your hand’s position will begin by putting your big first finger in that groove.

Kershaw’s Overview Video

Kershaw actually has a short overview video so you can see the blade at different angles.

Comparing the KnockOut to my Hogue X5 with a 3.5″ Wharncliffe Blade

Now, so you have a comparison, here’s the Knockout next to my Hogue X5 with a 3.5″ Wharncliffe blade, which is my most frequently carried blade now. I’ve given up saying every day carry because I seem to be rotating through a few but more often than the others, it’s the Hogue. We’ll just have to see if Knockout dethrones the X5 over time.

The Hogue X5 3.5″ Wharncliffe is striking to look at but let me tell you something really cool – the CPM154 steel is really excellent and the profile of the blade makes it excellent for scraping a surface with a relatively straight edge.

In Summary

It arrived quite sharp and I just did a few test cuts. At this point, I need to see how the Knockout holds up over time. As far as first impressions go, I really like it and will keep folks posted.

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Russia and also USSR

Ian McCollum Reviews and Disassembles a M1916 Federov Rifle!

The Federov Automat rifle has an interesting niche in history as being an early successful design that enabled an infantryman to have a select fire weapon that didn’t weigh a ton. Design work began around 1906, a model was submitted to the Army in 1911 and it saw service from 1915-1917, 1920-1928 and limited use after 1940. Only about 3,200 of the Federovs were built and far, far fewer survive to this day.

I recently published a blog post where Larry Vickers reviewed one during a trip to the Central Armed Forces Museum in Northern Moscow. Another firearms scholar I follow is Ian McCollum, who produces the incredible Forgotten Weapon videos. He recently visited the Royal Armouries in Leeds and had a chance to produce a video segment on the history and disassembly of a Federov rifle.

Here’s the barreled action removed from the stock.
Here is the Federov disassembled. Ian noted that while the manufacturing was very complicated the design was surprisingly straight forward.

As with all of Ian’s videos, he provides some very interesting history and design commentary as he is taking the Federov apart. Here’s the video:

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Russia and also USSR

Larry Vickers Interview in Russia – Is the AK Outdated?

During his visit to Russia in 2018, Larry Vickers was interviewed by
Vladimir Onokoy, a technical consultant with the Kalashnikov Concern, about Larry’s views on the traditional AK platform.

The two discussed a number of topics and I’ll just hit some personal highlights that I found interesting:

  • Larry mentioned that people get hung up on the design of the safety and the short sight radius but the positives of the design far outweigh the negatives. This is especially true because the safety works just fine once you get used to it and the addition of a good red dot is a game changer. I agree with both points.
  • Vladimir asked Larry his caliber preference. Larry said if he had to only pick one, it would be 7.62×39. That’s definitely my go-to caliber for the rifle.
  • Larry made a really interesting point – the tapers of the 7.62×39 and 5.45×39 aid in reliable feeding in the AK platform. The 5.56×45 is at a disadvantage because it does not have the same degree of taper. That caught my attention – I never really stopped and thought about the impacts of case taper on reliability given how to AK operates. Interesting point.

So, is the AK obsolete? In my opinion, it is an extensible platform but watch this interesting video and here Larry’s thoughts first hand.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Military, Poland

Polish Armed Forces – How Strong Are They?

Being interested in AK weapons also leads me to an interest in the militaries that used them.  AKs are in military use in 106 countries and the USSR licensed production to 30 countries including East Germany, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Poland, and Yugoslavia just to name a few.  Interestingly enough, there have been some licensing issues but that is a topic for another day.

One of the high quality producers of small arms is Poland.  In my opinion, their AKs and other small arms are very well made.  When I started to research about their Beryl series, I was surprised to find out that Poland has been very pragmatic with their weapons and are leveraging designs from Eastern and Western countries.

A Polish soldier with a kbs wz. 1996C Beryl.
Polish soldiers with kbs wz. 1996A Beryls.  I’m pretty sure these are A-series rifles because with the B, they introduced a fixed front grip that is integral with the lower handguard.
Another soldier with a kbs wz.1996C series Beryl. 
The Poles use the Russian Hind-D gunship and plans to modernize them.  This is one of my favorite helicopters so I had to include the photo.

A young man assembled the below video about the Armed Fores of the Republic of Poland as part of his Facts Without Borders broadcast series and found it very interesting.  He has assembled some excellent footage and commentary about the Polish military including aspects you may not have considered.  You ought to consider subscribing to his channel on Youtube also.

Here’s the video

Please note that all photos were extracted from the photo and remain the property of their respective owner(s).

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Russia and also USSR

AK-200, AK-308, AM-17 and AMB-17 At Army 2018 in Moscow

DefenseWeb attended the Army 2018 expo in Moscow and released this video where they interviewed Vladimir Onokoy, a technical consultant with the Kalashnikov and experienced AK armorer, about Kalashnikov Concern’s new AK-200, AK-308, AM-17 and AMD-17 rifles.

AK-201 rifle in 5.56×45.  The AK-20x family of weapons is available in 5.45×39, 5.56×45 and 7.62×39 plus in long and short versions.
AK-308 for countries wishing to use 7.62×51/.308 ammo
AM-17 compact assault rifle that replaces the out of production AKS-74U.
AMB-17 compact assault rifle with integral suppressor.
To the left is the AM-17 and the AMB-17 is to the right.

The AM-17 and AMB-17 are of special interest to me as some groups are looking for compact weapons and this rifle will have to compete against the well established Tula’s AS Val, VSS Vintorez and SR-3 rifles.

Here’s the video

Please note that all photos above are extracted from the video.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

PSA AK Webstore Links

Interested in an American made AK? Consider Palmetto State Armory (PSA) as a source. Click on the following links for the associated webstore categories for AK-related rifles, pistols and parts at PSA:

Optics

American Defense Red Dot Optic Mounts Rock!

I really like Vortex Crossfire Red Dots and have been using them extensively for a while now.  They’ve survived 9mm POF-5. 12 gauge shotguns, 5.56 ARs and 7.62×39 AKs with no problem.  The only modification they need is a good quick release mechanism in my opinion.

HK SP5 with a Vortex Crossfire and an American Defense AD-T1-L STD low mount.
Lynx 12 gauge with a Crossfire and also the AD-T1-L STD low base.

The designers at Vortex are pretty shrewd.  They designed the Crossfire to share the same base as the Aimport T-1/H-1.  Because of that smart design consideration, it opens up a ton of options for you.  

My preference these days are quick release mounts made by American Defense right here in the US.   The units are made from 6061 T6 aluminum and finished with a T3 anodized unit.  They are rock solid.  I have had problems in the past with cheap import models and these are rugged and reliable.

They have a low profile unit that I like for AKs and my POF-5 where I don’t care about co-witnessing with the iron sights.  It’s their AD-T1-L STD model.

They also make a taller unit that is an absolute co-witness height for ARs.  

This is one of my Vortex Crossfires.  It has the low-profile American Defense mount on it and the co-witness model is the taller unit on the right.   The small lever you see sticking out from the main lever is the lock to prevent an accidental release.
The bases are held in place by four small screws.  Here’s the “-L” low model next to the co-witness “-10” model.
To change bases is just a matter of removing four screws.  To avoid the screws loosening, use a blue medium Loc-tite or Vibratite.  Do not use a permanent formula.
To adjust the fit, you push with one finger from the lever side and the nut is pushed out of its housing straight across.  Turn it one hex side at a time.  Turn it clockwise to make the clamp tighter or counter-clockwise to loosen it.  (righty-tighty and lefty-loosy

These American Defense mounts work like a charm and the quality is evident.  I can easily remove the red dots when I am working on a weapon or even swap optics if I so choose.  They do have a repetitive zero but I would recommend always putting it in the same rail slot for consistency.

I hope this helps you out.

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Military

Special Forces 2017 Video – You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide

Here’s a cool military tribute video for you – Special Forces 2017:  You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide.  It features special operations groups from:  

  • Germany
  • Hungary
  • Lithuania
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Ukraine

This collection of videos shows a lot of drills and weapons including M4, HK 416, HK MP5 and AKs.

Here’s the Video:

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Roller Locks - HK

HK SP5K Photo Shoot In The Leaves

Okay, I liked the leaves, the lighting and thought it would be a great chance to get some photos of the HK SP5K pistol with the SB Tactical SBTK5A brace and the Vortex Optics Crossfire red dot that is on an American Defense AD-T1-L STD quick release mount.  As you can see above, I’m still using the Uncle Mike’s case.

So those are a few from the batch.  Looking forward to taking it to the range some day.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

When Strength and Quality Matter Most