# Best knife for TAC vest



## Advance! (24 Jun 2008)

I was wondering what everyone would recommend to be the best knife to attch to a tac vest? I'm not looking for gucci kit just something efficient, easy to access (preferably if it could hook onto one of the shoulder straps), and secure in that it won't disappear when I'm falling down one of the many hills in Pet during winter EXs.

Cheers


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## MG34 (24 Jun 2008)

Knives don't belong on the Tac vest  but on your belt.The bayonet once suitably sharpened makes a decent FREE knife that if you lose or break  you will be issued with another.


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## RCR Grunt (24 Jun 2008)

Grohmann Knives

Fixed blade.  Good general knife, cheap as well.  Available in any good kit shop.

SOG makes a spring assisted folder, the SOG Trident.  I like it because I can open it one handed, it locks closed, and there is no thumb lock to get dirty, wear out and slip on you.  I got mine for about $100 from Daves Tactical. Good store, they give a discount to military pers, and you order will take 2 or 3 business days if its in stock.

Lik MG34 said, put it on your belt or in your pocket, not on your vest.


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## acen (27 Jun 2008)

Advance, if you want, wait until the fall, see me at the unit, theres a few guys there with some pretty good steel on their hands, I like to think of myself as one of them. I second the SOG Trident, I own two of them actually. That stays in my pocket at ALL times in uniform. secondly, ive got a SOG Seal Pup, big enough to do damage, small enough to be handled properly, that is mounted horizontally above my canteen pouch on tac vest (bunch of us in the unit have them like that) just easier fast access to a blade whenever you need it, and easily accesible and usable with gloves. Until we get the Eickhorn-Solingen bayonet, my seal pup is staying put. Ive seen multiple M7 bayonets (the real name for them) snap and chip, and add the fact that we cannot sharpen them. Theres nothing quite like a full tang (quality) blade anyways. Depending on how im feeling, i might throw my SOG paratool or the gerber in the pouch on the outside of the tactical nylon sheath available with the Seal Pup (much much better than the Krylon sheath that comes with some of them), once again for ease of access while a flak and tac vest on. I've already a bunch of A company dudes to getting some SOG's. If you wait a little, im thinking of doing a batch order for a bunch of guys interested, i get a pretty good cut on SOG products, just wait out and i can help you, dont get gouged by places like Kutters (did I mention I liked SOG products?).


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## Armymedic (27 Jun 2008)

MG34 said:
			
		

> Knives don't belong on the Tac vest  but on your belt.



+1

Nothing says "poser" better than a huge pigsticker mounted on the TV


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## brihard (27 Jun 2008)

We'll probably make fun of you if you wear a knife on your vest.  

Just get a decent knife with a 3-4" blade and wear it on your belt.


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## George Wallace (27 Jun 2008)

sof-t said:
			
		

> +1
> 
> Nothing says "poser" better than a huge pigsticker mounted on the TV



I plan on picking up my sword tomorrow.  Should I bother to ask?   ;D


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## MedTechStudent (27 Jun 2008)

Ummmm Gerber 400 Sport series?  That would get my vote, I really want to try a "Gerber E-Z Out Rescue Knife" but there is no point it getting one till I'm actually done courses and working.


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## davidk (27 Jun 2008)

George Wallace said:
			
		

> I plan on picking up my sword tomorrow.  Should I bother to ask?   ;D



We had a guy that used to carry a broadsword on ex. No joke...


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## daftandbarmy (28 Jun 2008)

sof-t said:
			
		

> +1
> 
> Nothing says "poser" better than a huge pigsticker mounted on the TV



Unless it's a Khukri, of course.  ;D


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## acen (28 Jun 2008)

4 1/2 is nothing even close to a pigsticker, especially when you have a steel shard pointed straight your neck because its "supposed to go there". And really, the pigsticker thing is taken completely out of context these days anyhow, a pigsticker refers to a spike bayonet, and the term was coined by troops WWII era using a L-E No. 4 Mk1, with its easier to manufacture spike bayonet. If you want to talk about the carrying a small "sword", its what all commonwealth troops carried until 1941, with some as long as through korea, in the form of the 1907 pattern bayonet for the SMLE, a full 17 inches of blade with overall length topping 22 inches, but I digress.... 

What is there wrong with having a useful blade in an accesible location where it will not get tied up, what works for some will not work for others, that is without question, just attempting to say what others have done and found useful. If you want to make fun of someone for doing something they find to be effective, then really all your doing is curbing ones desire to make things better for themselves, and in turn, just maybe, for others. I know thats a stretch in this context, but really, let the guy experiment, nobody here has told him to get a Ka-Bar or a Jungle Primitive, a machete or a katana, the troop will experiment and find what works for them. For some of us, its belt mounted, some its in the pocket (folder), some of us its the vest. Personally i hate having my belt being pushed up when i sit because my sheath is making contact, so the vest works for me, but thats not to say it will work for you. Necessity is the mother of invention, but tinkering, IMHO, is its father.


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## brihard (28 Jun 2008)

I've never had trouble using the issued Gerber or my Leatherman to cut things... Keep the blade sharp and you're good to go.

I wouldn't personally be mounting things on the shoulder of the Tac vest anyway- the one shoulder is for shooting, and the other is a great spot for your PRR when you're issued one (which does, occasionally, happen even in the Camerons). Having something on your shoulder may also interfere with slings, rucksack/small pack straps, all that good stuff. Just a consideration.

I'm all for doing things in whatever way works with regards to kit, but consider whether it's really necessary. You won't be needing to instantly draw your folder to stab ze Germans. You can get away with having it tucked away innocuously in a belt pouch or your pocket and not be any the worse for it.

As for me, I'm a huge fan of my Leatherman Wave.


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## acen (28 Jun 2008)

Theres actually a very nice mounting point on the tac vest, excluding the shoulder area, if your canteen opening is horizontal, you will find that the daisy chain webbing underneath the canteen protrudes high a few inches, any small MOLLE pouch (flashlight to knife size) fits on there quite well. It does not get in the way whatsoever.  And Brihard, you'll be pleasantly surprised when you get back to the unit, PRR issue is WAY more common now, pretty much every ex since the hearing protection trials. The small shoulder straps are reserved for comms, one for PRR, for talking to friendlies, the other for a rifle butt, for talking to the enemies.

Cheers


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## brihard (28 Jun 2008)

acen said:
			
		

> Theres actually a very nice mounting point on the tac vest, excluding the shoulder area, if your canteen opening is horizontal, you will find that the daisy chain webbing underneath the canteen protrudes high a few inches, any small MOLLE pouch (flashlight to knife size) fits on there quite well. It does not get in the way whatsoever.  And Brihard, you'll be pleasantly surprised when you get back to the unit, PRR issue is WAY more common now, pretty much every ex since the hearing protection trials. The small shoulder straps are reserved for comms, one for PRR, for talking to friendlies, the other for a rifle butt, for talking to the enemies.
> 
> Cheers



Right on. I smell the hand of Maj. H___ behind the PRR thing- he was usually pretty good at getting them for us. Let me tell you, having been using them up here for the year, they're pretty close to indispensable.

You mentioned a horizontal canteen opening. I'm gonna recommend against that, for a couple reasons. First off, you should be going with a C9 pouch on both sides of the vest; with real estate on that thing being as scant as it is, you need as much of it as you can get. You can always throw a canteen in a C9 pouch (plus a bush hat, or whatever else you may be carrying), but you can't cram a C9 box in your canteen pouch no matter how hard you try. As for the pouch being horizontal, that makes it MUCH easier to lose things out of it, as even when it's closed there's room for things to wiggle out of it. Normally with the vest I open my shoulder straps up almost all the way, drop the main body so the velcro on the shoulders doesn't even touch, which has the double benefit of dropping my mags to where I like them, and making it easier to get things out from the C9 pouches. Granted, some people have a bit of a conniption fit when they see my Tacvest being worn in such a hideous manner, but I find that it's more functional. Strictly an in the field thing, of course.

You did mention hooking things up to the daisy chain webbing, and you're spot on on that one. For a while I had a couple of grenade pouches quasi-MOLLEd (For the record, 'MOLLEd' is now officially a verb, by my decree) on the bottom of my two C9 pouches to hold extra first aid supplies. With a couple zap-straps and a bit of imagination, you can easily mount things on there, and it's a decent innocuous place to put a knife. Just make sure the pouch fastens securely.


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## Armymedic (28 Jun 2008)

daftandbarmy said:
			
		

> Unless it's a Khukri, of course.  ;D


I stand corrected. A Khurkri is acceptable wear on any battle rig.  ;D


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## Shamrock (28 Jun 2008)

Either a light sabre or a cheese knife.


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## c4th (1 Jul 2008)

daftandbarmy said:
			
		

> Unless it's a Khukri, of course.  ;D


And you are actually a gurka or have the Jungle Warfare Advisor Course.  Otherwise, you are still a poser.

You will never go wrong with a Spiderco belt knife.  I won't cut para cord or open rations with anything else, unless of course I grab my leatherman pocket knife first.  

http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=209
http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=233


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## Milhouser911 (10 Jul 2008)

Whatever happened to Paracowboy?  I'd love to see another ramble about tomahawks.


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## DiamondDarryl (21 Jul 2008)

Just use a boxcutter. They are dirt cheap and when they get dull you can just snap the blade off. People may look at you like your an idiot but it really works.


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## BernDawg (21 Jul 2008)

I own it, use it, love it and it's affordable.  Not on my tac-vest though, I keep it on my belt.  Best of all it's affordable. 

http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=GB1589


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## OldSolduer (21 Jul 2008)

I like my Spiderco Rescue knife, mounted in my pants pocket.


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