So we all know that the Gerber Mk2 and Explorer are the knives of choice of the USCM....

....But, say you were filming (or kitting out your squad, if we refuse to accept it's a film ) Aliens today: which knife would you spec out instead?

Would you stick with the 'tried and true' Gerber Mk2?
Or something more modern?

Go!

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2nd Lt Jon "Jaylo" Lopez
A11/TQ1.0.72144E1
USCM Quality Assurance Division- Aerospace and Space Products- Earth
"Checklists Save Lives- No Service Stations at 30,000ft"

Ka-Bar 1245 "Tanto"


I love this knife. Has a "futuristic" look in my mind, and Ka-bars have been carried by Marines for decades.

agreed kabar, they are a 'traditional' U.S. marine item, and personally I think the Kabar would look a lot better on the marines than the mk2

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Pt. Graham "gunny" Green
A07/TQ2.0.12129E1
UKCM 501st Regt. 1st Batt. The Bucketheads

Definitely a Ka-Bar frog sticker. Just not a more "modern" knife that has a neon green handle with some zombie reference on it.

Ive always like the bench made nimravus. I can't kill mine. They also make a Nim cub for the smaller replacement for the knight raider.
Other wise the Gerber Lmf2

As I have seen how durable they are I would have to agree with most here a Kbar. My buddy and I literally used it for throwing at a target one night while we had a few beers for a good 20-30 minutes. After this we then used it to start a fire with a flint stone. After all that abuse still cut right through a piece of steak in one slice that we then devoured. Such a durable and awesome Knife, a little on the heavy side(for throwing) but if it were a Aliens world I doubt I would be using that thing for a throwing weapon!

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Good start- I'd definitely be looking for something with a 'modern' kydex sheath

The only thing going against the 'traditional' Kabar is the carbon steel of the blade- rust's a problem.
Now the 'next gen' models with the kydex handles and stainless blades ARE great knives, but I feel they lose the toughness of the originals.
Further, while the Kabar was originally designated a 'fighting knife', it's most definitely an all round utility knife....I'd have thought the USCM grunt, used to dropships and fast recycles back into orbit, would be willing to sacrifice a bit of utility for the sake of a more 'martial' blade shape

Also- as the USCM are an 'elite' unit, there's generally a cachet around carrying a dagger going back to the SOE and Commandos of WW2.
The Marine Raiders of WW2 carried a version of the Fairbairn-Sykes dagger instead of the Kabar- which I feel is more in keeping with the standard operational mentality of the USCM as portrayed in the movie
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sta ... r_stiletto)

So: My take would be one of the following:
A Microtech ADO- the double edged, half serrated version
http://www.microtechknives.com/knives-2/our-knives/
As it's very modern and very obviously not for peeling spuds...One piece forging and TiNi coating

Then for those wanting to hark back to bygone days- A Cold Steel Chaos- a modern take on the WW1 Trench Dagger, complete with skull cracker pommell.
http://www.coldsteel.com/Product/80NTP/ ... _Edge.aspx
I've got on of these and it's bigger in every way than the Gerber Mk2, but not as finely balanced or as well made.

Then maybe something like the now discontinued SOG Desert Dagger as another choice

_________________
2nd Lt Jon "Jaylo" Lopez
A11/TQ1.0.72144E1
USCM Quality Assurance Division- Aerospace and Space Products- Earth
"Checklists Save Lives- No Service Stations at 30,000ft"

Dammit, now I want a microtech ADO and a nimravus. They both look very nice and quite cool.

CZ-805:

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AKA: Simon

do you know none of them others interest me in the slightest. i have a ka-bar, modern mk2 and pattern 2 FS at home and i think they got it dead right with the gerber. i dont think it has been bettered (early wasp waist variants am talking about here) its a shame the modern ones dont match the quality of the early ones and am not a fan of the 'utility' serrated teeth either.
everyone always comments that the FS though looks more sinister, more lethal if you will.

Agreed that, for me, the Gerber Mk2 is 'the' definition of a modern fighting knife- in feel, balance and handling- my 1980s model is all I could want.....but the newer looking knives that come after it are more 'sci-fi' styled that would be more in keeping with the style-cues of the film.

Vive la difference and all that

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2nd Lt Jon "Jaylo" Lopez
A11/TQ1.0.72144E1
USCM Quality Assurance Division- Aerospace and Space Products- Earth
"Checklists Save Lives- No Service Stations at 30,000ft"

jealous of your 80's one. dont think you can post that without some knife picture pornography

Gerber's weren't used in the film, they were Explorer MM-IV.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13654&start=25

Clone of a Gerber then if we want to split hairs.....as I bought my 80s Gerber for entirely different reasons and paid an un-silly amount for it, I can live with the not-quite-pointy enough ricasso for the cost of having better provenance on the steel and the heat-treatment.

James Cameron certainly has a hard on for the Gerber Mk2 (and lookalikes) in his movies- most every scene he does with a knife in his films has one (True Lies is another one by way of example)....Guess his budget wasn't big enough in the 80s to spring for the real deal, huh?

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2nd Lt Jon "Jaylo" Lopez
A11/TQ1.0.72144E1
USCM Quality Assurance Division- Aerospace and Space Products- Earth
"Checklists Save Lives- No Service Stations at 30,000ft"