I recently picked up one of these. I don't have nearly as much knife knowledge as many others here so I'll try to keep it objective.
Pros:
-Handle feels quite grippy without being uncomfortable when carried.
-For me (medium size hands) it feels secure while striking.
-Finger hole on the gen 3 ones is enlarged, reducing the risk of breaking a finger or degloving.
Cons:
-Sheath is as big as a boat paddle and has the G-Code clip, which I dislike. Would really prefer a clip with a cloth grabber.
-Sheath retention came really tight, as in it would pull my (skinny fit) pants up an inch before the blade came out. I removed a little material with a needle file and now it's where I like it.
-Bent shape means it conceals worse than a thin, straight blade. This is probably easy to mitigate with a foam wedge or a Eidolon style claw to get that grip tuck effect.
-Edge came reasonably sharp but slightly malformed near the tip. Easy fix but kind of annoying.
Got mine a couple weeks ago and have been doing some testing and evaluation with it.
Over the last couple years I have tested several knives including:
The clinch pick (Shivworks)
The Gang Unit (Suarez Int.)
SOCP Dagger (Benchmade)
The Gambit (SOG)
The Instinct (SOG)
Spyderco Reverse (Spyderco)
The Spew (CRKT)
So far I like The Colonel the best. This could be because of my background with boxing training and my personal knife use philosophy.
Over the last two weeks I have carried the knife every day and have used the trainer during one long sparring and testing session. Here are my thoughts:
- Due to the design its very hard for someone to take the knife away from you. I really like this.
- The knife works very well in conjunction with a pistol. I have the knife set up in appendix position so that I can draw it with my off hand. Once the knife is drawn with the off hand and used to create space, the dominate hand can draw the pistol and with the knife still in your off hand you are able to go straight to a correct two handed pistol grip. This is nice because you dont need to drop/resheath/reposition the knife in any way before going into a two handed pistol grip.
- The knife can be drawn with either hand and can be used effectively in a reverse grip position.
- In sparring I was put into a variety of clinches, grabs, holds, positions both standing, against the wall, and on the ground. The knife works very well (for me at least) in all suitations I found myself in.
- I found that the knife allowed for rapid deployment from the sheath.
- Im working on a better clip for the sheath. I found that the clip doesnt get tight enough and allows the knife move around a bit to much on the belt while moving.
- I find that the knife does conceal well.
This knife may not be for everyone but it works very well in conjunction with a pistol and blends seamlessly with my boxing training.
The TDI knife and several others accomplish the same idea without having a ring. Amazon link for Tom:
https://www.amazon.com/tdi-knife/s?i...%3Atdi%20knife
Not entirely. The ring helps with retention, keeps your finger from sliding down onto the blade, and the biggest advantage is that the ring is a big part of what allows you to transition crom knife to gun without having to do anything with it. Also makes it easy to grab and take hold of things if needed because of the ring.
If, however, someone doesnt mind not having that ability then the TDI is a lower cost alternative.
Bladerigs makes a great sheath for the Colonel. It sits lower and doesn't move around like the sheath that came with it.
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I am very curious about your solution to the sheath. Like you, I couldn't stand the sheath system that came with it, so I had blade rigs make a sheath for me. It's does a good enough job, still not ideal since one clip doesn't hold it securely enough.
I have thought about attaching a wide inner tube to the sheath and clip on the original sheath that came with the blade.
Biggest issue for me is the blade has a tendency to print a bit like a gun and sheath shifts around a lot in appendix