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Camillus 1972 Pocket Knife & Ka-Bar Fixed-Blade Knife


bryang
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Two recent acquisitions - The Ka-Bar I picked up a couple months ago from a friend. I don't really know a whole heck of a lot about these and so I'd appreciate feedback on this (common?).

 

 

 

The pocket knife I picked up today at a thrift shop for $5. I had one like this around 30 years ago when I was in an Army Pathfinder platoon. We often worked with explosives (for blowing obstacles on our helicopter landing sites - small trees, etc ..).

 

Bryan

 

 

 

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The pocket knife is a good buy. When I was in the combat engineers, we carried them (demo knives) along with a blasting cap crimper in the signal corps leather electrician's pouches. I think any time you can get one of these for less than $20, go for it.

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Great pocket knife. Those things are tough as nails and remind me of my old Scout Knife with the same types of blades.

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dlwebster.usmc

The ka-bar is a commercial item. Not military issue.

 

Bill

As a Marine, until, the 1990s or so, if you rated an M1911/M9, you were issued a Ka-Bar from the armory. Machine Gunners, Officers, Staff Non-Commisioned Officers and others. And that was the last Grunt unit I was in, Fox Co 2/23, while called up for the 1st Gulf War. Of course, many have their own commercially made 'Ka- Bars' too. I have an old one that stamped USN Mark I.

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

 

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Still-A-Marine

As a Marine, until, the 1990s or so, if you rated an M1911/M9, you were issued a Ka-Bar from the armory. Machine Gunners, Officers, Staff Non-Commisioned Officers and others. And that was the last Grunt unit I was in, Fox Co 2/23, while called up for the 1st Gulf War. Of course, many have their own commercially made 'Ka- Bars' too. I have an old one that stamped USN Mark I.

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

Yes. I was in the corps in the 80s. And the same was true then. You would only be issued a fighting/utility knife if you were not issued a M16 which would include a M7 bayonet.

 

The one you have marked USN Mark 1 is not a "Ka-Bar" or at least not what most would mean when they say "Ka-Bar". The 'Ka-Bar" has a 7" blade. The knife you have is a Mark 1 and should have a 6" blade. (Unless you just mis-typed and meant USN Mark 2 which would have the 7" blade and would have been made in WWII). The USMC "Ka-Bar" was first called the 1219C2 Fighting Utility knife. That is what marines carried in WW II. The USN had the MK 2. Since WWII all branches have been issued the same knife and it is the KNIFE, COMBAT, MIL-K-20277. I believe the current revision is the MIL-K-20277h. WWII makers were Ka-Bar, Camillus, Robeson, & PAL. Post WWII "Ka-Bars" were made by Utica, Camillus, Conetta, MSI, and Ontario. Ontario is the current maker.

 

The knife posted is a commercial knife made by Ka-Bar. It has the USA marking which stands for United States Army. Ka-Bar, who only had contracts in WWII, never made that version for the military. It is an inferior knife to the MIL-K-20277 that the military is issued. I knew some marines who carried the USMC commercial Ka-Bar and it was also inferior, that is not made as well as the WWII version. I never understood why a person would choose to buy the commercial Ka-Bars when the issue knife was better.

 

So I guess a person in the military could have carried the knife in question. But it would not have been issued from the armory.

 

Bill

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  • 4 years later...
dlwebster.usmc
On 5/10/2016 at 5:41 AM, Still-A-Marine said:

 

Yes. I was in the corps in the 80s. And the same was true then. You would only be issued a fighting/utility knife if you were not issued a M16 which would include a M7 bayonet.

 

The one you have marked USN Mark 1 is not a "Ka-Bar" or at least not what most would mean when they say "Ka-Bar". The 'Ka-Bar" has a 7" blade. The knife you have is a Mark 1 and should have a 6" blade. (Unless you just mis-typed and meant USN Mark 2 which would have the 7" blade and would have been made in WWII). The USMC "Ka-Bar" was first called the 1219C2 Fighting Utility knife. That is what marines carried in WW II. The USN had the MK 2. Since WWII all branches have been issued the same knife and it is the KNIFE, COMBAT, MIL-K-20277. I believe the current revision is the MIL-K-20277h. WWII makers were Ka-Bar, Camillus, Robeson, & PAL. Post WWII "Ka-Bars" were made by Utica, Camillus, Conetta, MSI, and Ontario. Ontario is the current maker.

 

The knife posted is a commercial knife made by Ka-Bar. It has the USA marking which stands for United States Army. Ka-Bar, who only had contracts in WWII, never made that version for the military. It is an inferior knife to the MIL-K-20277 that the military is issued. I knew some marines who carried the USMC commercial Ka-Bar and it was also inferior, that is not made as well as the WWII version. I never understood why a person would choose to buy the commercial Ka-Bars when the issue knife was better.

 

So I guess a person in the military could have carried the knife in question. But it would not have been issued from the armory.

 

Bill

Thank you!

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