SteyrAUG
07-18-16, 02:18
http://i66.tinypic.com/14bibno.jpg
Vietnam era Camillus MC-1 w/canopy line cutter.
Now military switchblades are nothing new. The oldest one I'm aware of was made by Presto and issued to groups like the 101rst Airborne in World War II. These weren't fighting knives, but more a "get me out of this tree" knife which is why they had to be capable of opening one handed and later had a canopy line cutter incorporated.
Companies such as Schrade and Camillus produced them from around the Korean War until 1993 and currently Colonial makes a knife that is more or less the same thing but available in black, OD green and a few other colors if memory serves.
But the bright orange MC-1 was the iconic Vietnam military switchblade. I got this one back around 1978. At the time the martial arts community had a lot of participation from Vietnam veterans and one of the guys who trained with one of my instructors happened to be an actual green beret dude and when he learned I collected "militaria" he gave me a couple of military manuals "Mines and Booby Traps used by the Viet Cong In South Vietnam" and "Viet Cong Boobytraps, Mines And Mine Warfare Techniques" as well as this MC-1 knife.
They aren't exceptionally rare, even Vietnam issue / era knives can be found in the $100-150 range. But when you are a kid in middle school, something like that is priceless.
Vietnam era Camillus MC-1 w/canopy line cutter.
Now military switchblades are nothing new. The oldest one I'm aware of was made by Presto and issued to groups like the 101rst Airborne in World War II. These weren't fighting knives, but more a "get me out of this tree" knife which is why they had to be capable of opening one handed and later had a canopy line cutter incorporated.
Companies such as Schrade and Camillus produced them from around the Korean War until 1993 and currently Colonial makes a knife that is more or less the same thing but available in black, OD green and a few other colors if memory serves.
But the bright orange MC-1 was the iconic Vietnam military switchblade. I got this one back around 1978. At the time the martial arts community had a lot of participation from Vietnam veterans and one of the guys who trained with one of my instructors happened to be an actual green beret dude and when he learned I collected "militaria" he gave me a couple of military manuals "Mines and Booby Traps used by the Viet Cong In South Vietnam" and "Viet Cong Boobytraps, Mines And Mine Warfare Techniques" as well as this MC-1 knife.
They aren't exceptionally rare, even Vietnam issue / era knives can be found in the $100-150 range. But when you are a kid in middle school, something like that is priceless.