It's true that some knives have better designed handles than others.
A lot depends not only on the presence of a choil or guardlike shape, but also on your technique, your hand strength and grip style, how much you have practiced striking solid objects, the "grip" provided by the handle material and texture, and whether or not you get a lot of sweat, water, or blood on the handle of the knife during the altercation.
There may be a couple more variables as well, including being injured during the fray and losing some grip strength or concentration...
Plan early, choose your knife wisely, and PRACTICE ON HARD OR AT LEAST SEMI-HARD TARGETS. This is also a good way to check inadvertant lock disengagement and perhaps, lock strength (to at least some degree).
BTW, I have a CS Gunsite II (4") and an XL Voyager (5"). I do like them both, and the Gunsite was my EDC for awhile. The XL is my "biking" knife due to it's serious size (for any dog attacks) and strong tendency for the blade to stay in the closed position (in case I get hit on my bicycle I don't want that thing opening!!). I would rate both these knives as around a "6" on a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best). Not great, but not too bad, either. Yes, I'd like a bit of a lip under the pivot area, but the gripability ain't bad for FRN.
My most recent EDCs are the Griptilian and the Mini Commander. Both offer excellent holds--around "8" or "9," IMO. (A "10" would be something extremely solid like a good push dagger or the La Griffe or Bear Claw--which literally become part of your hand structure.)
Simply waving a knife around in patterns in the air is not representative of the reality of actual employment against flesh and blood targets.
And no, I'm not an "expert," and YMMV, etc.
Karl
