phrobis m9 buck made, how to tell

jbmonkey

jbmonkey

sure sure
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so been reading various threads on these buck made, but many pics gone from photobucket cutting all off etc. realize various threads exist on this topic sort of, but.......i havent been able to figure out how to tell which buck made and how to tell easily.

so cliff note short..... history wise....phrobis made some themselves?, or where all done via sub contract and by buck? then i see lancay/general cutlery and ontario were invovled later on. ontario seem to be marked with their name and im sure some bucks may have been as well, but..... how can one verify which are buck made and which arent?

maybe im misunderstanding the entire process...feel free to set me straight...id appreciate it. thank you.
 
Phrobis had no manufacturing capability, all was contracted.
I believe they did 'hand make' the prototypes.
Jump on me if wrong but I think anything "USA" Phrobis was made by Buck.
For example, the CUK/MFK knife initially made by Buck went to Marto in Spain after the divorce.
The is supposedly a book on the M9 in the works then all should be made clear.
Other companies did make M9's unrelated to either Buck or Phrobis.
 
DeSotoSky said:
Phrobis had no manufacturing capability, all was contracted.
I believe they did 'hand make' the prototypes.
Jump on me if wrong but I think anything "USA" Phrobis was made by Buck.
For example, the CUK/MFK knife initially made by Buck went to Marto in Spain after the divorce.
The is supposedly a book on the M9 in the works then all should be made clear.
Other companies did make M9's unrelated to either Buck or Phrobis.
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good info, so usa phrobis marked most likely made by buck. thank you Sir.
 
I seen pictures of one mounted on a Mossburg 590..One of the M9's is on my Buck bucket list! Did Buck ever release a LE version?
 
jbm, on your middle picture the photo shows the sheath. Which has some type of sharpening material glued to the back of the sheath. What is the material? DM
 
bucksway said:
I seen pictures of one mounted on a Mossburg 590..One of the M9's is on my Buck bucket list! Did Buck ever release a LE version?
Click to expand...

joe houser has done several custom bayonets for me--few have gone to Australia.... actually though buck has not done a le that I know of....

rich neyman told me the other day his bayonet book is at the printer and soon there will be almost 200 of them available....there will be pics in there of custom bayonets....
 
Went to a gun show in Elkhart, IN today. This is one knife I've been trying to buy in person/by chance instead of ePay. Only saw one much later produced M9.
Do these show up at the anniversary swap tables?
 
David Martin said:
jbm, on your middle picture the photo shows the sheath. Which has some type of sharpening material glued to the back of the sheath. What is the material? DM
Click to expand...
not really sure Sir. havent tried to use it to see how the grit feels. this is my first m9 so i know very little to nothing about them. i assume its the normal stone that comes on the sheath, but you know how well assuming usually works.:)
 
DeSotoSky said:
Phrobis had no manufacturing capability, all was contracted.
I believe they did 'hand make' the prototypes.
Jump on me if wrong but I think anything "USA" Phrobis was made by Buck.
For example, the CUK/MFK knife initially made by Buck went to Marto in Spain after the divorce.
The is supposedly a book on the M9 in the works then all should be made clear.
Other companies did make M9's unrelated to either Buck or Phrobis.
Click to expand...
From what I have found, Phrobis Knives including prototypes were made by Buck. Phrobis got mad because Buck wasn't supposed to put their name on the Phrobis M9, that's when the first trouble started, then from what I have read, Buck was feeling jilted because they weren't getting the recognition they should for producing such a high quality bayonet, for which I couldn't blame them, then they started putting the date codes on the M9. That was the second trouble that I have read about. Buck did keep making the M9 until the contract ran out. Phrobis did have some made in Spain somewhere along the timeline of when the contract ended. LanCay knives did not meet the requirements of the Military and were never issued the contract it was issued to Ontario Knife Company and they still make them. I don't know if they currently have the whole military contract? As far as I know, they only make them for the Marine Corps now. They have the USMC molded in the handle and they are the tan/sand color. I can't think of the actual name of the color.
Now how much of this factual I don't know. I have done extensive research on the Buckmaster, M9 Bayonet. Have done some research on the CUK/MFK. Some of the above information isn't found in any book. I got it from a close associate of Mickey Finn's who owned Qual-Tech/Phrobis and designed the CUK/MFK, Buckmaster, Phrobis M9 Bayonet. He had Buck manufacture all knives and bayonets. Mickey didn't want the City of Carlsbad, CA knowing what Qual-Tech did, which was manufacturing silencers for the Military and Police. Also, this all transpired when Paul Bos was exclusive to Buck and had an innovative new way to heat treat metal.
Don
Edited for the umpteenth time... Ha!Ha!
I checked my notes after Roger and I's discussion. I misspoke about LanCay there are 2 different variations of this bayonet. They were awarded the contract for lowest bidder of the M9 when Buck/Phrobis contract ended or they split the sheets. Ontario Knife Company made roughly 10.000 bayonets between the time of B/P contract and the lowest bid contract. I had read somewhere, all though I can't recall where the Military pulled the contract from Lancay due to the blades breaking. Don't take that to heart though. I need to find out where I read that.
 
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It depends on what you are going to do with the M9? If your keeping it for posterity don't use it. It's a medium grade sharpening stone of what is made of I don't know.
Don
jbmonkey said:
not really sure Sir. havent tried to use it to see how the grit feels. this is my first m9 so i know very little to nothing about them. i assume its the normal stone that comes on the sheath, but you know how well assuming usually works.:)
Click to expand...
 
Something I did forget after the Military contract ended with Phrobis, Buck continued making the M9 for the civilian market. Now Rich's new book may blow me out of the water but this is what I could find out.
Don
 
I believe after the end of the original military contract, Buck and Phrobis split ways, leaving Buck free to bid on and win a direct contract of 5,000 M9's for the Marines about 1991. I believe this is the only military issued M9 that has Buck's name on it instead of Phrobis. Civilian retail M9's are easily identified because they have Phrobis on one side and Buck on the opposite. Other than the 5,000 USMC knives, Buck's name was NOT on military issue. /Roger
 
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DeSotoSky said:
I believe after the end of the original military contract,Buck an Phrobis split ways, leaving Buck free to bid on and win a direct contract of 5,000 M9's for the Marines about 1991. I believe this is the only military issued M9 that has Buck's name on it instead of Phrobis. Any knife that has Phrobis on one side and Buck on the other was civilian market not military issue. /Roger
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We'll have to compare notes. Phrobis broke ties with Buck when the contract ended. Buck didn't own the trademark Phrobis, therefore, couldn't have produced a bayonet with the name Phrobis on it after they split the sheets... The 5,000 produced for the Marines was never issued the contract was not awarded to Buck for some trivial reason that I can't think of at the moment. The M9 that have Phrobis and Buck are the very first ones. The second ones have Bucks date code on them and the name Phrobis only. The last ones had Phrobis only. The ones that have Buck only were made for the civilian market since the Marines rejected Bucks contract. There are over 50,000 Marines why would they only make 5,000?
Don
I believe the contract wasn't issued because of a timeline missed by Buck?
I'm editing this for Roger; There were 5,000 made for the Marines but Buck never received the actual contract. So there are 5,000 Buck M9's with USMC on the tang and a date code of 1991.
 
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Respectfully disagree Don, Buck did make 5,000 for the Marines in 1991 (post Phrobis). I have personally seen and handled several (random pic swiped from internet).

I'm stuck on the notion that this is the ONLY military issued M9 with BUCK actually on it. I've always wanted one for that very reason but the few I've seen were $$$ beyond my hobby value. /Roger

USMC M9 BUCK.jpg
 
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Yes Sir they did!! The contract was never awarded though. That is a very rare Buck M9! 1 of 5,000 made...Like I said the contract was not awarded for some benign reason? That's why there is only 5,000 of them. No reason to disagree we're on the same page...
Don
This has been edited several times... I think Grammarly was made in England! Ha!Ha!
 
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