Well, here's my first review of a locking-blade Swiss Army Knife, the Hunter. This model is olive drab in color, and is model number 53642. On to the details...
Handles: The handle is 4.3" long. The entire tool is about .65" wide. The handle scales are OD green. The front has the standard Victorinox shield, and below it is a white sketch of a deer. The back of the handle is flat, while the top (the end where most of the tools are) is contoured to fit the hand. I really like this design, as everything is accessible without being bulky. The contours make the knife fit your hand, without the tools digging into it. The butt of the knife houses the standard keyring, tweezers, and toothpick. I've only had this knife for a few months, but haven't noticed any issues with the handle or scales. No wobbliness or looseness.
Locking Blade: The main blade on this knife is 3.5" long, with a 3.25" cutting edge. It's a drop point, and has a nail nick facing the shield-side of the handle. The blade locks open via small piston-like rod in the knife. It is disengaged by pulling down on a slide on the non-shield side of the handle. Think of it like a Benchmade AXIS lock, but a bit stiffer. You won't be flicking the blade open and closed. Lock-up is very solid, with only about a millimeter of blade play front-to-back. No side-to-side play. The blade came extremely sharp, even for a Victorinox. I used it for some outdoor stuff, but it hasn't needed resharpening, so I can't comment on that. I like the length of this blade.
Wood Saw: The wood saw on this knife is a bit larger than the saws on the non-locking knives. It's 3.5" long. It has no nail nick; instead, its tip extends from the handles frame by about .17" so that you can pull it open. It doesn't lock open, but the backspring is sufficient, that you don't need a lock. I used the saw to down a tree about 5" in diameter. It resisted filling up with wood pulp, and went through like a champ. I really like the aggressive pattern of the saw. They're set evenly next to each other (not off-set), allowing you to cut on both the push and the pull stroke.
Combination Tool: This is Victorinox's new-ish tool. It combines the can opener, bottle opener, wire stripper, and flathead screwdriver all into one tool. It's 1.5" long, and stops in the halfway open position as well as fully extended. The nail nick faces the shield side of the handle. The tool opens bottles and cans with no problem, which surprised me due to the lack of a real cutting edsge. Still, it zipped through cans with ease. The screwdriver came in handy many times. I found a bit of surface rust on the portion of the tool between the tang and the wire stripper, which was my fault. It came out with some 0000 steel wool and some polish.
Gutting Blade: This is my favorite tool on this knife. As far as I know, no other Victorinox knives have this blade. It's 1.6" long, and is serrated fully until the last eight of an inch or so at the tip. The tip is rounded. It doesn't lock open, but is held firmly in place with the backspring. The nail nick is facing the shield side of the handle. I've used this thing to open up boxes and packages, and of course game. Squirrels and rabbit were no problem, and it went through without incident. I like the rounded tip; no puncturing organs and getting unwanted juices all over your meat. I haven't needed to resharpen the blade yet.
Reamer: This is the standard reamer with sewing eye. It's mounted on the back side of the handle, and is 1.5" long with a 1" cutting edge. It opens into the T-handled position. There's not much I can say about the reamer that I haven't said before; it's a very practical tool. In a hunting sense, since this review is about a hunting knife, it came in handy for punching holes for me to slide the gutting blade into. You'll find many uses for it.
Corkscrew: Again, this is the standard corkscrew. It's mounted on the back of the handle right next to the reamer, and locks into the T-handled position. The corkscrew is 1.5" long, with 1.25"of it being the actual corkscrew (the other .25" is the tang). You'll find a lor more uses for this thing other than opening merlot. Like all Swiss Army knives with a corkscrew, the first thing I did was bought a mini screwdriver for it. Those little things are 1.25" long and slide right into the corkscrew, giving you many more uses. They run for about $1.50.
Tweezers and Toothpick: These two are both the standard that you find on all large Siwss Army knives. The toothpick is 2" long and is in the non-shield side of the handle. The tweezers are 1.75" long and go into the shield side. You'll find many uses for both.
I think this is a value for such a nice hunting knife. It'll cost you about $26, but I've done more with it than I have my Bucks or Schrades. The Hunter also comes with standard Victorinox red handles, if you prefer that model instead. The gutting blade and the large locking blade made this one stand out from everything else, and I'm glad that such practical implements could be found in one tool.
Handles: The handle is 4.3" long. The entire tool is about .65" wide. The handle scales are OD green. The front has the standard Victorinox shield, and below it is a white sketch of a deer. The back of the handle is flat, while the top (the end where most of the tools are) is contoured to fit the hand. I really like this design, as everything is accessible without being bulky. The contours make the knife fit your hand, without the tools digging into it. The butt of the knife houses the standard keyring, tweezers, and toothpick. I've only had this knife for a few months, but haven't noticed any issues with the handle or scales. No wobbliness or looseness.
Locking Blade: The main blade on this knife is 3.5" long, with a 3.25" cutting edge. It's a drop point, and has a nail nick facing the shield-side of the handle. The blade locks open via small piston-like rod in the knife. It is disengaged by pulling down on a slide on the non-shield side of the handle. Think of it like a Benchmade AXIS lock, but a bit stiffer. You won't be flicking the blade open and closed. Lock-up is very solid, with only about a millimeter of blade play front-to-back. No side-to-side play. The blade came extremely sharp, even for a Victorinox. I used it for some outdoor stuff, but it hasn't needed resharpening, so I can't comment on that. I like the length of this blade.
Wood Saw: The wood saw on this knife is a bit larger than the saws on the non-locking knives. It's 3.5" long. It has no nail nick; instead, its tip extends from the handles frame by about .17" so that you can pull it open. It doesn't lock open, but the backspring is sufficient, that you don't need a lock. I used the saw to down a tree about 5" in diameter. It resisted filling up with wood pulp, and went through like a champ. I really like the aggressive pattern of the saw. They're set evenly next to each other (not off-set), allowing you to cut on both the push and the pull stroke.
Combination Tool: This is Victorinox's new-ish tool. It combines the can opener, bottle opener, wire stripper, and flathead screwdriver all into one tool. It's 1.5" long, and stops in the halfway open position as well as fully extended. The nail nick faces the shield side of the handle. The tool opens bottles and cans with no problem, which surprised me due to the lack of a real cutting edsge. Still, it zipped through cans with ease. The screwdriver came in handy many times. I found a bit of surface rust on the portion of the tool between the tang and the wire stripper, which was my fault. It came out with some 0000 steel wool and some polish.
Gutting Blade: This is my favorite tool on this knife. As far as I know, no other Victorinox knives have this blade. It's 1.6" long, and is serrated fully until the last eight of an inch or so at the tip. The tip is rounded. It doesn't lock open, but is held firmly in place with the backspring. The nail nick is facing the shield side of the handle. I've used this thing to open up boxes and packages, and of course game. Squirrels and rabbit were no problem, and it went through without incident. I like the rounded tip; no puncturing organs and getting unwanted juices all over your meat. I haven't needed to resharpen the blade yet.
Reamer: This is the standard reamer with sewing eye. It's mounted on the back side of the handle, and is 1.5" long with a 1" cutting edge. It opens into the T-handled position. There's not much I can say about the reamer that I haven't said before; it's a very practical tool. In a hunting sense, since this review is about a hunting knife, it came in handy for punching holes for me to slide the gutting blade into. You'll find many uses for it.
Corkscrew: Again, this is the standard corkscrew. It's mounted on the back of the handle right next to the reamer, and locks into the T-handled position. The corkscrew is 1.5" long, with 1.25"of it being the actual corkscrew (the other .25" is the tang). You'll find a lor more uses for this thing other than opening merlot. Like all Swiss Army knives with a corkscrew, the first thing I did was bought a mini screwdriver for it. Those little things are 1.25" long and slide right into the corkscrew, giving you many more uses. They run for about $1.50.
Tweezers and Toothpick: These two are both the standard that you find on all large Siwss Army knives. The toothpick is 2" long and is in the non-shield side of the handle. The tweezers are 1.75" long and go into the shield side. You'll find many uses for both.
I think this is a value for such a nice hunting knife. It'll cost you about $26, but I've done more with it than I have my Bucks or Schrades. The Hunter also comes with standard Victorinox red handles, if you prefer that model instead. The gutting blade and the large locking blade made this one stand out from everything else, and I'm glad that such practical implements could be found in one tool.