Sniper Bladeworks MAMU Assessment | GearJunkie

I’m not a prepper. I similar to to be ready. I wish to know I can depend on myself to get by means of something that comes my means.

And the topic of being ready for something — with a touch of downfall of society — comes up extra usually after I take into consideration journeying into the woods for an extended stretch.

This mindset amplifies after I come throughout a knife just like the Sniper Bladeworks MAMU. This blade marries the tenets of tactical with these of bushcraft. The result’s a survival device that checks a variety of bins of a single knife I’d need by my facet when the match hits the shan.

In previous evaluations, I’ve contemplated how people (myself included) would react if they may solely seize a number of issues off the shelf in an emergency. For me, the Sniper Bladeworks MAMU stands because the one knife I need ready for me on that shelf, if not already hooked up to my belt.

In brief: The Sniper Bladeworks MAMU is a dependable knife. In reality, I’d say it’s one of the crucial dependable fixed-blade knives I’ve had the pleasure to check and use. It’s robust, utilitarian, and might handle the abuse nearly anybody can throw at it — together with bushcrafters, landscapers, tactical customers, and EDC aficionados.

Sniper Bladeworks MAMU Knife Assessment

Design & Options

A full tang brute, the Sniper Bladeworks MAMU is an 11.68-inch lengthy piece of 0.20-inch thick 420HC stainless-steel. It is available in both a satin or a PVD-coated end, and has a wide range of G10 deal with scale colours to select from.

For testing, I went with the satin end and OD Inexperienced. I don’t have something in opposition to coated blades — I similar to to see what the metal can do by itself.

Like the remainder of the knives within the Sniper Bladeworks lineup, the MAMU makes use of the model’s superior ergonomic design. The deal with cants downward to enhance leverage and long-term consolation. Plus, this function opens the MAMU to different duties, like chopping and splitting with no need to baton the backbone.

The sheath that comes with the MAMU can be top-notch — as spectacular because the knife itself. It’s injection-molded and comes with a locking DOTS belt clip. This sheath additionally sports activities a particular notch to carry the blade in place, in any route you determine to hold it.

As for the metal, I’m glad to see Sniper selected to go along with 420HC. This stainless-steel has been pushed apart for extra premium steels of late. However it holds as much as corrosion and abrasion extraordinarily effectively, which implies this knife actually can go anyplace.

The con is that 420HC doesn’t maintain an edge in addition to a number of the newer, premium knife steels. However I not often contemplate that a difficulty when selecting out massive fixed-blade knives. Correct knife upkeep will assist you already know your blade higher.

First Impressions

Other than its total measurement, one of many first issues I observed concerning the MAMU was the bowl within the heart of the deal with, supposed to be the bearing block for a bow drill. In primitive survival, the bow drill is the popular methodology of firestarting, because it’s a surefire technique to get a fireplace going.

This tells me the knife is supposed to do greater than your normal camp knife, bushcraft blade, or chopper.

Past that, the MAMU stays a little bit of an anomaly — a 1-pound knife with excellent stability and excellent ergonomics. Usually, a knife this massive sacrifices one of many two by default, so it’s apparent that a while, love, and tenderness went into the design and execution of the MAMU.

The 420HC metal receives the satin end the place it counts — on the backbone and perimeter. It’s polished on the faces and grinds, save for an indent above the grind meant for shaving and sawing. Sprucing the blade like this retains issues from sticking to it and slowing it down. Tree sap will nonetheless current an issue, however sap sticks to a matte end greater than it does polished.

One other fascinating notice which will go unnoticed is that un-sharp edges on the knife, just like the choil, had been left unbroken. In consequence, these spots make a superb place to run a ferro rod to start out a fireplace.

Within the Area

Testing

After I began testing the MAMU, I used to be simply again from my honeymoon with the ZT 0006. The concepts of survival, meals prep, even taking down bushes for hearth and shelter, had been nonetheless contemporary in my thoughts.

The MAMU grew to become the continuation of that journey, because it’s meant to serve the identical objective because the 0006. However, the MAMU gives a broader spectrum of potentialities, given its superior type.

I carried the MAMU round with me for 3 weeks, and we did every thing collectively. I used it to scrub up some giant tree limbs that had fallen and crushed some saplings. Then I eliminated the saplings with a number of alternative chops. One other afternoon, I used it to additional cut up some bigger items of reduce wooden that wanted some coaxing to be halved.

And because the coup de grâce, I used the MAMU to prep kindling for a fireplace, after which sparked the fireplace with it (and my ferro rod). I completed up by slicing up some greens and rooster for a pleasant dinner beneath the celebrities.

Efficiency

With its massive stomach and curved deal with, the MAMU works nice for hacking and chopping, with out the necessity for batoning. It additionally excels within the camp kitchen, capable of chop, slice, and even fillet.

Moreover, the MAMU makes a terrific digging device, so for these people who actually wish to depart no hint, it’s nice for when it’s good to “dig, squat, and bury.”

Take the MAMU out of the woods and put it into an city setting and it turns into a pry/entry device with enhanced leverage and ergonomics for getting inside these locations which might be locked or blocked. Put it in a suburban setting and you would simply as simply use it to take down that outdated treehouse within the yard and even for some gentle gardening.

Moreover, you may select to carry the MAMU farther again on the deal with to let leverage do the work on these greater chopping and hacking duties. When it comes time to do extra precision duties like slicing and chipping up veggies, you may choke up on the choil to make fast work of that.

After I inform you that the makes use of for the MAMU are countless, I’m not kidding.

Area Improve

Based mostly on what I needed to do with the MAMU, I selected so as to add a customized kydex sleeve to the sheath to carry a ferro rod.

The place this might sound just a little outlandish to some, the concept behind a survival-style knife is that you need to use it by itself that will help you out of some furry conditions.

On this case, I created a de facto firestarting equipment that I can put on on my belt.

What’s in a Title?

Lance Abernathy — the person, fantasy, and legend behind Sniper Bladeworks — is a identified Deadhead. So, he likes to call his knives after Grateful Lifeless tunes.

You wouldn’t assume it, what along with his knives being so strong and tactical. However Lance’s MAMU stands for “Me And My Uncle,” which about blew my thoughts after I discovered.

Sniper Bladeworks MAMU Knife: General

I’m not a selected fan of massive knives. I by no means noticed the necessity for something as giant because the MAMU. The belt knife I often carry is well half the dimensions of the MAMU.

However the MAMU, with its massive, fat-bellied drop level blade and unimaginable ergonomics, can do every thing a bushcraft, camp knife, chopper, or survival knife can do — solely higher.

In reality, the MAMU presents all of these knives rolled in a single, with a superb sheath for straightforward carry in your belt or backpack. The truth that it prices lower than $200 and is made within the USA solely serves as an added bonus.

I like to recommend the Sniper Bladeworks MAMU for anybody who spends a variety of time open air and requires a knife they’ll depend on. Maybe somebody mountaineering the Appalachian Path? Even when your recreation sounds extra like floating down a river for a number of days, the MAMU will work.

Whether or not you’re a Doomsday prepper or simply on the lookout for a great, all-around knife, the MAMU will serve you effectively.