Field Testing New Products L.P. Brezny
product into my hands and applying it to actual fi eld condi- tions when testing and reviewing that product. I don’t care if that product is a camoufl age vest or a .50 BMG running almost $6,000.00, if it is not “hands on” tested I’m not the guy to write about it. With the vast amount of stuff coming at outdoor writ-
I
ers these days, it would be easy to just sit back and do some computer generated review from a desk. While that may oc- cur with some publications, I can assure you that The Varmint Hunter Magazine® is not one of them. So get your reading glasses adjusted because we are about to go hunting with some new tools of the trade. BLADES
Kimber’s Montana bolt action in .204 Ruger. This rifl e is topped with a new series scope from Nikon.
Some time ago I was hunting with a cowboy from Mon-
tana who had gone into the fi eld with a small, dull, non-lock blade knife. Wouldn’t you know it, late in the day he found himself in a deep draw with a very dead big mule deer that now required fi eld dressing. With a blade that was far less than adequate, he ended up becoming so frustrated that he left the steel sticking in the gut pile after completing the task. I know because I found the knife a day later when crossing that area during my own hunt. If there is an area of possible confusion when it comes
to outdoor gear, it is in the selection of knives for the fi eld. We have about a million of them out there today in different designs, and the question arises: What is the best way to go in this area of fi eld readiness? First, in most cases except for possibly elk, moose, or a big game hunt in Africa, the use of a large knife is not required to get the job done. At the SHOT Show in 2010 I was searching for some
Silver Stag, a well-made skinning knife that provides good service life in the fi eld.
knives that I thought were good examples of working tools when I came to a knife display and picked up a stag horn four- inch blade that just fi t my hand. It had a cold rolled medium carbon blade, indicating that it was a “working tool.” When the man who was running the booth spotted me handling that small but impressive blade, he said, “So you’re a guy who knows something about knives.” “Why did you say that?” I asked. He replied, “Because you picked up one of the small
knives we make while many customers go right for the big, heavy blades that look great and for the most part do very little in the working knife department.” I hadn’t really thought much about the subject with the
The author is here behind the massive Noreen .50 BMG. This super fi eld gun is topped with the new Konus scope.
Page 102 July — September 2011
exception of the fact that I had always selected rather small blades, and for the most part these smaller tools had always seemed to get the job done. After selecting the Silver Stag, which was a 3.5" blade named “Elk Skinner,” I realized that this blade and I were about to join forces, and for the rest of the year it would be constantly at my side in its well-made and secure sheath. Using 1084 high carbon steel, this knife is not designed as a hard blade tool, but rather should have its softer steel
n the area of fi eld testing there is one thing I have always insisted on and that is getting the specifi c
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