Armory Replicas The Hunted Forest Tracker T-3 Hunting Knife

After biding my time for months, I finally bought the replica version of the Tom Brown Tracker. When it arrived, I was surprised to find a knife with very good workmanship. Not perfect, and certainly not the 275 TBT original, but not bad. It was sharp, had a nice handle, and my only real complaint was the crap sheath, which I immediately slapped some black duct tape on. Problem solved. I like the weight, and the design of the knife. It looked badass in the movie "The Hunted", but is much better in person. This thing is a functional knife, not a movie prop however. It is serious, and I would advise you that if you're considering it, just go ahead and by one.

First, I want to say I don't usually write product reviews but since I do read them before making purchase decisions it seems only fair I start contributing. So, my Tracker replica arrived quickly. Thank you Armory Replicas. Now, I like this knife, in fact, the overall quality is surprisingly good for its price point. The knife came shaving-sharp out the box. The handles seem pretty secure and flush with the tang. The grind on the blade tip was noticeably un-even on one side, but that shouldn't effect cutting. There's a removable "Made In China" sticker, rather than the engraving put on some knives. The saw-tooth notches are square and flat. They MIGHT rub a shallow grove in wood if you rub long and hard enough. The nylon sheath that comes with the knife remains one of its weak points, looking amateurishly sewn together with cheap loose thread. Mine was better made than others who've previously written about this. I might take it to a seamster to fix. Also, the sheath is designed to be worn vertically, rather than horizontally in the small of the back. I haven't used my knife yet (it just arrived today), but I'm sure it 'll handle simple tasks well enough. I want to see how it throws. :-)All that said, if I were going into a situation where I felt a knife might make the difference between survival, or not, this isn't the knife I'd bring along. Obviously, any knife is better than nothing, but this is more a weekend warrior, or collector's knife than a practical, reliable survival tool. The knife is a good inexpensive way to see if you want the real Tom Brown, or David Beck Tracker, which I'm seriously considering purchasing.

I just got it and it slices paper on both the curved and straight part of the blade. Feels very solid and handle is comfortable in my grip. The sheath comes with a Velcro fastener to hold the handle and there is a snap down by the blade. I noticed that the knife came out of the sheath very easily even with the snap closed. However, I paid less that $10 + free shipping, and I would far rather the manufacturer cut corners on the sheath than the knife itself; and given the quality of the knife, it is a great value. I can always make another sheath; or if you don't want to do that I'm sure you could just buy one somewhere, it is a popular blade style.

Dont have $190-$310 for a Tom Brown TOPS T-1, T-2, T-3 or T-4 mini? This knife will not fill that need."Stainless" in China is vague, but doesnt mean it's garbage but you can tell this was made cheap and fast. The handle(s) do not align with the full tang blade, and the sheath is utter garbage. I bought this knife just to get the feel for a T-1 by TOPs but it's half the weight and thinner. I read some reviews that said the sheath fell apart the first day. Mine lasted a few but I wasnt USING it. I dont carry it, it's too big. But when I tried to pull it, the sheath fell apart. The knife cut all the thread holding the sheath together. It uses 95 cent thread from Walmart to hold it together! To get a new sheath, Im looking probably $50-$70 because it'll need to be custom made.It came and it wasnt sharp, but it wasnt dull. Image the edge of a generic hatchet at your local hardware store. The saw back is worthless for sawing. It was an AFTERTHOUGHT to put this on the blade BUT if you have an hour or so, you can use a file and put teeth on it. It also is missing the barbed wire tooth/end.Sooooo $15 + $5 S&H ($20), $50-75 for a sheath, 1-3 hours sharpening and honing and then new handles you'd have to make ($20 + an hour probably) makes this a throw away knife. Save up the $190 and get a T-1 off Amazon, the OFFICIAL one.Now.. in terms of a knife, if you have some skills with an awl and leathe, you can make a sheath yourself that's not pretty but functional for ~$20. Sharpen it and use it. It's not a survival knife, skinner, hatchet... it serves no purpose for an outdoors man because an Estwing hatchet ($45) will do what this knife does.This knife HAS convinced me that I want a TOPs T-1. This knife is for a weekend warrior or small boat owner. Get the edge on it and once it goes dull, chuck it or keep it for chopping bait or catfish. It has nice style. If I was being hunted by Sweepers in the Northwest woods of Oregon and I was given the choice between this and a 3.6" Winchester fixed blade, I'd go with this. It's $5 cheaper and will get my chopping small branches done faster/easier, but if someone offered me a $12.99 camping axe from Ace, Id take that over the Winchester or this knock off.

For the money you can't go wrong. If you're just wanting a tracker knife for light camp use this is the way to go. This is the second time I've purchased this knife not because the first one messed up but just so I would have a spare. Will probably buy again as well. My only dislike is the handle but that's more of a personal preference thing not so much something wrong with it. I will say you do need to replace the sheath it's not very sturdy but the knife itself is amazing