Now that auto's are legal in PA ... recommendations ?

[Madmarco]

Thanks for your explanation, John.
I only mentioned it because I had it in head that you're located in England, so I wanted to qualify where exactly you are so my advise would be accurate. If you were located in England I doubt your knives would get past Customs, they're Customs are as stringent or even more so as Canadian Customs, but since you're in the US all should go well for you.
Please be sure to post your knives sometime next month if they've arrived by then! lol! It can be a bit of a wait, but is usually worth it!

[Lansky1]

Sideline question … i recall reading a lot about the Ganzo auto’s that were super popular a few years ago (before auto’s became legal in PA), so I never looked into them. Now doing an internet search, they still make knives, but no more auto’s from what I can tell. Maybe this is old news, but what happened to the Ganzo auto’s ?

[Madmarco]

If you're asking me, John, I can offer this. To the best of my knowledge no American companies are listing them, for what reason I don't know, although, they did change their name to "Firebird" should that have anything to do with it. I know the Bestech site use to list them, but I don't think they do anymore, you'd need to go to Wish, or Dhgate, or Aliexpress, the Chinese sites, as I believe those sites still sell them. I'm unsure if Bestech is a Chinese site, too.

Now that you mention them, I'm surprised no one including myself, suggested a Ganzo auto for you. They're great little knives that are tough as the day is long, and should you break the spring a new one could be fabricated, or the cost is so low simply buy another one. They have/had some great styles, too.
I think if you go back to where you bought the knives that are on their way to you, you can find them there. You'll likely want to buy more than one!

Hope that helps, buddy!

[Madmarco]

I just browsed AliExpress, John, and they don't have any autos for sale any longer. I then browsed www.Dhgate.com , and they still sell all sorts of autos. Once on the homepage enter "spring knives" in the search box and many options come up, from the least expensive Italian stiletto to higher priced OTF's, so you have a good choice to select from. I've always had good results when dealing with DHGate. I didn't try Wish cuz I didn't have good results from them, only in that the 2 orders I placed were both seized by Customs. If you search "knife ganzo ganzo/Firebird", exactly as I typed it, cuz I saw those and one of them would be ideal for your needs. Many times the seller won't show the button or otherwise release mechanism in their pictures, but that's just to get away with selling autos, and to trick any unsuspecting foreigner that the knife is a manual, so you need to know a bit about autos and what they should look like. Lots of others publicly show the buttons, so for those there's no doubt about what kind of knife it is.
Good luck, man!

[ToyLvr]

Side-Open are even available on Amazon! They don’t call it “switchblade” of course, but if you look carefully and also read the reviews that include owner videos, they are indeed switchblades. Available for less than $50 bucks….

“WISH” has side-open clone of Buck which they call a “Classic”, and it looks dead on like a standard Buck 110 Auto with brass bolsters. Once again, less than $50.

The reviews are generally positive, except for long wait for delivery.

[Lansky1]

Thanks Marco and Toylvr - I tried wish.com... I'll let everyone know how the transaction turns out in a few weeks. Thx for the search tips - I'll have to nose around and see what I can find - this whole thing is kind of fun

[Madmarco]

Yep, that's the whole point, John, to have fun!

[1967redrider]

Check out this USA made Studies and Observation Group knife (S.O.G.).

[Lansky1]

Check out this USA made Studies and Observation Group knife (S.O.G.).

wow - really nice one there ... thx !

[jw517]

Your Wish knives must be getting close.

[Madmarco]

Are you kidding, Smitty, the boat is probably still in the harbour!

[jw517]

Three weeks usually.

[Lansky1]

Your Wish knives must be getting close.

Got the ProTech knock off auto ... it's really amazingly well made. Definitely surpassed expectations. Time will tell if the steel is any good, but definitely satisfied & it's fun to play around with.

I also ordered a Benchmade auto and they sent me a 535 Bugout - but thats ok . Again, quality of the blade grinds and mechanism is top notch. Not really into supporting Chinese fakery, but for users, these knives have definitely exceeded my expectations !

[jw517]

Yup. They can’t seem to get it right over there all the time. I was satisfied to get what they sent also.

[Lansky1]

Yep - already put in an order for a couple more ... price point is crazy low for how good these are.

[Madmarco]

Nice catch, John, except for the counterfeit logo, of course. I don't know why they don't just leave the logo out and sell their knife as they're brand, it makes no sense to me. I realize some will argue that they do so to fool the customer into believing their knife is genuine, but any knifer worth their salt knows they're clones simply by the low prices.
I'm glad you are now a member of the automatic knife clan, and enjoy your new toy!

[Lansky1]

[Mario]

If it’s in the $50 range you’re looking for, as someone mentioned earlier, you can’t go wrong with the Boker Kalashnikov.

[Mario]

Anybody ever check out CobraTech Knives?
https://cobratecknives.com/
Made in Texas.

CobraTec’s aren’t actually made in Texas. The parts are made overseas (I believe China) and they’re assembled in Texas.

[INlesK]

That's kinda what I thought.

[Savage170]

The Kershaw launch series is a nice reasonable priced usa made knife I have gotten a few for just over a 100.00 on sale. It was a Boker Kalashnikov that got me started on this madness

[Monzi]

It was probably about 5 years ago, if my memory serves me correctly that i got caught up in a Gonzo auto craze after purchasing a firebird auto with orange g-10 scales. I'm pretty sure it was under $30 and boy i was pleasantly surprised with it's quality. I proceeded to go Gonzo auto crazy at that point, ordering many colors and styles, and was never disappointed. My favorite looked like the Buck 110, except it had glossy black scales and nickel bolsters. The actuator button and safety were both set in the bolster and I just loved that knife . I think I dealt with dhgate at the time. I also acquired a Benchmade Infidel OTF knock off from them and was quite surprised by the quality. Even a couple buddies of mine actually thought I laid down the $400+ for the real Infidel when they saw it, it was that good Its always fun to talk knives, good, bad, or ugly. Thanks for the posts and photos fellas

[Madmarco]

It was probably about 5 years ago, if my memory serves me correctly that i got caught up in a Gonzo auto craze after purchasing a firebird auto with orange g-10 scales. I'm pretty sure it was under $30 and boy i was pleasantly surprised with it's quality. I proceeded to go Gonzo auto crazy at that point, ordering many colors and styles, and was never disappointed. My favorite looked like the Buck 110, except it had glossy black scales and nickel bolsters. The actuator button and safety were both set in the bolster and I just loved that knife . I think I dealt with dhgate at the time. I also acquired a Benchmade Infidel OTF knock off from them and was quite surprised by the quality. Even a couple buddies of mine actually thought I laid down the $400+ for the real Infidel when they saw it, it was that good Its always fun to talk knives, good, bad, or ugly. Thanks for the posts and photos fellas

I also like Ganzo/Firebird autos, Monzi, in fact, I have their 707, F12, F11 models all from dhgate, and one other I can't recall, but it's buried at the bottom of the pile so I can't search for it right now. My favorite is the 707 due to it's "stiletto" profile, but all are cool knives. Your "Buck" lookalike is probably their F11 or F12 since one has glossy covers and one has dull wood covers.
They're great knives for what you pay, I don't know how they do it, although I'm not seeing any of their autos listed anywhere, manuals yes, but no autos. Perhaps they're in the planning stages of new and exciting autos, now wouldn't that be a hoot!
Your post sounds like your leaving, and we'd hate to see that so to AAPK!

[Monzi]

I'm glad that you appreciated the Gonzo autos. But like you said, where are they? They were everywhere a few years back, now.....
Crickets .......if that's the correct analogy for this particular post.
Well, I'm not going anywhere, I'll be right here enjoying the things I like best, looking at knives and talking about knives, and all other things knives. Be well my friends

[wiseguy]

My EDC… i like it alot, light weight, firm clip, fast open, solid lock and has held its edge well for a user. A tad pricey but……