LB-125 Ranger Series 5" Lockback Knife

This is a nice everyday carry! I bought a leather case for it also from amazon and they make a perfect pair!

I ordered this knife and immediately discovered it had a loose blade. It was a noticeable rattle when I grasped the open tip and shook it laterally. I returned it and despite a very quick replacement, guess what?, another loose blade though actually much better than the first. It is barely noticeable so I will keep it, but it makes you wonder about quality control with this company. I've ordered about 50 knives lately and only encountered 2 other loose blades. It does have a very smooth opening and closing action and I bought this knife as a black brother to my Schrade LB7wb which is white bone colored. The ironic thing is the Schrade is very tight compared to the Colonial LB-125 and my wife can't close it easily. Other than that, visually they are identical except for color. Wish the Schrade had the smooth, easy action of the Colonial; wish the Colonial had a tighter blade like the Schrade.

this is not the Colonial LB-125 from the 1980's- no way-I've owned several LB-125 lockbacks manufactured by Colonial and this one is a BIG improvment-lets start with the blade-the ones i've owned, purchased between 1980 and 2001 had the standard straight grind and that takes more time to re-sharpen than the currently manufactured Colonial LB-125 which now has a hollow grind and takes a new edge fast and easy and that is important when field dressing whitetail deer or other game-the blade steel on the current American made LB-125 is a high carbon specialty stainless steel, a much needed improvement over the 440 stainless the company used back in the 80's.the blade has a nice walk and talk- this knife is well built, I also noticed that the company replaced the plastic scales (handle) with ebony scales (handles) again, another upgrade in quality-The LB-125 that I've owned use to come with a leather sheath-my new LB-125 came with a ballistic nylon case-at first I didn't care for the ballistic nylon but over time I saw the advantage nylon had over leather- over time leather would crack and fall apart-this hasn't happened to my nlyon sheath-plus when needed I just wash the nlyon sheath and lay it in the sun to dry-looks like new, can't do that too many times with leather-I'm fan of American made plus the LB-125 is the deer hunters knife of choice-at least for this deer hunter.

Unfortunately, an otherwise good knife is marred by side to side blade slop when locked. Whoever assembled the knife had no idea of what they were doing, the same can be said for the QC inspector. The blade pivot pin was essentially "peened" between the bolster and the blade itself, leaving a noticeable gap (the side of the blade should touch the inside of the bolster - no gap whatsoever). The knife was a gift, so I 'll use it as is, probably not worth the hassle of a return.