Rothco Ramster Survival Kit Knife

Outstanding knife, for the price! Realizing this is a "clone' of the original Buck Knife from the 1980s-90s (that now go for $100s), it is an excellent value. I was a fan of the original Bucks when they came out, but they were not legal-length to carry in Texas at the time. Texas recently changed their knife laws, but the originals are no longer made and demand a "premium price" when found used. This is perfect (and now Texas-legal) for an emergency car/truck-knife. It is a Taiwan copy/clone, but it's Stainless Steel and an excellent reproduction, even down to the sharping stone built-into the sheath and Velcro sheath storage pouches! One of those knives I hope to never need, but it's "nice to have" it in the car, just-in-case. The compass and screw-in grapples work fine, though I'll upgrade/customize some of the survival items (finger-saw) stored in the grip. Kudos for the excellent customer service by CSEOFFROAD! My initial knife had the screw-on/off end-cap damaged in shipping. They sent a replacement quickly, even during Hurricane "Harvey" here in Texas! Thanks CSEOFFROAD!

So glad Rothco acquired the license to produce these. I carried the original 184 as my jump knife in the service, and this is as close to the real thing as you can expect. Good heavy blade, nice grip, and comes fairly sharp right out of the box. You have to look at it, but the sheath is also able to mount on a Molle system, something I don't remember the original knife having. The"survival kit" is mostly useless, but most people are going to want to customize it anyways. Guard could be anchored a bit more, but there is no indication it will come loose. Considering you could buy more than 10 of these for the price of a beat up 184 it is an excellent value.

The Rothco Ramster is a clone of the Buckmaster 184 which was sadly discontinued by Buck Knives in 1997. Prices on the original Buckmaster 184 have steadily increased ever since, and currently go for at least 100% more than the cost of this knife, making it an attractive alternative. There are a few other Buckmaster 184 clones out there, but most of the ones that are still in production are extremely cheap, extremely low quality, and borderline useless. So if you want a Buckmaster 184 yet aren't willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a used model, then the Rothco Ramster is the next best thing.Admittedly, the Rothco Ramster does fall quite a bit short of the genuine article, but that's to be expected given the substantially lower price, (the real Buckmaster 184 went for over 2x the price of the Ramster back when it was still in production) and it's a decent knife regardless. The main differences between the Buckmaster 184 and the Rothco Ramster is that the blade is quite a bit thicker on the original, (although the Ramster's blade is still quite thick) which could actually be considered an improvement since it was honestly quite excessively thick and heavy as a result. If Buck were still making the 184 today, then they most likely would have made the blade thinner too. In fact, the M9 Bayonet which was sort of a successor to the Buckmaster 184 has a thinner blade, roughly equal to that the Ramster, so I can't really call that a disadvantage, merely a difference. Furthermore, the Ramster isn't entirely made of Stainless Steel like the Buckmaster 184 was. The Ramster has a Stainless Steel blade, but the handle is just ordinary Steel painted silver, which actually is a downside as it makes it less corrosion resistant overall, and is a rather pointless alteration which only exists to cut costs. Personally, I would be willing to pay a bit more for an all Stainless Steel model, but then again, I would be willing to pay much more for a higher quality reproduction.Regardless, the Rothco Ramster is a good quality knife that comes reasonably sharp out of the box and manages to capture the spirit of the otherwise expensive, long out of production Buckmaster 184 at an affordable price. It's not perfect, and it has its share of shortcomings, but to be fair, the Buckmaster 184 was also a flawed design which was improved upon by the Buckmaster 185, 639 Fieldmate, and the M9 Bayonet, so obviously a reproduction is going to be somewhat held back by being faithful to the original design.Personally, I would like to see Rothco come out with a reproduction of higher quality in a higher price range, with better steel, all stainless construction, and perhaps a one piece design which would be inherently stronger than the Buckmaster 184. Furthermore, I would love to see them make reproductions/derivatives of the Buckmaster 185 and 639 Fieldmate, using the same blade design, but with full tang construction. They made a decent reproduction of the 184, so it would be cool to see them take it a step further by trying to improve upon the design of the knife and its relatives.Overall, the Rothco Ramster is a good quality knife which offers an inexpensive yet effective alternative to an otherwise discontinued knife which costs substantially more on the used market.

great reproduction , almost the same , but inside the handle I found something that looks like rust , not sure though see picture ,wish I knew how it was made ,ie full tang or solid piece of metal ?

Since the 1980’s, I had wanted to get a Buck 184 (Buckmaster) knife.In those days, I couldn’t afford one, then sadly they were taken out of production.These days, the prices of the original knives have gone through the roof.Enter the Rothco Ramster!It’s as close as you can get as an alternative to the original item, and i am thrilled to get it.Though not quite as beefy as the genuine article, it still seems to be a very robust knife and I am happy to have it in my collection.

I had a BuckMaster many years ago and foolishly traded it away. They are very expensive now so I got one of these just to try to satisfy my nostalgia. I don't have a 184 to do a side by side comparison but this seems to be very close in weight and balance. The angle of the anchor spikes is noticeably tighter and the sheath is much flimsier but it is still a great piece for the price.

If you can’t find or afford the original long since discontinued Buck 184 Buckmaster, then this is the replica for you. I was a big fan of the Rambo movies and the monster hollow handled survival knives that were created and used in those movies. Just never bought one. This fulfilled that void.And though not made in America it is made in Taiwan so that worked for me.