CHAPTER 21: A HELPING HAND FROM RAMBO
BUCKS SPIRIT of expansionism in the early '80s soon led them to a search for new markets. Among those it found most intriguing was the military market. President Reagan had renewed America's commitment to military preparedness. In Washington, talk centered around "Star Wars," but in El Cajon there were people with other ideas.
Modern soldiers still used knives. They still carried weapons with bayonets. So, in 1984, with an eye on both the Army and Navy (with its crack "Seal Team" units), Buck tooled up to manufacture an impressive new survival knife called "BuckMaster."The Model 184 BuckMaster had hollow-handle storage and a rugged 7-1/2-inch blade.
Buck firmly believed the knife had good potential. It did, too, but not because of the Army or the Navy.
In 1985, a movie called "Rambo" took the country by storm, and thousands of Rambo impersonators began buying the needed equipment — and in most cases that included a BuckMaster!
In 1985, the company sold 57,000 Buck-Master knives, worth some $5 million in gross revenue. The beyond-expectations success of the new survival knife enabled Buck Knives to finish the year with sales greater than that record '81 year, before the recession of 82. Buck had fought its way back!
Interestingly, three years later, a similar knife story unfolded as Buck became subcontractor on a major U.S. Army order for 315,600 newly-designed bayonets.Radically changed from the old Army bayonet, the new M9 faced the rigorous test demands of government specs - demands that Buck's manufacturing techniques were able to meet.Called a "multi-purpose bayonet system," the new M9 featured a rugged, 7-1/8" forged-steel blade with both a keen cutting edge and a sawtoothed back edge that cut wood, metal, rope or ice.
When coupled with a pivot-peg on the sheath, it converted easily into a highly efficient wirecutter. The sheath also included a built-in emergency honing stone.
Because it was a lot more than a bayonet, the M9 became a popular heavy-duty field knife for outdoorsmen. It's still in the Buck catalog.And in 1991, Buck negotiated contracts to manufacture these same modern bayonets for the U.S. Marine Corps and the Australian army.
