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Like the AK-47 in the realm of rifles, the American U.S. Marine Corp Model 1219C2 Knife, Fighting/Utility, first issued in November of

1942, has become the standard against which all other military combat knives are

measured. The U.S. Navy quickly followed the Marine Corps and adopted the knife as the MK-II Utility Knife, distributing it stan-dard issue to underwater demolition teams and Navy SEALs serving in Vietnam and elsewhere. The Marines, of course, have

carried theirs in every war, World War II and after, in which they’ve been involved, from the Pacific Bougainville campaign to Af-ghanistan today. Few combat knives have as legendary a status as this one.

During Vietnam, the knife’s marking were changed from “USMC” and/or “USN MK-II” to a simple “US,” indicating its availability to any military unit requiring it. The Fighting/Util-ity soon became a popular edged weapon with Army Special Forces and Ranger teams. In truth, the knife’s service to American arms makes up just a part of its illustrious history. Mexico created a version of its own, as did several South American military groups. Just about every country in Central America receiving American military aid has troops carrying the Fighting/Utility. The French For-eign Legion has long been fond of the pat-tern and has in the past carried both Ameri-can- and Italian-made versions. Israel also fields numerous American-made Fighting/Utilities, as well as their own English-made interpretation. I know of Thai- and Filipino-made U.S. Marine Corps-style knives, and I wouldn’t be surprised if several other coun-tries in Southeast Asia are issuing it, too. On an individual purchase basis, you will find the knife on the battle rattle of troops in virtually every country around the globe. In short, the Fighting/Utility is about as univer-sal a combat knife as there is today.

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ITALIAN FIGHTER

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Extrema Ratio’s new MK2.1 is intended to be an improved version of the classic U.S. Marine Corps combat knife that has so well served our country from the sands of Iwo Jima to the hills of Afghanistan.

The Fighting/Utility (bottom knife) has a long and illustrious combat record; nevertheless, there are few things that can be improved on. Extrema’s version honors the original knife while still turning it into a 21st-century combat blade.

Both knives have heavy butt caps intended for light hammering, but the Extrema version (right) has added a handy lanyard loop.

As can be seen here, the Extrema spine (right) is much heavier than the Marine Corps issue combat knife.

EXTREMA RATIO MK2.1EXTREMA RATIO MK2.1by Steven Dick

Classic warrior blade gets a 21st-century facelift!

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The originally design of the Fighting/Utility called for a wide “fuller” or “blood grove” on the blade, a feature many of us believe was simply copied off the popular pre-war Marble’s Ideal hunting knife. Other than lightening the knife slightly, this re-ally serves no useful function and actually weakens the knife to a certain extent. Ex-trema has eliminated that feature in favor of a heavy center ridge grind.

It is common to find original Fighting/Utilities with bent or broken handguards, often the result of rear-area knife-throwing contests. The guard on the Extrema version is 0.18-inch thick (the original’s are around 0.06 inches), so breakage should no longer be a problem under reasonable field use. Another complaint about issue Fighting/Utilities was that the round, leather hilt tends to turn in the user’s hand and makes edge orientation difficult in the dark. Extre-ma’s fiberglass-reinforced nylon handle is grooved on all four sides to prevent twist-

Combat PredigreeDespite the Fighting/Utility’s long combat pedigree, some troops have felt there are a few aspects of the knife that could be improved. For starters, the blade thickness is adequate for most cut-ting chores, but is not up to much in the way of prying. Being basic 1095 carbon steel, the knife has very lit-tle corrosion resistance, so it is less than ideal for use around saltwater. The handguard is bit thin, and it of-ten ends up bent under hard use. While leather washer handles were state of the art in 1942, there are many, much more durable materi-als available today. The same goes for the leather sheath, which is tends to soften up under wet condi-tions and isn’t really “jump safe” for airborne operations.

With all of that in mind, Extreme Ratio’s new MK2.1 was of special interest to an old fighting/utility groupie like myself. (A Vietnam-pe-riod Camillus went with me on most of the parachute jumps I made in the 82nd Airborne.) You start with a 0.25-inch-thick 7-inch blade of N690 cobalt stainless steel. Extrema claims they straightened the false-edge area to make the blade easier to sharpen (in the case of the Fighting/Utility, different cutlery companies made different contact runs, and not all of the original knives had a concave grind on their “Bowie” clip-point). I should point out that the sample knife’s spine was not honed to a functional cut-ting edge, but it would take very little effort to bring it to that condition. Sharpen-ing the spine turns the knife

into a double-edge, which can be legally problematic in some areas. Of course, if I were going into military combat, local or-dinances would be the least of my worries.

EXTREMA RATIO

The fuller on the issue knife (top knife) serves no real purpose other than to lighten the blade slightly. Extrema has eliminated that fea-ture in favor of added strength.

The point of the issue knife is normally fully sharpened to a double-edge. Extrema has left theirs unsharpened, but it would take very little effort to correct this.

The four grooves on the handle of the knife both prevent it from twisting in your hand and allow for precise thumb placement when holding the knife in a fencing stance.

The blade stamp on the Extrema leaves little doubt as to what inspired their new design.

The knife is secured in the scabbard by both a handle loop and a spring snap at the mouth of the scabbard liner.

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Fighting WeightThe heavier materials and the more compli-cated scabbard system do come at a price weight wise. A standard Marine Corp Fight-ing/Utility tips the scales at 14 ounces in the sheath, while the Extrema MK2.1 weighs 23 ounces. As a comparison, 30 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition weigh around 14 ounces, depending on the particular load. This one of those trade-offs that all infan-trymen are constantly making: 30 more rounds for your basic weapon, or an all-purpose combat knife? Either can be a lifesaver under certain conditions; you can only guess which.

Cutting wise, I found the MK2.1 roughly equal to the standard-issue weapon. Both are combat knives that sacrifice some per-formance for edge durability under harsh battle conditions. Extrema’s N680 is an Austrian Bohler Uddeholm smelted stain-less steel that has gained, through its use on a number of European military-issue edged weapons, a good reputation for both edge holding and durability. I found it no more difficult to resharpen than the ba-sic 1095 carbon of the Marine Corps blade, nor did I have any problems with edge damage. Given the advantages of stainless alloys under real field conditions, I think this gives the MK2.1 a strong advantage over the classic model.

I’ve humped Fighting/Utilities over a lot of miles both in the military and as a civilian. Like a 1911 .45 ACP, this is a tool that will get the job done when the chips are down. If I were doing it all over again, Extrema’s MK2.1 would probably be on my short list of blades to take into harm’s way.

ing in the user’s hand. These groves also provide for excellent thumb placement when holding the knife in a fencing grip, and, of course, the nylon handle solves the leather-deterioration problem. As on the original knives, the butt cap is a flat steel plate that can also serve for light hammer-ing or as an impact weapon if needed. One change is that a second section has been added for a double-hole lanyard cord.

As with all of their models, Extrema has put as much thought into the sheath as they did the MK2.1 itself. The main body of the sheath is black ballistic nylon with an ambidextrous, hard-plastic liner and leg strap. In addition to a handle loop and a spring snap at the mouth of the scabbard liner, the sheath features an extra remov-able flap that folds down over the handle

and buckles to the body of the sheath. As an old paratrooper, I would have to say this is about as “jump safe” a carry system as I have run across. There is next to no chance the knife will be lost in the parachute’s opening shock, during a hard landing or while the parachutist is being dragged across a drop zone by the wind. The down side is the flap might make it difficult to draw the knife quickly under some condi-tions. This flap is removable, so the indi-vidual will have to make his own decision. I can see myself jumping with it in place and once on the ground removing it at the first chance I get. Many of us learned the hard way that leg carry works great while jump-ing, but is not best system once you are maneuvering on the ground.

EXTREMA RATIO

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KNIVES DIVISION extremaratioknivesdivision.eu.

With the false edge sharpened, this knife is ideal for holding in a horizontal fencing grip.

The original’s relatively lightweight leather scab-bard has always been one its weak points. Extrema has corrected this in a major way.

The new knife is a little heavier than the classic issue Fighting/Utility, so the trooper in the field is going to have to decide if it’s worth sacrificing roughly one more magazine of ammo for. Either can be a live saver.

TK