Boker Kalashnikov Thoughts

I love my Kershaw Launch 4 so much that I wanted to try some more push button autos. That's where the Boker Kalashnikov comes in. This was one of my most disappointing purchases so far this year. When compared to the Launch 4, it's a piece of junk. If you're looking for an auto for your collection, avoid the Kalashnikov and check out the Launch series instead. You'll save yourself some disappointment. The action on this knife is nowhere near as good as the Launch 4. I don't recommend this knife at all. This is going to be a more negative review, so be forewarned. I know lots of people seem to love this knife, but I'm not one of them.

Design wise, I like this knife more in pictures than I do in person. The whole reason I wanted to pick it up in the first place was all the cool color options it's offered in. I will say the green is very vibrant and awesome looking. The coating does tend to chip, and I've already gotten a few chips in mine with minimal use. Who knows how it'd hold up over time. The color combo is about as much as I actually like with this knife. It's an ugly knife closed in my opinion. I don't like the Dagger blade shape as much as I thought I would either. Quality is fine so far, so I guess that's good. I've had quality issues with Bokers in the past, so again, who knows how it'd hold up over time. There is some blade play, which I'm sure will get worse over time too.

The handle fits my whole hand comfortably. I normally don't like knives with individual finger grooves, but at least it has four instead of just a couple. My fingers fit perfectly in them, but if your fingers are larger, that may not be the case. That's my big issue with finger grooves, since they're not always accommodating to every hand size. The ergos are alright. There's a few hotspots and the clip digs uncomfortably into my hand. The aluminum handles feel cheap, especially with the weird texture to them. I don't like the look of those three bumps. They add no extra grip and just look bad in my opinion. There is some jimping near the spine of the blade and along the end of the knife. The jimping on the end is worthless and was a waste of time to machine. Boker says the handle is "thin, elegant, and comfortable," where I'd disagree on the first two. It's not elegant looking in the slightest. It looks like a cheap gas station knife to me. It shows way better in photos for some reason. This knife is also definitely not on the thinner side. The handles are on the thicker side, but I don't necessarily hate that. As long as they're somewhat comfortable, a thick knife is not the end of the world. This knife weighs 3.65 ounces, but it feels way heavier than that. Not impressed with the handle much at all. The lockup is okay, though I'm not sure how it'll be over time. I know these push button autos tend to deteriorate kind of quickly when it comes to the stop pins and the buttons. 

The blade leaves a lot to be desired. I've had luck with AUS8 from other manufacturers, but I've not been impressed with this knife's sharpness. Out of the box, it did not cut paper cleanly. AUS8 can be a decent steel though, so I'm sure after sharpening it'd be fine. Cold Steel's AUS8 is some of the best steel I've ever tried. As I mentioned earlier, I don't like the Dagger blade shape. If it was just a simple flat ground blade, I'd be much happier. The blade length is a little over 3.3" which is a good mid-sized option. I don't like that its blade-to-handle ratio is so far off either. I wouldn't want this to be my main EDC knife.

The action is terrible. The button is hard to press, and I agree with other reviewers that say it's notchy. Instead of one clean press, it moves down a few levels and then opens. Since this knife is an auto, that's a huge flaw and something I can't overlook. It also doesn't seem to open that quickly. I'm only comparing it to the Launch 4, which is a bit unfair since the Launch 4 has a much smaller blade and is more expensive. Still it seems like it takes forever to open all the way and is clunky when it finally gets there. I don't know the best way to describe it, so stay tuned for my video on it to see how mine opens. It's probably one of the worst opening knives I've ever tried. I hate Kershaw's SpeedSafe, but even that is better than this action.

I hate deep carry clips with a burning passion. That's probably the icing on the cake for how much I hate this knife. It has all these weird ridges instead of being a flat clip. I don't understand why Boker though that was necessary. It looks stupid aesthetically and adds a little more to the already thicker profile. I wish I had gotten a better photo of it. It's one of the worst clips I've ever seen. The clip itself carries okay, but the design of it sucks.

Honestly it's just a hunk of junk all around. I regret picking one up when I already have the awesome, far superior Kershaw Launch 4. For $40, it's the biggest rip-off out there. If you're looking for a mid-sized push button auto, avoid the Boker Kalashnikov like the plague. It really has no redeeming qualities. The action is so terrible that it negates the very few things I liked about the knife. I've had very few successes with Boker, so this will probably be my last one. You can find so many better EDC knives in the $40 range. What a terrible knife. Thanks for looking!