BUDK M9 Fixed Blade Knife

This knife looks good and will work well with medium work loads. Is it just as good as a $200 real M9, heck no, but it's a nice, inexpensive substitute. It's a great truck knife, which is where I'll keep mine.

For the price I was very surprised with the felt but not tested quality of the knife and sheath :) got this just to slap on my 590a1 but it wouldn't fit out of the box, took the file to it but still wouldn't fit. After taking some measurements you would almost have to file it paper thin to fir the flared tube cap. Fits over A2 flash hider with the first filing though :) extender otw

The item I received was as advertised. Thank you. There was one glitch, it didn't fit over the flash suppressor to be attachable as a bayonet attachment.

Reproduction, yes, made in china yes, but overall quality was there and considering it is 1/5th price of the real thing it is a great buy and value. I disassembled one and the inside quality is there. Not sure the Rockwell but has acceptable quality. Lightning fast shipping also. For light to moderate use the fit and finish is there.

This bayonet is so bad, I’ve taken the trouble to photograph it so I can illustrate its failures. Of the five rifles I have with a bayonet lug, only one has a flash hider that can actually fit through the barrel aperture. Unfortunately, even then the bayonet fails because the blade design prohibit the muzzle from sitting over the blade, and the lug cannot lock into the bayonet. Even if the flash hider aperture was the right size and even if the blade height wasn’t improperly sized, I’m very doubtful the base of the bayonet handle would reach the lug without the flash hider aperture sliding entirely off the flash hider and onto the skinnier barrel where it would wobble. I would rate this -1 star if I could. It is obvious the manufacturer did not use an actual AR style FSP equipped rifle to test this out. Even on 14.5” M4 clones this bayonet will not work. Avoid this product immediately.

About what I expected from a cheap "knock-off" bayonet. The "real" M9 bayonet is designed to lock into the front sight lug base on a M16 or civilian AR15 and the lug on the M1A1 12ga interchangeably. This BUD-K "knock-off" is not able to do that. The bayonet hilt is shorter and thinner, with the hole for the rifle bird cage .020 too small to fit mil spec barrels without grinding the inner diameter. That cures the rifle fit, but not the shotgun. The location of the hole in the bayonet hilt, is located too close to the handle, not allowing the bayonet to slide on the 12ga magazine cap and lock up. In short, the knock-off has serious dimensional problems in its design. It looks the look but can't walk the walk. For a cheap version M9 it is FUBAR.

I got this for my son in laws Colt AR. Clicks on just like the Army bayonet I used to use.

The main reason I chose this particular maker was the fact that the mill work most closely resembles the US made and issued M9 bayonet. (meaning it does not have to over aggressive, wide toothed and useless saw back) like found on other clone M9’s. This blade design mostly resembles the Phrobis made M9’s, due the hump to the rear of the saw teeth. That was removed in by later makers. The only other maker I found that was similar to this bayonet is Rothco. Rothco seems to have the same problems as this maker with fit and finish, so I chose this maker due the price difference. To me a Chinese made knife is a Chinese made Knife, they are probably made in the same forge. This was also to be a knife project for me, by converting it to a M11 EOD knife. I did not buy it to use it as a bayonet. First off out of the box the handle was a little loose, as in it was not tightened very well at the factory. I can confirm, like other buyers that the ringed cross guard DOES NOT Fit over and A2 flash hider found on AR rifles. The Pommel clip did fit on my bayonet lug, but it had to be removed from the knife to test it. Like I mentioned before, all that all did not matter to me because I was converting it over to an M11 EOD knife. The blade is stout and on par with a US made M9. The blade was sharp out of the box! The black coating is NOT paint. The black is chemically applied to the stainless steel . The way the tang rod screws onto the blade is similar to a US made M9. The area around the threaded extension is rounded instead of squared off. After installing my M11 cross guard I used some JB weld to lock the tang rod in place. I also gave it a good snugging turn with a pipe wrench to tighten things in place. Very solid. The handle is solid and is made from a sturdy OD green plastic . The tang rod seems acceptable and does seem to be made from stainless steel. Though both are somewhat different from what is found on a US made M9 they do seem stout. The handle length is maybe about a 1/8” shorter that what is found on an issue M9. While installing the M11 Pommel, I reused the factory bolt, since it was metric and it matched what was tapped into the tang rod. I did add a metal spacer, since there was no metal to metal contact between the tang rod end and the bottom of the pommel (like what is found in a US made M9) The M11 cross guard and pommel I used are stainless steel and were purchased from MoCityMan online. Both were leftovers from another knife project I had worked on in the past. I did remove most of the black from the blade, but that was because on my pommel and cross guard the black had worn off those as well and I wanted things to match. I had to chemically remove and finish off with very fine sandpaper. As far as edge retention. I have not judged it yet, but my bet it will be about the same as a US made M9. Stainless blades to me just do not have good edge retention no matter who made them. Upon completion of my knife I mated the knife with an old Phrobis M9 scabbard I had on hand. The hole in the knife blade for the wire cutter fit perfectly over the original Phrobis cutter plate. The scabbard that came with this knife is made pretty well from plastic, but the webbing is cheap polyester webbing and the stitching is very weak. The pouch is made from that same cheap stitching and a mix of poly web and loose weave canvas. The snaps are cheap tin. The cutter plate is made well from thick steel, but the “T” lug is pressed in, not milled in. So basically the “T” post might become weak with use. The blade hole did fit over the “T” post with no issues. Overall I was very happy with this purchase, but that was because it fit for my purpose to turn it into a M11 EOD knife. Would I have been happier with a US made M9? Yes! But, with Ontario Knife Company Shuttering it’s doors and the recent ridiculous price increases on a M9, this was the way to go. Besides the knife will become a garage and yard beater anyway. Others might not be happy due the fit and finish, scabbard webbing and the fact that is does not fit on a real AR type rifle properly out of the box. But it is a good base for a M11 conversion. I just hope I gave some use full information to others to help in their purchase decision.