Thread: Good Progress With My Subsonic Mission

and a great wee knife I see too. you CAN cut up an entire deer with one without resharpening...but Ive done it much easier LOL.
that scope looks low enough that rifle should come up great. good to hear things working out for you. 2" at 60 yards is a very dead bush stalked deer anyday.

if you cut an old seatbelt out of car...put slit about 2" from end going lengthways....thread through sling swivel then through itself....do same at other end by removing sling swivel from stock....bit easier on shoulder than rope....

Yeah those Svord Peasants are great little knives. I find it easier to get one of those in and out of my pocket compared to safely reinserting a sheath knife just using one hand ... especially when I've got a lot of clothing on or when I'm carrying something. I often wear a pair of trousers that has a long narrow pocket on the right leg... like the 'ruler' compartment on a set of overalls.... ideal for the Peasant. I've got a bit of webbing hanging in the garage, but I haven't gotten around to making a strap yet.

The next suppressed rifle will probably have an over-barrel suppressor, and it will probably be a .357 also. I've come to appreciate the wee cartridge and what it can do. It would make sense to dedicate the next one to heavy bullets, then I can use the current one for the 125 and 158 grain bullets which I have the moulds for... and which have a different point of impact compared to the 200 grain. It is totally unnecessary to get another rifle, but I really enjoy playing with them.

yip begiggered if I know why so many folk bag SVORD knives....the few Ive used are great....Ive got the bigger version too which believe it or not I saw in mud of gateway on deer farm and thought to self "hunk of plastic" saw it again a month later and picked it up....buggermesideways its a pink phesant knife...took a bit to clean up but it lives in my bumbag now and has dressed out a few animals now.

I have the fixed blade Svord Trapper with the bright orange handle. The sheath it came with seemed a bit crappy, so I made one out of a bit of alkathene pipe which I heated in the oven. It is a good knife and much better for sticking pigs compared to the folder. I've got more than one of the Peasant folders and I have modified the blades... grinding down the point a bit so that it is a bit more 'stabby' and I can more easily use it to make opening cuts when skinning. The sheath knife I have used the most lately is a short Giesser boning knife. I also find I use it for a lot of the final cutting up on the bench as I'm packing into freezer bags. This has an alkathene (polypipe) sheath too... very safe and easy to keep clean.

I don't have a pink Peasant knife yet, but I kinda fancy one.

a short length of nylon string tied through the handle hole doesnt go amiss either...makes them much easier to find if you drop in grass too,you can wrap around handle if worried it might shut...but Icant see that happening in a hurry anyway.

A bit of string tied to the hole is a good idea, especially if the knife isn't one of the bright-coloured ones. At one stage I had a small key ring in the holes of a couple of mine. I felt they gave me a bit more of a grip to ensure that the blade wouldn't close.

Here's a photo showing a blue Svord Peasant with a ring added for extra grip. The sheath knife with the orange handle is a Svord Trapper. This is much better for dealing with pigs compared to the folder. At the top is my Giesser boning knife and this is the knife I seem to take out hunting the most nowadays (although I would seldom be without a pocketknife as well). On the right is the small sharpening stone I carry in my pack inside a cut-off toothpaste tube .

The black sheaths are made out of agricultural Alkathene (low density polypipe). I heat it to about 115 degrees C in the oven, then squash /mould it to fit the knives. The 'belts' on these sheaths are just rope. One end has a big, bulbous knot (in this case a Celtic Button Knot).... and the other end has a Prusik Loop. The loop passes over the button knot and can slide along the rope to adjust the fit of the belt.

The big knife at the bottom is a Tramontina machete with a ten inch blade. I have sometimes used this to split a carcass down the backbone. I don't chop with it... I drive it down the carcass using a suitable bit of wood as a hammer. I find it much more accurate than chopping with a cleaver or an axe, and it seems to create less bone chips.

you are a man after my own heart...my leather sheaths have a plastic insert........got a lovely wee scar across shin from knife that got out through leather years ago so if no insert I wont use it........thanks for tip on alkathene...must try that one out soon,hard conduit pipe works but being round isnt ideal.

Prior to heating the polypipe I make a dummy handle from a bit of scrap wood, and I get a couple of short planks and some G clamps ready. I also have a pair of leather gloves handy, and I put a towel on the floor in front of the oven. I heat the pipe in the oven which is set to around 110 or 115 degrees C. I check it regularly and get it out of the oven before it sags through the wires in the oven rack. It is possible for the pipe to be too soft... and it can also be too hard to work with even when it is reasonably hot. Experimentation and experience will soon reveal what's best. I have all my materials ready on the towel on the floor in front of the oven. The work has to be done quickly before the pipe cools and becomes too inflexible.

When it reaches optimum temperature I grab it while wearing thin leather gloves. I force the dummy handle (slightly bigger than the actual handle) into one end of the tube to just the right depth. If it goes in too far, it doesnt matter provided that the pipe was a bit longer than required. The excess can be cut off later. I then sandwich the lower part of the sheath between the planks and put the G clamps over the boards (ensuring that the slit created is in the correct plane in relation to the handle). I take care not to squash the pipe too flat... the blade needs to slide in easily, and it is nice to have a wide enough slit to force a small bottlebrush in for cleaning.

The pipe can be left to cool between the boards, but once it has sat there for a while it can be quickly removed and run under a cold tap. If you aren't quick enough, the tube may try to revert to its original round shape.