Scout Knife - the perfect balance of beauty, power and useful features

Thanks to the Finnish war, the Soviet command gained experience, from which it was possible to draw a conclusion about the nature of the main tactical components of the impending military conflicts. The high role of reconnaissance and sabotage activities became apparent. And this, in turn, put on the agenda the question of the efficient outfitting of intelligence units. A standard army knife could not be used by such detachments because of its narrow specialization; more universal weapons were required. The beginning of the series was laid by the so-called "black knives" - HP-40 and HP-43. In fact, it was a copy of a Finnish knife with ebonite scabbard. This weapon did not have particularly outstanding characteristics, so let's get right into the sixties.

It was then that the scout’s shooting knife was developed — a weapon that, in essence, combined both edged and firearms. The camouflage qualities in this product were perfectly observed - the anti-reflective coating of the blade, the masking color of the scabbard and handles did not give out its carrier. Returning to the topic of the wide specialization of such weapons, it should be noted that the scout’s knife cannot be just a knife. This should be a universal tool with which you can make a lot of useful and necessary manipulations. With the help of such a knife, you can equip a position, cut wood / metal, create such necessary devices as stretchers or snowshoes. In addition, it must be suitable for throwing. And in the LDC-2, this toolkit is implemented at a high level. His scabbard has the following tools: a flat screwdriver, a sling cutter, a tool for crimping detonator caps and even insulated wire cutters that allow you to bite through wires up to 2.5 millimeters thick and under voltage of up to 380 volts. The external parts of the scabbard are made of special plastic, which allows such manipulations to be carried out without fear.

The blade is made in a classic form and has, as already mentioned, anti-reflective coating. There is a hacksaw on the butt, with which you can saw steel bars up to one centimeter thick.
Now let's look at the most interesting part, namely the pistol mechanism. In fact, a single-shot pistol is hidden in the handle of this knife . Its mechanism is designed in such a way that a shot due to the cutoff of the powder gases in the sleeve is almost silent. Yes, to shoot from such a knife is like flicking a pen - you don’t hear anything except a click. A scout knife lives up to its purpose. Of course, we are not talking about any automation, otherwise the hilt would have turned out to be inconceivable. In fact, the sleeve is manually inserted into the barrel, in which there is only that firing pin. It will take a long time to reload the scout’s knife - you need to remove the barrel from the handle, remove the sleeve from it, insert a new one, and then cock the mechanism.

The firing part is also one of the weakest points of this knife. In standard blades, the blade is heated deep in the handle. This makes the knife resistant to lateral loads. And in the handle of the NRS-2 there is a firing mechanism, so the blade is drowned by only 1.5 cm. Therefore, the knife is vulnerable to side forces.

It’s rather difficult to buy a scout’s knife because of its specifics. Most likely, in the market you will find only forefathers of real guns - Finnish. These are the very HP-40s. If you still want to buy a scout knife, we recommend you black knives.