Knife Review: Bear OPS Bear Swipe IV Rescue Spring Assist

The Bear OPS Bear Swipe IV Rescue Spring Assist

Bear OPS Knives is a new subsidiary of Bear & Son Cutlery, which is a family owned company that was started in 1991. Their mission was to design and manufacture the “best knives made in the USA”. They proudly introduced Bear Ops because they take their obligation of duty to our country very seriously. Their goal with this subsidiary is to manufacture the best tactical knives that are available for those who serve. Bear OPS are made with the OPS (Operation Precision for Superior Tactical Knives) that can be relied on for any situation.

With a Bear OPS knife, you are going to find only USA manufactured parts, material, and a dedicated workforce. They make sure to only use supreme materials so that these knives can stand up to anything. Some of these premium materials that they choose to use are 154CM and CPM S30v steel for their blades, with their own heat treatment, waterjet, and CNC grinders to finish the blades.

Bear OPS knives are designed and engineered by the experts in their R&D and their in-house tool maker. With every Bear OPS knives, you will find a Lifetime Limited Warranty. While Bear & Son is continuing to manufacture the “best knives that are made in the USA,” you can find the “best tactical and military knives made in the USA” at Bear OPS. Because of the dedication, premium materials, and extreme detail that go into all of Bear OPS knives, you will always be proud to carry their knives.

Bear OPS products are definitely not your every-day knives. They are tough, well-made, and able to tear through just about anything that is unfortunate to be in your path. You can remain confident with these knives, because they are not going to let you down when you need them most.

Today we will be discussing the Bear Swipe IV and how it makes a fantastic tactical knife.

The Blade:

The blade on this knife is made out of Sandvik 14C28N stainless steel. This steel allows the blade to get incredibly hard without beginning to chip or roll. This steel is normally only used in very high-end knives, such as this Bear OPS one. Some of the benefits of this steel include that it can be re-sharpened time and time again without the edge breaking down. It can also be hardened to a 55-62 HRCC, which is perfect for a pocket knife. This high hardness means that the edge is going to stay sharp for long periods of time as well. The steel also has a high corrosion resistance that is especially useful if you know that you are going to be in a humid environment. This is a very wear resistant steel and it should be able to deal with extreme environments. This steel is the perfect option for a tactical knife such as this one, because you will know that you will be able to rely on it, in nearly any situation. You won’t have to doubt if the blade is going to be tough enough, strong enough, or sharp enough—it just will.

The blade has been coated black, which is an ideal option for a tactical blade. This is because it increases the corrosion and wear resistance of the blade immensely. This is because it forms a barrier in between the steel and the environment. So, an already corrosion resistant steel, becomes even more corrosion resistant and requires less maintenance.

The next reason that the black coating is a great option for a tactical knife is because it will cut down on glares and reflections. It is a matte black coating, so no reflections are going to give away your position when you are using this knife in the field.

The biggest drawback to a coated blade is that the coating can and will scratch off after time and heavy use. Coatings do not stay on forever and this is something that you are going to have to deal with eventually. Once the coating does come off, you are going to lose out on all of the good qualities that the coating once provided.

The blade has been carved into a tanto blade shape. The thing about a tanto blade shape is that it is not designed to do everything at all. In fact, it is actually designed to do one thing and to do that one thing incredibly well. The tanto has been designed to excel at piercing into hard objects.

The history of the tanto blade is fairly unique. The shape of the blade stems from the ancient Japanese and Chinese long and short swords that were designed for piercing through armor. Cold Steel actually modernized the design and popularized it in the modern knife era.

The modified version of the blade is just as great for piercing things through hard targets. The shape is made up of a spine that extends almost straight out of the handle. On the Bear Swipe, though, it does angle down a little bit near the tip. The belly is not a belly at all, instead, it is also a straight line that extends out of the handle until about three quarters of the way up. At this point, it angles upward to meet the tip.

There is no belly, which does sacrifice some of the utility aspect of the tanto, but in return, you get a lot more strength out of it. Also, the tip is not lowered, so you aren’t going to have quite as much control over it. But, again, you get a lot of strength from this.

The Handle:

The handle on this is made out of G-10, which is known for being one of the best un-natural handle materials that you are going to find. For starters, it is tough, strong, and lightweight. This is going to keep the weight of this tactical tool down, which allows you to have it with you more often. The G-10 is going to provide plenty of texture, which is going to come in handy when you are dealing with wetter, or more slippery environments. This is going to secure your grip on the handle, which is incredibly useful on a tactical blade.

Unfortunately, though, G-10 is slightly brittle. This is because all of the fibers are woven in one direction. That means that in that single direction, the handle is going to be tough and strong and not brittle. However, when stressed in other directions or subjected to hard or sharp impacts, it may begin to break down, chip, or crack. The G-10 on this handle is black, which creates an all-black handle except for the hardware.

The handle is pretty simple. The spine extends from the blade to the butt with a slight curve. The butt is mostly squared off, although a seat belt cutter with a glass breaker base extends out of the butt. The belly has a slight, but shallow finger groove. There is a bulge in the middle, and then it curves in again to the butt. This creates a comfortable and familiar grip. There is not much of a finger guard, but the flipper does work as a solid finger guard for protection when the knife is opened.

The Pocket Clip:

The pocket clip is statically designed for tip up carry only on the traditional side of the handle. This does mean that it is not fully ambidextrous. The clip is not a deep carry clip, however, it is rather large, so you should have no issues when it comes to the Bear Swipe IV staying in your pocket. The clip is kept in place by two black screws, which doe match about half of the hardware on the knife. The other half is a bright, clean silver.

In the middle of the clip, “Bear OPS” is stamped in silver, along with their logo. The clip is the largest in the middle, with a slight dip after it tapers again. This dip will allow it to stay on your pocket a little bit better.

The Mechanism:

This is a spring assisted opening knife. This does mean that it does not fall under the same laws that an automatic knife will. However, it is not also quite as legal as a manual folding knife would be. It falls right in the middle of the spectrum. And, as always, it is your responsibility to know your local knife laws.

While a spring assisted knife is not an automatic, it does make it feel almost as smooth as an automatic knife. There will be very little fumbling when you are trying to open the knife. It works when you pull back on the flipper and engage the opening mechanism. This means that one it has been partially opened, it will swing into “automatic” mode and open on its own the rest of the way, where it will lock into place.

The Bear Swipe IV has also been equipped with a flipper mechanism. This is a small triangularly shaped protrusion that extends off of the blade and out of the handle when the blade is closed. You can pull back on this protrusion, which will swing the knife open and lock it into place. There are a couple of things that make this a safe and preferred mechanism for opening the knife.

For starters, it does not put your fingers in the path of the blade when you are swinging the blade open. This does mean that it is safer to use than a knife with a thumb stud. Another aspect of safety is that once the knife is opened, the flipper acts as a finger guard. Another thing that people love about the flipper is that it does not get in the way when the knife is opened. Some people feel as if the thumb stud gets in the way when they are trying to use the knife, because it extends off the front of the blade. While the flipper is a little bit harder to get the hang of, it is a great option for your opening mechanism.

The Specs:

The blade on this Bear Ops measures in at 3.25 inches long with a handle that measures in at 4.5 inches long. This creates an overall knife length of 7.75 inches long when the blade is opened. This knife does weigh in at 4.1 ounces, which is a perfect weight for a knife that you want to have with you at all times. The perfect range of weight for a knife that you are going to be carrying with you is between 3 and 5 ounces. Three ounces gives you the heft that is required to feel confident when your knife is defending you, while five is not going to weight you down too much. As you can see, the Bear Swipe IV sits right in the sweet spot. This knife was made in the United States of America. This means that you can be proud to own, carry, and use this knife, because you know that it helped a fellow American have a job, as well being able to trust the quality that this knife has.

Conclusion:

Bear OPS is a tactically-inspired division of the Bear & Son Cutlery brand with a sole mission of providing top-end products for those who serve. These products are 100% Berry Compliant--offering USA-only manufactured parts, materials and labor. This year yields another addition to the Bear OPS family--a spring assisted model called the Bear Swipe IV that sports a manual seat belt cutter and glass breaker base. To witness the quick action of this knife simply give the thumb stud a subtle push with the thumb. This model features black G-10 handle scales, stainless steel liners, a tanto style blade in a black finish and the pocket clip is statically designed for tip up carry only on the traditional side of the handle.

You can purchase your Bear Swipe IV Rescue knife right now, or shop all Bear OPS brand knives here.