A question about the British Survival knife M.O.D.-4

[jimhawkins]

I've one of these knives and I like it a lot. My question in about the Nato code on the blade; this code is:

4240-99-127-814
J. ADAMS 1999 and the arrow point that is the symbol of British Army (I think)

In all the blades of knives like mine that I've seen on the Net there is always typed 1999 refering to the year of issue; but a knife made, for example, in 2004 shouldn't have that year number on the blade (like Victorinox Soldier knives)?
Thank you for your answers

 

[spamel]

Not sure if it is the year of issue, more than likely it is the year of manufacture. There'll be lotsw of them sat oiled in a store somewhere waiting to be issued. If the last four on the NSN is 8214, you seem to have a number missing, then it is marked exactly the same as mine too.

The NSN can stay the same though, even if the blade was manufactured by a completely different company. It is a cataloguing number that identifies one item so even if the item changes, its' designation will stay the same. I've had drill bits coming through for Combat Power Tool sets that were for the new Makita sets when the number I ordered was for the old Kango sets and that had a different fitting to the Makita so didn't work. The length of the drill bit and the diameter was exactly the same though. basically, the number was used again for the same size drill bits, just the equipment they were for had changed so the item itself had also changed!

 

[jimhawkins]

8214, yes

Do you also have one or more mod-4? What do you think about them? I use the mod-4 in the woods near my home (in Italy) for the heavy work (example: for chopping) and a Mora 2000 for the other cutting work, I find this kit useful for my needs

bye

 

[jimhawkins]

Here is the answer from J.Adams ltd:

"The stamp on the knife changes when the M.O.D. issue a new contract.
Until that happens, they continue to be marked the same."

bye