Montana Knife Company is quickly becoming one of the premier knife companies in the United States. They make top-quality knives and are led by one of the youngest master bladesmiths in the world. They’ve designed knives and hatchets designed for tackling the great outdoors. MKC designs knives for outdoorsmen, hunters, and the like. This year, they’ve decided to get into the tactical world, and the first knife in their tactical lineup is the WarGoat.
The WarGoat is an expansion of the Goat series of knives. The Goat series seems to be MKC’s flagship lineup. They are fixed-blade, moderately sized blades made for general outdoor use. The blade design would be at home skinning game, cleaning fish, or constructing a shelter. It’s a versatile blade design.
The WarGoat variant is a little less versatile and has a very clear intent with its design.
It’s made to stab people.
The WarGoat Features and Specifications
The Wargoat is seven ⅞ inches long with a 3.5-inch blade and weighs a mere 2.23 ounces. The blade is made from Magncut stainless steel, and the finish is cerakote. As you’d expect, it’s a full-tang knife with G-10 grip scales added. The scales are rough-textured for a sure and easy grip.
The blade uses a drop point design that offers a distinctive tip and a nice long belly for deep slashes and cuts. The Goat had to go on a diet to form the WarGoat. It’s handle is quite thin and small. It’s designed to be an inline dagger design that’s lightweight and easy to carry on tactical gear. The normal Goat has a handle designed for working purposes. The WarGoat’s handle is scrawny comparatively.
A fairly large ring, designed for your index finger, sits at the end of the handle. It allows for a very steady reverse-hand grip for a quick and easy draw in a dynamic situation. The ring adds a different retention level to the knife and helps guide the hand to a perfect grip for defensive use.
If you flip the grip and use a more traditional grip, the knife has a choil that gives great edge control. It’s designed for self-defense, but it can do standard knife things in a pinch. Your MRE will be shaking in fear as the WarGoat dissects it to access those sweet Skittles.
Magnacut and Cerakote
Magnacut is a premium knife steel designed to be a knife steel. It’s one of the rare options that wasn’t adapted from something else. It was designed by knife nerd and metallurgist Larrin Thomas. He designed a bit of a do it all knife steel. It’s not only tough as hell, and features excellent edge retention, but it’s also corrosion-resistant and not that hard to sharpen.
The steel has gained lots of steam recently, and it seems like a great way to break into the tactical knife world for MKC. The WarGoat also features a cerakote finish. According to MKC cerakote was used to protect the blade, reduce reflections, and because it’s tough enough.
The combination of cerakote and Magnacut delivers an awesome combination to a premium-grade knife.
The WarGoat In the Hand
The WarGoat’s grip is thin and comfortable in either a forward or reverse grip. It’s clearly made for a reverse grip. I imagine the thin handle would wear on you if you tried to do more traditional knife things with the WarGoat. The WarGoat’s blade comes ultra sharp and so satisfying to cut with.
You can chew through Amazon boxes at the M240’s cyclic rate. The WarGoat’s Magnacut steel delivers a very nice blade. The handle’s shape is surprisingly comfortable for how thin it is. The grip panels are a nice touch that allows for a nice firm grip even when you aren’t using the ring.
Fighting Knife
The WarGoat falls into that same realm of knife as the Benchmade SOCP. It’s a fixed-blade minimalist knife that seems to be realistically designed for the modern ‘knife’ fight. It’s not a great big blade that Rambo would carry. The Wargoat is small, lightweight, and easily attaches to a belt, pack, or plate carrier.
It’s a last-ditch tool to defend oneself against a physical attack. For a cop or soldier, it mounts to your gear and gives a literal edge when things get hands-on and your gun is inaccessible. Let’s say some dude at a checkpoint rushes you, and you’re fighting to retain your gun. You pull the WarGoat out and start stabbing at any fleshy part you can reach.
The WarGoat allows you to create distance and change minds, which allows you to get to your gun and use it as necessary. In practice, the thin nature of the WarGoat’s handle means you don’t have to sheath it to grab your gun. Sure, it’s not the best grip, but it’s still small enough to allow you to use your gun with the knife still in a reverse grip.
If the fight stays physical, the ring will lock the knife into your hand. It’s a realistic fighting knife that delivers a method of creating distance and changing someone’s mind when they climb on top of you.
Stubborn as A Goat
The WarGoat delivers a compact, lightweight, and very well made fighting knife. The WarGoat is a simple tool that’s perfect for a gear belt or plate carrier. It carries on the well proven Goat lineup, just in a new and fairly exciting format for a company known for knives for hunting, fishing, and field work.
For more information, please visit MontanaKnifeCompany.com.
