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Buck Brings out Pursuit Pro Series with Super Steel Upgrade

August 26, 2020

Buck continues its trend of tweaking, upgrading, and otherwise expanding its existing lineup with the reveal of the Pursuit Pro series. The Pro variations come decked out in a new color scheme and a significantly improved blade steel.

The original Pursuit series debuted in 2019. Buck dropped this clutch of knives all at once, specifically targeting the needs of outdoorspeople. The Pro models change the materials but not the designs, so if you aren’t familiar with the basic specs: there are three fixed blades and three folders; in each group you have one guthook blade, and large and small drop points. The drop points are also heavily swedged and sport a significant recurve. The folders are all lock backs, and the fixed blades are all full tang.

As you’d probably expect, the fixed blades are longer than their folding counterparts: the guthook and large drop points both measure 4.5 inches, while the small drop point measures 3.5; compare that to the folders, where the large drop point and guthook are 3.63 inches long, and the small drop point drops down to 3 inches even.

The blades on the standard Pursuit models are made from 420HC steel. Virtually any Buck knife owner will be familiar with this steel; it appears on many of their most famous knives. And while Buck’s 420HC does benefit from a Paul Bos heat treat which wrings every last ounce of performance from the steel, it is still an entry-level proposition. Thus the Pro models here are made from S35VN, a much newer powder metallurgy stainless. The swap should provide a major boost in edge retention – especially considering that Buck’s S35VN is also being treated with Bos’s method.

Along with the big metallurgical change comes an aesthetic one. The Pro models have a high visibility orange color scheme instead of the green seen on the standard models.

Buck has been maintaining an emphasis on line expansions this year. In fact, that last two times they made the news were for just such projects: the 110 getting an S30V release, and the 112 Range line growing with a drop point option.

Knife in Featured Image: Buck 656 Pursuit Pro Large

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