Picked up a Benchmade 176 SOCP and a trainer. I wanted a simple option for my support hand side that would be easy to draw/use and the Benchmade seems to be perfect. The knife fits nicely in my hand and the point is very sharp. Only about 1/3 of the knife is sharpened behind the tip and isn’t what I’d call razor sharp. This is fine because it isn’t designed for utility use or even slashing and feels like it will excel in its intended use (poke poke poke). The finger hole is large enough to easily be used with Mechanic gloves on and probably the only fault the knife has is the edges on the hole would be more comfortable bare handed if there was a slight bevel (I may mod it). The sheath has really good retention and I really like how it fits into Molle webbing making it easy to carry on a plate carrier, belt etc... I took a chance ordering the knife and the trainer separate because I wanted 2 sheaths. The trainer on Amazon has it pictured with a sheath but I found conflicting info stating it didn’t come with one. I was very happy when it arrived and it had one so now I can leave one permanently mounted on my belt. Overall I’m very happy with this knife and at this time have no problem recommending it for its intended use. In the near future (next time I feel like making pulled pork) I’ll probably do some stab tests and I’ll post the results.
