DALTON OF THE WEEK - MILITIA

The Militia is our eighth featured Dalton of the Week at Rick's request. The Militia was first released in December 1999. Besides the third and fourth release Cupids and the Militia Cupid, these are the only Daltons with a safety. The safety buttons seem to be the same type used on the third release Cupids. At 10" OAL, the Militia is one of the largest Dalton side openers, exceeded only by the large AFO, and equaled by the large Guardian Angel. Here's a picture of a plain Militia with the PROTO marking:



The dimensions are:

Overall length: 10"
Handle Length: 5 - 7/16"
Blade Length: about 4 - 9/16"
Handle Thickness: 0.490" (excluding safety and pocket clip)
Blade Thickness: 0.125"

As far as I know, all of these were marked "PROPERTY OF U.S. MILITIA". It appears that serial numbers may have started at 20000. My PROTO is 20070 and my serrated model (no - PROTO) is 20242. If any of you have a Militia with a number substantially larger than 20242, let us know and maybe we can estimate how many were made. Here's a picture of a serrated version:



All of these had pocket clips. As far as I know the only available handle colors were black and gray. Both of mine have beadblast blades. I have never seen any with other than beadblast blades, but it would be out of character for Mr. Dalton to have not made at least a few with 2-tone or full satin blades. All of them appear to have the drop point bayonet blade with the long unsharpened false edge as shown above. If any of you out there have one with other than a beadblast blade or any other unusual variations, please post a picture of it. The only variations that I've seen are the PROTO/non-PROTO and plain/serrated blades. One thing a little unusual on the two that I have is that the pivot screw is black, rather than the normal bare stainless pivot screw. The other two screws that hold the handle halves together are also black on mine.

This is a really great knife for someone who wants a large side opener. Its very thin for such a large knife and rides very deep in the pocket due to the placement of the pocket clip. Although this model has been discontinued for a while, I do see them occasionally at the gun and knife shows.