With Friday the 13th in mind, I figured I would do a gear review on the biggest and baddest knife I own, the Busse Combat Nuclear Meltdown Fusion Battle Mistress or NMFBM for short. This is clearly the knife Jason should have been using to terrorize the campers at Camp Crystal Lake!
Busse Nuclear Meltdown Fusion Battle Mistress
The NMFBM is 1/4″ thick, 17 1/2″ long, with nearly an 11 1/2 inches of blade. It really is a beast of a knife. The heft is what you would expect for a blade of this size. What sets this knife apart from a regular Battle Mistress is that all of the edges on the knife have been rounded nicely leaving no potential weak points. The handles have also been hand shaped and smoothed so they seem custom made for my hand.
Pro’s-
This knife is huge and chops with authority. INFI is a premium steel and will stand up to an insane level of abuse. The blade balances nicely for such a big blade and the choil lets you choke up on it and it can do surprisingly delicate work. Busse’s coating is top notch and stands up to work. The knife is a joy to hold.
Con’s-
This knife is huge and heavy. I’ve got a good sheath for it but after a while you know it is on your hip. Even though the choil does help out with more delicate work being such a large knife I find it a bit taxing trying to do any fine work with it.
The Verdict-
The few negatives I mentioned are far outweighed by the sheer performance of this blade. Like I did say it is heavy but it can perform a lot of hatchet functions, so it can fill multiple roles. I like her for work in the yard or if we’re car camping. I’m not sure if I would carry this if I was going to be walking a long distance. The NMFBM is backed by Busse’s unconditional guarantee, not that I could imagine even being able to put a dent in this hunk of steel brutality. Sadly, like most of the cool Busse/Swamp Rat stuff this baby is out of production, but they do pop up occasionally on E-Bay or BladeForums.com for sale.
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As you put this through ‘hatchet’ testing, I assume you really use knives, as such, I would like your opinion, I’m looking for a good all around everyday carry knife that can do EVERYTHING we need a knife to do. For me that’s a wide range of cutting, clearing and batoning tasks as well as a good defensive knife when needed. So far I’m seriously leaning towards the esee line, specifically the esee 6. How would you compare the quality, functionality and warranty of Busse to esee?
Obviously this would be larger than an ‘everyday carry’ option. 🙂 As least for most.
Robert,
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog. I’m a bit of a knife junky so I’ll try to keep my answer on point. Most of my experience is with the Busse family when it comes to fixed blades and I recommend them without hesitation. I’ve never used the ESEE 6 but have read good things about it. I don’t think Randall’s Adventures would put their name on something that wasn’t a quality product. I think a 6″ blade is good for all the tasks you are looking for. As far as self-defense, I’ve never been in a knife fight but a 6″ piece of steel would be pretty intimidating! Just check with your local laws before you strap on a big fixed blade.
Hey, Thank you very much for the review. I just got my first Busse MBC little thing but I appreciate the quality build and looking for my next one (big).
best!
C
Thanks for checking it out. I’ve got a few more reviews of Swamp Rat knives kicking around on the site that you might like.
-Mike
How much does something like that cost? I don’t believe i saw that in the post… maybe i missed it somehow.
Mike,
The NMFBM is pretty rare these days and not offered for sale anymore. You can sometimes find them in the aftermarket but they run upwards of $700 these days. I bought mine new from Busse in base model and it was $400.