Dragon KingA.P.O.C. Cutlass SD35500, Black

I am very Autistic and obssess heavily over swords. Ive viewed every sword of quality available on Amazon with a Kydex Sheath, and this Dragon King Cutlass is by far the best bang for your buck in terms of quality in make and materials. You are paying for the cost of the steel, and it is truly durable. You will need to hone the edge for a true cutting edge, but you should know how to do that if this is your survival sword. It will easily chop as a machete, the sheath is superb compared to any other option save for maybe a couple brands, which are significantly more costly for someone on a normal SHTF budget.The handle will need a wrap to be considered comfortable, but it is well made, austere, and practical. You want a blade that can be easily cleaned, with components that you can remove and resecure for maintenance.In terms of combat, you'll rarely ever need a sword in SHTF, unless it is QCB, and in that case, you don't want a longer blade.The Cutlass will easily allow you more reach than even the largest combat blade most would carry, whilst not being so long as to obstruct your strike in a hallway or smaller space.Hands down, the Cutlass is the best option for a blade around $150-$200, apart from a flash sale, and you should question a supplier trying to quickly offload product anyway.I got mine when it was around $140, but I'd pay the $167 it is now to have it again if mine were to be lost or broken.If you desire a cheaper blade with similar design and equivilant durability, size, or materials, you wont find it on Amazon, not with a blade-specific kydex/fiberglass sheath.In SHTF, the sheath, or scabbard (see other comments) is a make it or break it if you can't fabricate your own, like me. Can't run if you'll slice open the sheath, and your leg. Can't clean off or drain leather scabbards like kydex, and those cheap black nylon sheaths, well, my fingers have stories to tell on the dangers of trusting those!Hope this info helps, I know its over the top, but I figure at least one other person is looking for their main SHTF side-blade, and I recommend this one all the way!APOC, if you would make all your blades equal in quality to the Dragon King, I'd buy every, single, one. Til then, I love my Cutlass, and the Katana is awesome too, just alot more steel to manage!

First off I wanna say how nimble yet solid this little sword is. It flows nice and grips nice and comfortably. The edge comes decent however it will soon be very very sharp. I’ve only tested it on the box it arrived in and some lumber I found laying around. The box nearly went in two and large chunks of wood came flying off the lumber. After checking the edge it showed zero signs of chipping or rolling. The finish that comes on the sword is nothing more than a way to hide grind and file marks but undoubtedly provides moisture protection. The scabbard I received does not rattle when lightly shook but I haven’t tried carrying it around and mostly likely never will. The kydex throat on the scabbard retains the blade ok but I will need to try and use a heat gun to correct it or the blade will likely fall out is carried. These all seem to retail at around $120 so at a hundred bucks I believe this to be a real bargain. The steel is good and flexes hard and springs back true every time. If you know what you’re getting and don’t mind putting in some finishing work or possibly making a new scabbard, I doubt you will be disappointed. Great blade, great handle, so so scabbard, but a great value.

As a proud and lucky owner of the original and complete set (katana, wakizashi, and tanto) of hanwei's tactical series, I found it difficult to keep putting them to work. Being that they have been discontinued, I wouldn't want to muck them up. So for the last 2 years, I have been searching for a suitable alternative of comparable durability, pricepoint, and performance. Enter the apoc series of swords! And being under the same brand umbrella made it easier for me to pull the trigger on the cutlass. I specifically chose the cutlass because of its similar dimensions to the tactical wakizashi. Though the tac wak feels much more agile with a two handed grip, the cutlass can easily hold its own with cutting down branches and saplings in my backyard (yes, I use them for yard work as well as play). The cutlass' 9260 steel came straight and true from the factory and has kept itself in line after hacking and chopping various sizes of branches and logs. The apoc cutlass even has a leg up on durability because it is basically one piece, unlike the tactical series having a habaki and tsuba. I'm sure it's durability is more than enough to take apart the reanimated dead. And for those wondering, the cutlass' edge came sharp. Not shaving sharp, but that's not the type of edge you want for this type of tool. Also, be aware of its black coating thinning away, especially near its chopping "sweet spot". Its scabbard is decent as it covers the blade. Retention is there because of the scabbard/ grip detents, but I can't safely say "inverted maneuvers" are possible. I'll see what my heat gun can do about that later. In conclusion, a better piece to 10xx carbon steel as its spring steel can handle more abuse. Cool (tacticool) looks and good edge geometry. No handle hot spots. Durable. $135 at time of review. Friggin sweet. I'm coming back for the Apoc Katana.