Benchmade doesn’t make a lot of assisted folders and they’re generally not my cup of tea. Opening a knife with a flick of a flipper or thumb stud is plenty fast enough for me. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have their attraction for a lot of people and spending some time with the Benchmade Mini Barrage could make you a convert.

The 585-03 2.91-inch swedged drop-point blade is the Goldilocks size. Small enough to carry comfortably and be compliant pretty much everywhere and big enough to do basically any job you’d want an everyday carry knife to do.

Benchmade makes a couple of versions of the Osborne design Model 585 Mini Barrage that gives you choices as to materials and colors. While both are assisted openers, the standard 585 model’s blade is 154CM and the scales are Valox a polymer that’s more heat resistant than the thermoplastics usually used in pistol grips.

The model I have, though is the 585-03 which uses higher-end materials. The blade is S30V and the scales are Richlite.

Richlite is kinda sorta similar to my favorite scale material Micarta, which is basically layers of linen embedded and compressed in resin. Richlite is similar, but instead of linen, it uses layers of paper or cellulose. It’s rigid, easily machined and feels great in the hand.

As you can see above, Benchmade’s machined a couple of textures into the Mini Barrage’s scales that give you a good, firm grip on the knife even when it’s wet.

The fit and finish on the 585-03 Mini Barrage is absolutely first-rate.

If you look closely you can see the texture of the Richlite. This is the first knife I’ve had that uses it and it’s really impressive.

Take a look at the build quality on the Mini Barrage. It’s excellent, from the liner/scales fitment to the out-of-the-box razor-sharp grind on the S30V blade.

In addition to the black Richlite scales, Benchmade has added some FDE accents to give the Mini Barrage some pop. It has FDE thumbstuds and a textured spacer.

Just forward of that spacer is a sprung slide safety.

I’ve never been a fan of safeties on knives, whether they’re assisted openers or OTF designs. They’re usually badly placed and deploy when you don’t intend them to. That tends to make them more of a problem than a benefit.

Benchmade, however has designed a safety that eliminates those drawbacks completely. Located in the spine, the textured slide switch stays out of the way in regular use. Even better, you really have to want to engage it. You press down on the slide switch to move it, forward or rearward, turning the safety “on” or “off.”

I’ve left mine disengaged for months of carry and use and have forgotten it’s there. The 585-03 has never deployed when I didn’t want it to and I’ve never accidentally moved the safety switch. But if you feel better having a safety on an assisted folder, this is about as good a design as it gets.

As you can tell from the video, the Mini Barrage deploys pretty aggressively. That’s a good thing. On the other side of the coin it doesn’t deploy until you want it to. I’ve carried it for months now and it’s never opened unless I wanted it to.

The build quality if excellent. This is a substantial knife that carries well and feels very good in the hand. You can see above that the liner has been drilled to reduce the Mini Barrage’s weight for comfortable carry.

If you’re an assisted opener person, the Mini-Barrage is damn-near ideal. The higher-end 585-03 version of the Mini Barrage is a great combination excellent materials and great design in a package that’s ideal for comfortable everyday carry.

Specifications:

Open Length: 6.91”
Blade Length: 2.91”
Blade Thickness: 0.1”
Closed Length: 4”
Handle Thickness: 0.56”
Weight: 3.76 oz.
Deployment: AXIS Assist with integrated safety
Blade Style: Drop-Point
Handle Material: Richlite
Pocket Clip: Split Arrow
Blade Finish: Satin
MSRP: $300 (about $270 retail)

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26 COMMENTS

  1. Nice looking knife. I’m wary of a safety on a knife. But this one I haven’t seen before.

    I really want to like an OTF knife but all the ones I’ve seen feel kind of flimsy.

    • “I really want to like an OTF knife…”

      Are they even legal in Cali? I thought switchblades out there were ‘verboten’.

      (‘Bruen’ should eventually cure that, eventually… 🙁 )

      • They are legal but the blade is restricted to sub 2 inches. Whenever I want to check out or purchase anything that is verboten in CA I visit family out of state. Utah. Montana. Georgia. WV.

        That’s why I buy Toyota. Trouble free road trips.

  3. I’ve carried the older 154CM version for many years. The safely has Never engaged, nor has it ever opened without Deliberate action on my part. The assisted opening is quick and reliable, much more so than any flipper for me, YMMV. The blade holds edge well, is no more difficult to sharpen than any of the designer steels, and is a useful size and shape for most things.

    Knives are very personal choices, and this is the best I’ve found for Me.

  4. Who on the planet does this do for $270 a $60 doesn’t or won’t do? Are prices like these on knives just because someone out there will pay it?

    • Higher grade materials. Build quality. Made in America by Americans. There are people who would never pay that much for an EDC knife and there are people who are happy to. You do you.

      • I don’t doubt the quality, but I have a very bad habit of losing nice knifes when carrying them clipped in a pocket…

        • I lost a 300$ microtech years ago. That was a really nice knife.

          In another instance a couple of cops “lost” one of my nice (legal) switchblades during a traffic stop a few yrs ago. In all the commotion i didn’t realize it until the next day…my former LEO uncle told me to fight to get it back, as this may have been an MO for one of the particular cops involved. I figured it wasnt worth the hassle. They let me go on a warning so I guess that was my fine

  5. I’ve only had one Benchmade knife. Still have it. It is an Emerson CQC, or something like that. Carried almost daily from the mid-90s to 2014 and used hard. Looks it, too. Still as serviceable as the day it was new. Don’t know if the new Benchmades are that good, it’s just my experience.

  6. Benchmade knives are not unreliable. 5 top models from my collection had their omega spring breaks. My barrage had its coil spring broken as well.

    • 007, the answer to that is no springs in a knife. It has always been a mystery to me why one would would add an easy to break part to the most basic tool that I carry every day.

  9. $270.00 is a bit much for this knife. Yes, (supposedly) “American made by Americans” (said Dan further up in the comments) and quality and reliability and reputation is there, and that safety location is a nice idea. But still $270.00 (retail price in the article) is a bit much and its because of the ‘reputation’ factor (name hype) as its always been for Benchmade.

    I’d place its overall non-markup-due-to-name-hype (yes, some of what you are paying for with Benchmade is the name, like for Apple phones part of their cost is the name ‘Apple’) monetary value at about $160.00 – $190.00 range but probably closer to around the middle of that range maybe closer to $170.00. Because of the price, and some of that price is based on hype about the brand name, I’d tend to look at other companies knives first for a knife (e.g. Kershaw, CRKT, Spyderco).

  10. No dice here. I don’t forget how Benchmade helped with destroying guns that were confiscated by the police (think red flags). F Benchmade!

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