Case XX Bowie V44 Survival Knife what would you call it?

[Newt68]

I picked this up today and trying to do a little research. A lot of people seem to call it a WW2 V44, while others say that is not accurate. Hoping to get a little help dating and ID-ing this knife.

Thanks in advance

[zzyzzogeton]

These are authorized copies of the Collins #18 Pequeno Machete that was including in the Army Air Corps bailout bags prior to and into early WW2.

Collins was unable to make enough of these while still filling contracts for machetes, etc after WW2 started.

Case, Western and Kinfolks were authorized by Collins via the War Materials Act (or whatever it was called) to make the copies.

Case/Kinfolks had no official designation for theirs, while Western designated theirs as the Bx-54 Bushman. The Bushman was the predecessor to Western's Bowie/W49.

The prewar versions had green horn handles. During the war, all 4 companies used black bakelite as handle materials for their versions. They were made in 1942/1943. Western and Kinfolks versions are the rarest in terms of appearance for sale.

Case made the only V44 - a blunt nosed short machete.


When Cole published his books, he labeled the incorrectly as V44s. Unfortunately the designation is damn near impossible to eliminate. In a recent book put out by a well known knife book author acknowledge the incorrect nomenclature but state he used it anyway.

[Newt68]

Great Information!

Thanks!

[treefarmer]

Newt68,
Here is a page from the web showing the Case knife you have: https://caseknives.com/products/bowie-b ... her-sheath
Treefarmer

[1967redrider]

Did Case call this the Marine Raider?

[cody6268]

Did Case call this the Marine Raider?

And so does Ontario with their modern take, called officially by them "Raider Bowie"


https://ontarioknife.com/collections/sp ... ider-bowie




I have a PDF somewhere of an old Abercrombie Fitch catalog that has the original Collins in it, and they refer to it as a machete and knife, not a Bowie.

[zzyzzogeton]

The Collins #18 Pequeno Machete was in use for many years in the AAC bailout bags as a survival machete/knife before WW2 began.

Where the "Marine Raider Bowie" name comes from is that when the 1st Marine Raider Battalion was stood up in 1942 one of the items of equipment was approximately 750 #18 Pequeno Machetes. The 1st MRB fought at the Battle of Tulagi raid. Later, the 1st went to Guadalcanal.

By the time the 1st Marine Raiders left Guadalcanal most of the #18s were either lost in the jungle when equipment was stripped from wounded or dead Marines for evacuation/burial, or been broken (handles lost). More of them were lost when turned in down the road when 1219C2s became available.

Relatively few of the real 750 #18s carried at Tulagi and Guadalcanal ever made it home.