Disappointed in new Buck 303 :(

chevyrulez1

chevyrulez1

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
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I have a older Buck 303 I bought 2nd hand, but thought I would get me a new one. After getting burned with a counterfeit Kershaw at a knife show recently, I thought I would be sure to go through a reputable dealer. I decided to show a little love to Buck and **Edited Dealer name out**, and went to order it off their site. The site said they were out of stock but they typically would ship in 7-10 days, which was cool because I wasn't in a hurry. Kudos to the dealer in that it shipped sooner than I thought it would, but when I opened the package I was disappointed.
The first thing I noticed is the sheep foot and spey blade were hard to open, and were dragging and hanging on each other. When looking at it, it appeared that the metal "frame" was bent inward in the middle squeezing the three blades together (tried to get a picture but it is hard to capture on the camera). Then when I held it up to the light, there are big gaps in the back springs towards the ends of the knife, and it looks like a bunch of crud trapped in there. My first instinct was to start tweaking on it, but then I though, "I just spent $75 on this, I am not going to accept this the way it is!"
So I am wondering if I should reach out to the dealer and return it, or if I should reach out to Buck and see if they will make it right? Thoughts?

I have never had any issues with any of my other Buck knives, but I am kind of bummed about this 😕
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I love my knives, new and old, a little daylight coming through a gap doesn't bother me- people have their own opinions on expectations for their money- so I am not going to branch out on that, so lets talk about your knife.

1, The gaps don't worry me- if I spent $75 dollars on a knife - its ok.

2, From what I can see in your top Photo, The Liner seems to come in at the middle and touch the Blade- That's not ok, especially if it causing drag when opening the Blades out.

3, I wouldn't think anything bad about the supplier, I haven't dealt with them, but heard nothing but good, so it's a shame that their name has to come into this discussion before they even have the chance to respond to your concerns, which I have full faith they will be extremely diligent and look after you, I would have left their name out - unless they came back and were disgusting with their service.
The only reason why I say this because some people will relate to a name and a faulty Knife.

4, I would ask my dealer to check the Knife if they could before sending.

5, So, the Gaps- on your Knife they are nearly border line on one end, I am sure that people will have strong opinions - but for me, for that money on a nice user where the gaps that aren't horrendous - don't effect performance, the only times I would worry about gaps is when I am paying a lot of money for a Knife, or a Custom that again was a substantial price.

Good luck my friend, with that I would contact them first and explain what you have found with the bent Liner being the deal breaker, I am sure they would understand.
 
Campbellclanman said:
I love my knives, new and old, a little daylight coming through a gap doesn't bother me- people have their own opinions on expectations for their money- so I am not going to branch out on that, so lets talk about your knife.

1, The gaps don't worry me- if I spent $75 dollars on a knife - its ok.

2, From what I can see in your top Photo, The Liner seems to come in at the middle and touch the Blade- That's not ok, especially if it causing drag when opening the Blades out.

3, I wouldn't think anything bad about the supplier, I haven't dealt with them, but heard nothing but good, so it's a shame that their name has to come into this discussion before they even have the chance to respond to your concerns, which I have full faith they will be extremely diligent and look after you, I would have left their name out - unless they came back and were disgusting with their service.
The only reason why I say this because some people will relate to a name and a faulty Knife.

4, I would ask my dealer to check the Knife if they could before sending.

5, So, the Gaps- on your Knife they are nearly border line on one end, I am sure that people will have strong opinions - but for me, for that money on a nice user where the gaps that aren't horrendous - don't effect performance, the only times I would worry about gaps is when I am paying a lot of money for a Knife, or a Custom that again was a substantial price.

Good luck my friend, with that I would contact them first and explain what you have found with the bent Liner being the deal breaker, I am sure they would understand.
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I agree, I will take the dealer name out of my original post to make sure they do not suffer any negative repercussions. The knife was just made a couple of weeks ago, so for the dealer it was pretty much in and out and I do not have any hard feelings towards them. I really do not have any hard feelings towards Buck either, as I really like their knives. I have a couple of their US made slip joints, a 301 and as I stated in my previous post a used 303, and several Chinese made ones also. None of the other ones I own have the same gapping and poor action issue that this one does.
While the knife is functional, and I first thought I would try to pry in the center of the opening to free up the blades but the more I thought about it I just decided to return it because the fit and finish is sub par on my opinion.
I generally don't worry about gaps as long as they don't affect function, but it looks like something went wrong with this one.
I guess everyone can put out a stinker now and then :confused:
 
The liners are bent, and that could account for all the trouble you describe*. Contact the dealer you bought it from and ask his advice.

*The 'crud' is probably polishing compound. It's not a defect, but it might be bad quality control. It's hardly worth worrying about.
 
I hate to hear you got a dud. I would return it where you bought it from & ask for another if that's possible. If not Buck stands behind their products & have a great customer service & warranty. There's a Buck specific area here & a Buck representative is active there. They respond to these issues pretty quick from what I've seen.
Good luck & I hope it doesn't put you off of the brand. They're great knives with a great warranty 👍
 
I would send it in to Buck under warranty.
For that much money (sorry, to me $75 is a LOT of money to spend on a knife. I know for others, that amount - even with a "1" or "2" in front of the "7" - is "peanuts".)

With bent liners it should never have made it past QC and out the doors.
At least that is my worthless irrelevant opinion.

I'm sure Buck will make it right.
 
afishhunter said:
I would send it in to Buck under warranty.
For that much money (sorry, to me $75 is a LOT of money to spend on a knife. I know for others, that amount - even with a "1" or "2" in front of the "7" - is "peanuts".)

With bent liners it should never have made it past QC and out the doors.
At least that is my worthless irrelevant opinion.

I'm sure Buck will make it right.
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Totally agree. It shouldn't have made it past QC to begin with, but Buck will make it right regardless from what I've seen. Your opinion is not worthless or irrelevant btw, you hit the nail on the head.
 
ZHoovie said:
I hate to hear you got a dud. I would return it where you bought it from & ask for another if that's possible. If not Buck stands behind their products & have a great customer service & warranty. There's a Buck specific area here & a Buck representative is active there. They respond to these issues pretty quick from what I've seen.
Good luck & I hope it doesn't put you off of the brand. They're great knives with a great warranty 👍
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It won't put me off the brand, I love my Buck knives as they are some of my favorites. I'm sure between the retailer and Buck they will make it right.
As a personal takeaway, my first instinct was to start tinkering with it trying to make it better, and I probably could have. But then I had to tell myself it wasn't too smart on my behalf to start trying to work on a new knife and void any warranty it would have had. That is where I made my decision to put it back in the box and give them a chance to make it right, but I wasn't sure if going back to the retailer or the manufacturer was the right way to approach it.
I have reached out to the retailer about a return for now, but if they advise me to reach out to Buck I will give them a shout instead.
I work in manufacturing and I know how out of the 10,000 things that go right, there is always the chance that one will be less than ideal.
 
chevyrulez1 said:
It won't put me off the brand, I love my Buck knives as they are some of my favorites. I'm sure between the retailer and Buck they will make it right.
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chevyrulez1 said:
I work in manufacturing and I know how out of the 10,000 things that go right, there is always the chance that one will be less than ideal.
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I work in in manufacturing too as an industrial mechanic. No matter how hard we try to make things perfect, there is so much going on something may slip past inspection during a production run. But the important thing is to admit an error & stand behind the product & make it right, which I'm sure Buck will 👍

Edit to add: I don't have any affiliation with Buck btw, other than just owning & carrying them.
 
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As others have suggested, I'd return it to the mothership in Idaho. Wouldn't hesitate.
Been a few years but I've had nothing but satisfaction dealing with Buck customer service.
And you DO need to contact them before returning the 303.

If I remember correctly in my 70yr old brain ... via email, they send authorization paperwork to pack with the knife and a label to print out for addresses with postage paid on their nickel.
Expect something like 6-8wks for turn around.

Now if the dealer will exchange it ... that might be a much quicker option but usually the customer has to work the warranty themselves. Good Luck !!!
 
I'll be one of those irritating posters who don't read all of all of the previous posts and may be repeating or contradicting without knowing it.

I'd tell the dealer about it so he knows there's an issue, and ask him if I should return it to him or Buck.
 
I used to carry a Buck Stockman ( in the old flat grind days) and thought they were great knives. Now I just can't get past that awful grind they use, It may work well but they just leave me cold.
 
I bought a used Buck 110, and the lock was a bit sketchy. Not only did Buck repair the lock, they replaced the blade, too. Buck’s customer service is top notch. I’d send it back to them.
 
sceva said:
I used to carry a Buck Stockman ( in the old flat grind days) and thought they were great knives. Now I just can't get past that awful grind they use, It may work well but they just leave me cold.
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I am the opposite. I love a hollow grind which was why I was excited about getting the new one.
 
I’ve had great luck with Buck warranty work on fixing an slipjoint with similar problems. Its a shame that they send out a defective product to began with, but they will take care of you. In the past It was stated that slipjoints are a small fraction of their sales, the equipment is old, and there is no plan/interest to upgrade it. That’s unfortunate as I’m a fan of the 301 and 303.
 
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