Zero Tolerance makes some of the best everyday carry knives on the market. The 0308 takes the high-quality design Zero Tolerance is known for and gives you a big beefy folding blade. Packing a folding knife on and off duty is a must. I can’t think of a better tool to carry day in and day out than a good pocket knife. The Zero Tolerance 0308 addresses not just the needs of off-duty use, but packs enough knife to be a darn good choice for duty use by military members, police officers, and first responders.
Specs and Breakdown
I described it as beefy, but numbers tell a story better than my preferred type of burrito. We get a 3.75-inch blade that .16 inches thick and 1.375 inches wide—the 0308 packs a 5.25-inch handle length. Overall the knife is 8.875 inches long.
At 7 ounces, it’s almost a half-pound of awesome. The 0308 blade uses a drop point tip with a flat blade grind. It’s exceptionally well crafted and put together well. Users deploy the blade via rear flipper, and the knife uses a liner lock to keep the blade deployed.
The 0308 Blade
The chunky blade gives users a heavy blade capable of doing some light chopping. You won’t split wood, but a couple of good hits would break the bones of small game for easier cleaning. The width of the blade allows for it to slice nice and deep and a swedge at the top of the blade prevents it from getting stuck as you cut through thick materials.
A good blade belly gives the 0308 an efficient design. The blade is 3.75 inches long but packs 4 inches of cutting surface due to this deep belly. It makes slicing and cutting easy and efficient. Feeling the blade glide through chicken meat, thick rope, paracord, and canvas material with ease will always give me some tactile satisfaction.
Something about a well-made blade slicing through material delivers an excellent degree of satisfaction. If you’ve never experienced it, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. It feels so dang good.
Zero Tolerance used CPM 20CV steel in the construction of the 0308. As expected, this is premium-grade steel. It’s extremely strong and very corrosion resistant. On my second pump, I spent almost a year at sea, and everything seems to rust, so when something resists rust well, it’s worth noting.
This steel also gets scary sharp and does so rather quickly. It doesn’t take much effort to spin the 0308 from dull to scalpel-like. It holds an edge okay, better than cheap steels, but not as good as S30V. Ultimately, it’s a knife that’s big and bad enough to toss a beating and to take a beating.
The ZT 0308 Grip and Ergos
One side of the knife’s grip is metal, and the second side is G10. Both sides are textured accordingly and provides you a very good grip. It doesn’t slip or slide in your hand, and the grip itself is long and fills the hand. It’s the perfect size for wielding the big blade.
The 0308 grip curves slightly inward and allows for a very comfortable hammer-type grip. A built-in finger guard prevents your hand from slipping upwards and finding itself on the wrong side of the blade. The rear of the blade has jimping for your thumb to rest on when doing precision cuts.
It provides a great grip and allows you to work at both big tasks that require strength and small tasks that require precision.
The flipper located at the rear of the great shoots the big blade into action with very little effort. The blade glides open swiftly, and the knife can be opened with a single hand. The liner lock is easy to defeat and offers you a healthy area to push and release it. It can also be folded with a single hand.
Hardcore Performance
The Zero Tolerance 0308 isn’t quite a fixed blade in terms of durability, but it’s almost there. Almost like a compromise between a fixed blade and a folding knife. The titanium liner lock ensures the blade stays locked when it’s supposed to and doesn’t let up. It can be used to baton wood if needed and break and cut through whatever is thrown at it.
That’s a big reason why I think this is an awesome choice for field and duty use. It’s compact and fits in your pocket with ease but still packs a beefy blade and handle for serious use. It doesn’t slow down and delivers a sharp and tough blade that’s capable of achieving most tasks.
It doesn’t matter if you have to open an MRE or clean a moose. The Zero Tolerance 0308 will be there for you.
