Back in January, Benchmade unveiled a whopping 40 new knives comprised of updated favorites and completely novel designs that would be released over the course of 2023. Among the all-new designs for 2023, is the 290 Immunity Series — a highly-compact yet still thoroughly utilitarian AXIS-locking folder.
The Full Immunity knives consist of a short yet ergonomic 3.46” textured 6061-T6 aluminum handle with grooves for three of its carrier’s fingers and a small flat surface at the bottom of the handle that allows the user’s pinky to secure the knife for a solid four-finger grip — in a seriously compact package. Equipped with an AXIS locking mechanism and a reversible deep-carry pocket clip, the handle is offered in one of three anodized color options (Crater Blue, Woodland Green, Flat Dark Earth) that come complemented via a color-matched dual thumb-stud set on the blade and a color-matched lanyard bead.
Mated to the handle is a 2.49” Wharncliffe blade composed of CPM M4 steel that’s been fortified via a hardwearing Cobalt Black Cerakote finish. Made in America by Crucible Industries, the Immunity lineup’s blade steel clocks in at between 62 and 64 HRC for hardness on the Rockwell scale. Alongside the manual, thumb-stud-deployed Immunity lineup, Benchmade is also producing automatic versions of the knives that jettison the thumb-stud deployment for an Auto AXIS mechanism that’s secured via a push-to-slide lock on the back of the knife between the scales. Both the manual and auto variants of the Immunity knives span 5.94” in total. What’s more, Benchmade is also making a shorter “Partial Auto Immunity” automatic knife with a California-legal 1.95” blade (versus the Full Immunity knives’ 2.49” item).
Priced starting at $300, the Benchmade 290 Immunity Series Knives go on sale tomorrow.
