Waaa? No, I said the knives in the photo show distinct top bevel grinds whereas John's does not. I will repeat, blade grinds could be all over the place, all I am saying is there is no way to say that knife is unequivocally a 1939, 1940, 1941, or 1942 knife. Not to me, although I lean towards the later years of the spread. I will look at it again at some point. I think the only thing we know for sure is it wasn't made in 1938 and probably not 1939 since Bo received the stamp in the last quarter of that year. Prior to that any RMK logo was hand etched.

"A" style sheaths were a means of construction, different than the pancake style common for the period from many makers, and no a reasonable conclusion cannot be made that the construction of sheaths changed for some reason yet unknown or upon the offer of a stone pouch option. I think that is what you are saying, that with the offer of the stone pouch option, Moore completely changed his sheath offerings? I have never seen one and don't know anyone that has prior to the Zach fighter.

I believe the sheath construction changed when the fighter came about as shown in the photos of the original Zacharias fighter. The first example of an "A" style sheath I know of. Something a bit more "robust" than the pancake style.

The Zacharias fighter was the FIRST fighter of any type made according to Gaddis. Bo used hunter style blades in late '42 to make a handful of "Commando"models which all but subsided by early 1943. Consider he made 28 knives including the Zacharias knife and one dated 7 January 1943, approximately 6 months.

You can see my photos above of the original Zach and the later '42 early '43 knife that also shows the evolution of the blade grind, hilt shape, and handle. Brian's knife was made during this period. It has a slender blade and therefore stands to reason it would be offered in a pancake style sheath that hunter models came in, because that is what his blade is.

Here is a photo of what I would say is an mid 43 Commando and two more Zach evolution fighters from late '42 to early '43. Again, here they show the evolution of the hilt, blade grind, and handle. Also note that the keeper strap for the bottom knife has been relocated from it's original location or was in fact punched for the rivet by Moore and moved upon final assembly. This shows that the problem with the high keeper may have been addressed fairly early on if not by Moore then by an owner of the knife.