APOCAtrim Tac Brutus, Black

This is well worth its cost. I'm impressed, its seems challenging to find a basic full tang roman gladius style blade. Happy with my purchase.Pros- Excellent quality- Looks like laser etched "APOC" on the blade - refer to pics.- Meets all description metrics (length, weight etc)- Sheath comes with several mounting holes for a variety of mounting options.- no defects within the sword or sheath.Cons- Sheath is tight fitting to the blade at the handle, but loose at the tip, sounds as if there is a couple MM's of play for the tip of the sword to bounce around in the sheath.- very oily blade (probably just in case it was stored for a long period of time prior to being opened)

It's sturdy and has decent grip if you know how to hold a sword. It feels light on the swing, heavy in the hand for authority. It was not sharp when I got it, the tip was rounded on one side like whomever was on that duty slacked off.I put it on the work sharp and made it more workable.I like it.

Blade is very sharp out of the box. The sword is solid and made of quality Spring steel. Not sure how the edge will hold up in actual use, but for tactical Gladius there is nothing on Amazon for ready for combat. Everything else is a novelty. Quality could be a little better, but still very good.

So far I like the size and shape. It is a little heavy but would be a hefty chopper. Factory grinds are not perfect, and it is butter knife sharp but not a difficult fix. Seems robust, but only harsh testing will prove anything and I have not done that. Probably would rival the Zombie go Boom apocalypse gladius, cold steel swords, and other similarly priced pieces but not near as nice as zombie tools stuff.

For the steel and cut of this neo-gladius it’s very worth the cost. If you have larger hands the handle may feel kind of thin.

-Fast delivery from US to China;-Excellent design, made and functional for cut;-Cool full black color

I have the Gus Trim prototype that became this sword and the tactical Gladius. I don't expect to beat this sword up but it appears to be sturdy enough for real battle. Nice job Apoc.

I am going to make a video of this as I work through it and clean it up, but wanted to share my initial thoughts. The price is right, as this is a large piece of steel and assuming the heat treat and temper is good, it's worth the price for the steel alone. That said, the QC and finish leaves much to be desired.FIRST: The steel around the guard and pommel are at hard 90 degree angles meaning that if you're not wearing gloves when you smash something with this you're likely to lose some skin on your hands. Those areas where the user's hand might contact should really be rounded off or chamfered. I will have to do this myself before any further use.SECOND: the scales on mine are warped on one side, and there is a visible gap between the scale and the tang near the guard. I haven't decided if I am going to just remake a new set scales to fit my hand better or refine the ones that are on the blade to improve the fit-up. But in either case the handle itself is pretty crudely finished and in my case has one with obvious defects.THIRD: the coating on the blade is purely cosmetic and is not suitable to stand up to use. Simply taking the blade in and out of the sheath has caused the finish to wear off. I will likely remove the finish entirely and buff a satin finish onto the blade.FOURTH: This is a heavy blade and is not well balanced. Point of balance is about 3 inches forward of the guard. It was pictured on Amazon with a lanyard hole in the pommel but mine doesn't have a lanyard hole. It really needs one given the straight lines of the tang and scales. Because of the weight, it would be easy to lose your grip on this with a heavy swing, and would benefit from having a lanyard around the user's wrist.FIFTH: the edge itself is very crude and needs to be resharpened. The edge from the factory is inconsistent and only nominally sharp. I will have to spend some time sharpening and cleaning up the edge.The shorter version of this is that what I got was a pointy slab of steel with some questionable handle scales. Assuming the heat treatment is solid, which I hope it is, it is still a good value overall - for the price - for someone that has the time and ability to remedy the issues from manufacturing. Once I get mine cleaned up I will do some testing on the blade to see how it holds up. Again I think for the price this is a reasonable value, but I wish that there had been a bit more time spent refining all the edges and handle issues. Given my intended use, which is primarily to smash some blackberries around our property and generally act like a middle-aged overweight idiot with a sword, I think it will be fine and probably even fun. But if you are looking for something even slightly refined, pass on this.