New Year, new knives – and one of the first of what is sure to be many exciting releases is an aluminum-handled Hinderer XM-18 Automatic. A follow-up to 2022’s titanium-handled auto XMs, these aluminum versions are lighter and poised to lower the price point significantly.
After more than 15 years in circulation, Rick Hinderer’s XM-18 remains one of the most recognizable folding knives of the modern era. Alongside the Chris Reeve Knives Sebenza, it really defined the premium production knife concept, not to mention canonized omnipresent knife elements like the flipper tab, titanium frame lock, and hard use/tactical design language, just to name a few.
More accessible now than in those early days, the XM-18 has also enjoyed a healthy number of variants. In 2022, after the automatic knife production laws in Hinderer’s home state of Ohio changed, the company released a titanium-handled XM-18 automatic, which hit the market with a hefty price tag and never stuck around for long – both things that brought to mind that time when the manual XM-18 was a knife more heard about and lusted after than owned.
Rick was a major partner with Knife Rights when it came to overturning switchblade prohibition in Ohio. Good for the community at large, but also good for Rick Hinderer.
Hinderer Knives Expands Automatic Lineup with Aluminum XM-18