Cold Steel Battle Gim

While the weight is spot on for a decently hefty jian... (It's less than some nimble antiques I've handled)

The fittings look horrendous.

"Its appearance and martial spirit were so unique and impressive that it warranted being reproduced..."

There's a) a reason why they're so unique and b) look at that hilt. It's as straight as a ruler. Properly crafted jian of Ming dynasty onwards have a lozenge shaped grip. Further, any attempt at using any of the styles of jianfa that survived will suffer from being utterly incapable of being performed due to the shape of the grip.

Yeah, that sword's msrp is $799!!! Geez, the jade lion model is half the price and looks WAY more better! The Battle Gim doesn't even have a ray skin handle or scabbard! I was thinking it looked a little wierd. Cold Steel tend to always design their stuff to be overbuilt and heavy duty! If this sword is really based off of an antique, then it probably belonged to someone who practiced a minor style of CMA. Just wish that they would pay more attention to what most martial artists really need.

I am actually disappointed with this year's line up, because I feel that Cold Steel should stop making "Chinese sword-breakers","kung-fu hatchets", and "dragon staffs" and focus on weapons that are more universal to CMA. Maybe bring back the nuiweidao and luiyedao or create more versions of their butterfly swords for different styles. Making a traditional Chinese spear and a fully-functional guandao would be nice too!