What's your favorite bayonet?

not2sharp

not2sharp

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I have always found bayonets to be an interesting subject. Within a scope of the 300 to 350 years since first ones developed, bayonets have replayed the entire evolution of edge weapons. Virtually every concievable blade shape has been tested on a rifle. Single edge swords and double edge swords, cutlasses and wakizashi, machetes, bolos, daggers, bowies, khukuries, yatagans, khyber knives, even ice picks and shovels; have been bolted to the side of a rifle to provide some percieved advantage. Within these there are the many failures, the successes, and even quite a few that would make excellent knives.

Which ones have you found useful?

n2s
 
...don't know much about Bayonets, but I have recently taken an interest in them. Don't know why either.

Skeeter Vaughan exclusively threw 19th century Bayonets that he handle wrapped in rawhide...Sheffield steel I think. He loved them. It was that and his specially designed Pipe Tomahawk with a raised leading edge for a larger sticking radius. The Bayonet/Hawk set is pictured in one of the late Harry McEvoy's books...forget which one at the moment.

Skeeter dropped at sentry at 87 feet with one too...that's documented.

I like the OLD ones in my new and cursory study of them.

Will be watching this thread! ;)
 
I like the Finnish Valmet bayonet best as it comes closest to being actually useable as a knife. The .30 carbine M4 is a nice one too. As issued, both make descent knives whereas other bayonets usually require a little to a lot of work to make them usable as knives.
 
This is the bayonet for the French Chassepot rifle of 1866. This and its direct predecessors (French models of 1840, and 1842)became one of the most widely copied bayonets ever. Most of the known world adopted this design. It was used in various lengths from the 1840s through the 1880s throughout Europe, The Americas, The Middle East, and the Far East (inc. Japan).
 
By 1880s rapid fire weapons were driving a change in design. This English example from 1888 looks far more familiar to us.
 
One of the first modern knife bayonet was the Swiss model of 1896. Some of these were converted privately into hollow handled survival knives and used in Vietnam. No bad for a then 70 year old relic. Good steel, great engineering and fine single edge blade. They sometimes are sold with metal clips which originally were used to hold the scabbard in place during bayonet practice.

n2s

Here's a picture:
 
Swedish Model 14.

Very cool.

Great thread with photos!

Please continue.

Had one of Skeeter's tomahawks. Gave as gift to Woody Woodcock, a Skeeter Vaughn fan going way back.
 
I was heading out on a canoe trip a while back when our favorite little brown truck poped up and dilivered one of these. So I took it along and it turned out to be a very workable camp knife. The sheath is plastic and it is easy to attach to any belt. And the one inch wide, eight inch long, and 3/16 inch thick recurved blade takes a pretty good edge. It does rust easily, and the handle can use a little modification, but its a bargan at it's price.
 
my fav is a '98 mauser K98 bayonet my dad brought back from italy in WW2, with the mauser attatched lol - a mean looking long , though dull, blade


sifu
 
my fav is a '98 mauser K98 bayonet my dad brought back from italy in WW2, with the mauser attatched lol - a mean looking long , though dull, blade
Click to expand...

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The yatagan bayonets of the mid century allowed troops to either cut or thrust. But, they were heavy, especially on the end of a gun. They were also problematic to the military establishment which regarded bayonets as weapons and frowned on allowing them to be used as tools by the troops.

Once again the French decided to lead the change by adapting this model in 1874. It was a very elegantly balanced and edgeless piece.
 
hey not2sharp, thats it!! thanks for the pic - i still have the 'frog' i think its called, the thing that attatches to the sheath and affixes it to the belt, though i dont know how, when i was a kid i used to wear the thing when horseback riding all the time, and its a wonder i didnt destroy it, a testimony to its durability i guess, survived a 12 yr old lol

oh and WHY did i carry it?? it was my SWORD lol(not real safe imho), and since i was fairly short then it wasnt too bad of an imitation, dont know how that would go over these days, a 12 yr old w/a big bayo on a horse...

sifu
 
As much as I hate them, the Chicoms got it right with the SKS bayonet. Bayonets are for thrusting, and these guys didn't give the soldiers a choice, which is good for conscripts. I think all battle rifles should have a spike bayonet. In and out, then drive on. the knife bayonets will be used for slashing if the soldiers have a choice, badly degrading the damage potential. Stab it!
searchdb.cgi
 
Robert,

If it makes you feel any better, the French had them before communist Chinese. :)

This is the French 1886 Bayonet for the Lebel Rifle. It is a long edgeless cruciform in shape.
 
That actually does make feel better. The French are much easier to despise!

Although I must admit the MAS 49/56 isn't that bad of a rifle.
 
and dont forget the old cruciform (spelling??) bayonets, triangular shape kinda, like used in the US civil war, and earlier too long 'fore commies

sifu
 
...and under the heading of fun things to do with old bayonets... (altough it is now wasteful and costly to destroy the older ones like this 1886 model)... this is a theater knife made from a French 1886.
 
If you are currently retired from the Coast Guard, and over 150 years old, you might just remember this one. The US model 1870 issued to the Coast Guard:
 
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