Three M1 Bayonets

[thorin6]

I was looking through one of my drawers and found these three M1 bayonets. I bought them over a two year period several years ago; one from ebay, one from an antique fair, and one at a gun show. I paid $60-$75 for each one, and I bought them to give me a good representation of the three types of M1 bayonets used in WWII. The AFH bayonet was originally made as a 10-inch bayonet while the Springfield Armory (SA) and the Rock Island Arsenal (RIA) were both cut down from 16 inches. The SA has a beak point (sometimes referred to as a bowie point) and the RIA has the spear point. Both are marked on the tang either by AHF or UHF and both come in cut down scabbards marked with the REP on the underside of the throat piece along with the heat lot number.

Of interest is that the SA cut down came with Wilde Tool grips; a black rectangle inside the reddish material of the grips.



Here is the ricasso for the AFH:



This is the SA with the Wilde Tool grips and the beak point:





The RIA with the spear point



The cut down scabbards:

[Fred Pillot]

since the RIA is a speare point instead of a clip point, like it should be and is not broken, it might be a rare variation.

[browningautorifle]

Nice trio. Good catch, I had them all at one point and let them go. Now they're impossible to replace.

[John Sukey]

As one soldier said, "As long as I got a bullet in my rifle, there ain't gonna be no bayonet fightin!"