Where/When is This Bayonet From?

MountainMan83

New member
Quick question on a bayonet that my father acquired quite some time ago without knowledge as to what model it is or what country it's from. The thing that has me stumped the most is the fact that it doesn't have an extension with a thru-hole for the barrel of a rifle. Being that it doesn't have that it doesn't even have a groove cut for the barrel to be closer to the bayonet handle, like on the Kar 98 bayonets. I am curious to know where and/or when this bayonet is from. I'm sure there is someone out there that could help.

https://ibb.co/1GnVXpV
https://ibb.co/wSjjZZt
https://ibb.co/SxxBmNq
https://ibb.co/k3R8ZHC
 

dahermit

New member
My guess would be a standard mauser bayonet altered to be used as a knife...hole in the hilt ground off, blade shortened, surface grinder used to grind a flat-bottomed groove in the blade to lighten it. Or, I could be wrong.
 

Kevin Rohrer

New member
It certainly looks like a Mauser bayonet, and the belt attachment thingie on the scabbard is Mauser. Unknown what country might have made it, though.
 

Pahoo

New member
Looks to familiar, not to be a Mauser

My guess would be a standard mauser bayonet altered to be used as a knife...hole in the hilt ground off, blade shortened, surface grinder used to grind a flat-bottomed groove in the blade to lighten it. Or, I could be wrong.
My guess as well as it looks much like my unmodified one, in my WW-II stash. The length looks like it's been shorted. I'll bet that I can find one, on the internet.
Later ..... :)

Be Safe !!!
 
Last edited:

Bill DeShivs

New member
The guard has not been cut down-the nickel plating is still intact.
This is a "parade bayonet." Made for dress, not for mounting to a rifle.
 
Bill - I'm no expert, but it certainly wouldn't be uniform since the handguard lacks that hook for ensaring the opponent's bayonet and the part that slips over the muzzle? That's a bit too much work/removal for a parade piece.

My guess it was converted postwar into a kinfe.
 

FrankenMauser

New member
I tracked it down. It is a variant of the Austro-Hungarian M1888/16 bayonet, converted for use on M95M rifles, with the barrel ring removed some time later.

So, it was, indeed, converted into a knife.

I'm no expert, but it certainly wouldn't be uniform since the handguard lacks that hook for ensaring the opponent's bayonet
Leading up to WWI, and nearly universally afterward, hooked quillons were done away with (thanks to snagging on barbed wire and hooking other soldiers in trenches). Those that did retain a hooked quillon were almost exclusively long bayonets.
A shorty like this one would be exceptionally odd to have a hooked quillon.
 

MountainMan83

New member
Thank you everyone. Everyone's guess was as good as mine. I think you're right FrankenMauser! I really questioned the idea that someone removed the part that goes over the barrel, initially, because it looks too symmetric but I guess someone had a good eye. :rolleyes:
 

Bill DeShivs

New member
You can see where the nickel plating is flaking on the guard in the 3rd picture.
If the guard was cut, it was done at the factory and the parts were refinished.
 

FrankenMauser

New member
You can see where the nickel plating is flaking on the guard in the 3rd picture.
If the guard was cut, it was done at the factory and the parts were refinished.
A-H 1888/16 bayonets were not nickel plated, nor were M95Ms.
Whomever plated it did so long after this antique was made, and remade, and probably remade again. (This likely began life as an 1888 bayonet, converted to 1888/16, and, again, converted to M95M. ...And then hacked by a civilian.)
 
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