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Porter's Report
By Bill Porter
October 2005
We’re back after an extended hiatus. A few months spent with family and other activities has us refreshed and ready for a few months of what we hope to be exciting and informative columns.
Right around the time we signed off for the summer my computer had a catastrophic failure that required a reformatting of the hard drive. I had all of my photos and most of my data files backed up, so there wasn’t a great deal of information lost. I did loose my old emails and as a result I have photos but do no know who sent them to me. I plan to use some of them and if you see one of your photos, please drop me an email so I can properly credit the source.
Update
It had been so long that I had to look back to see where we left off; foreign bayonets made for the US M16 rifle. A reader was kind enough to send in a picture of two foreign M7 bayonets. One is a Philippine M7 and his picture is included below with this month’s feature on that piece.
Also of great interest is an email we received from Pierre Renoux of France:
I just read your excellent study about the French experimental M1 bayonet and variations. ( Porter's Page 12 ) As everything it was yes once an experimental piece, but was officially given in the French Navy to the "fusilliers marins commandos" privates and not only radiomen and officers, and on a certain extend to some paratroops during the Algerian war. The official name is "baïonnette dague pour la carabine calibre 7,62 mm" (dagger bayonet for the .30 cal carbine). The half flat locking device is certainly the less common of both variations. This bayonets was proposed in 1953 by an industrial specialized in blades the Conversat establishment and based on their commercial dagger "le Commando inox", French adaptation in the early 1950's of the British Fairbairn knife. The official patent was asked for on July 17 1953 and delivered on June 9 1954 to Mrs. Louis Henrion and Louis Conversat. Patent number is 1,081,403 and describes only the cylindrical locking device and the locking adaptator. It is estimated than a few thousand of this dagger bayonet have been bought by the French Army and Navy, most of them being still stored in the Marine Arsenals. I enclose a scan of the original patent plate.
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Pierre, along with Gerard Adam and Christian Mery, has just published a great book on French bayonets titled Les baionnettes militaries francaises. It covers most French bayonets from sockets through assault rifles. I highly recommend it for any of you who collect world bayonets.
We also received an answer to a question posed back in Porters Page 9 regarding the "AEP" marking found on an Italian M1 bayonet. From our good friend and fellow contributor Gary Cunningham:
I posted a question on an Italian collector forum asking what the AEP stood for back some months ago. I received this email today. I checked out Piacenza on the Net and they indeed do have an arsenal which has been around since at least WW1 and probably well before.
"Wasting my time on gunboard forum I saw you wonder what would mean AEP marking on Italian made Garand bayonets. It means Arsenale Esercito Piacenza ( Army Arsenal of Piacenza city)."
Canadian C7
This is a well made bayonet that closely resembles the US M7 bayonet. According to Ian Skennerton in British and Commonwealth Bayonets, the Canadian government contracted with Nella Cutlery Services Ltd., of Stoney Creek Ontario, for 70,000 bayonets in 1983. The blade is a dull grey finished stainless steel, unlike the carbon steel blade of the US counterpart. Skennerton states that the black plastic grips are "Zintel" but a search of the Internet does not produce and results for this material. Perhaps the grips are made of Zytel, a plastic used for other bayonet grips.
The front of the cross guard is stamped C7 and NELLA. The black plastic scabbard has the NATO Stock Number (1095-21-897-1467) and the manufacturer’s name and date of manufacture (NELLA 1/86) molded into the back of the scabbard body. The front of the scabbard has a round frog stud and the bayonet is equipped with an OD nylon frog.
These were a very hard to find bayonet for many years but as is the case with many other bayonets, the advent of ebay has changed that.
Overall length 299 mm
Blade length 170 mm
Blade thickness 4.6 mm
Blade width 22.0 mm
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South Korean M7
This South Korean manufactured M7 is identical to the US bayonet. It has a rough grey Parkerized finish and black plastic grips. The grips are marked on the inside with US part numbers. I’m not sure if the grips are US or Korean manufactured. It is marked KOREA on the front lower portion of the cross guard.
The scabbard is a US M8A1 style scabbard. The front of the steel throat is stamped K-M8A1 and the back is marked TONG YANG in a rectangle. I believe this is the name of the scabbard manufacturer.
These South Korean bayonets are fairly common and were available in large numbers a few years ago. Most are used to the point of being abused. This bayonet is in exceptionally good condition.
Overall length 299 mm
Blade length 170 mm
Blade thickness 4.6 mm
Blade width 21.7 mm
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Philippine M7
The Philippine M7 is a copy of the standard US M7 design. The blade and pommel have a dark gray Parkerized finish. There are a few distinct differences between the two bayonets, indicating either different manufacturers or two separate manufacturing runs. One bayonet has a very blunt tip while the other has a narrow tapered point. The blade with the blunt end has a false edge approximately 85 mm, while the other blades false edge measures 78 mm. The method of attachment of the latch levers differ and the blade tangs are also different.
The grips on one bayonet have standard US part numbers cast into the plastic on the inside surface of the grip. It’s interesting to note that both grips have the same number, 11010068, which is the US part number for the left hand grip that contains the threaded inserts for the grip screws. It does not appear that the other grip ever had inserts. It’s hard to say if these are US manufactured grips or Philippine copies that have the US numbers in them. The other bayonet has US style grips that are Philippine manufactured. The inside of the grip has the letters EOMEAFP and JT IV. The significance of these letters is unknown but it’s probably safe to assume that the letters AFP stand for Armed Forces Philippines.
The Philippine manufactured scabbards are US M8A1 style. One has a brown-green colored plastic body and the other is black. Both scabbards have the emblem of the Philippine Armed Forces cast into the face of the scabbard body. The steel throats on the scabbards are stamped AFP in large letters. The brown-green scabbard is the more common of the two. I was told that the black scabbard was for a Special Forces type unit but I have no documentation to confirm that.
Overall length 300 mm
Blade length 170 mm
Blade thickness 4.6 mm
Blade width 21.7 mm
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That does it for another month. As always, I welcome your comments or input. Questions or comments can be forwarded to me at porterkids@aol.com