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This REPLICA BAYONET has a 25.5cm steel blade with plastic grip.
After testing in early 1943, the U.S. Army decided to shorten the M1905 bayonet's blade to 10 inches. Production of this new bayonet, designated the M1, began at the five remaining manufacturers by April 1943. Because of quality control issues and problems meeting delivery expectations, Wilde Drop Forge and Tool was dropped from the bayonet production program after finishing their run of M1905 bayonets. As many of the M1905 bayonets already in service as possible were recalled, their blades were cut down, and they were reissued; roughly 1 million bayonets underwent this process. The first shortened bayonets were delivered in September 1943, and deliveries continued at a rate of 40,000-50,000 per month until August 1945.
The points were either shortened to a "spear" or "beak" point, the latter being used most often on the early M1905 bayonets with a square fuller to give extra strength to the tip of the blade. Oneida was dropped from the bayonet program altogether in November 1943 after it asked the War Department to be released, as it could not keep its workers steadily employed because of the erratic nature of recalling bayonets for shortening. Utica and Pal Blade and Tool were released from shortening in 1944. American Fork and Hoe and Union Fork and Hoe then took over the duty of shortening M1905 bayonets. These shortened bayonets were re-designated as M1; all ten-inch bladed bayonets, whether new production M1 or cut-down M1905, were officially referred to as M1 bayonets, and the Army made no distinction between the two when issuing them.
These shortened bayonets functioned well in the European theater, where in the rare bayonet actions of the time they were matched up against the 9 3/4 inch long blade of the German S84/98 III bayonet fitted on the Karabiner 98k rifle. However, in the Pacific theater, the Japanese used the much longer, 15.75 inch bladed Type 30 sword bayonet on the already very long Arisaka rifle, which caused many American troops to retain the longer, unmodified M1905 bayonet.
The steel blade was shortened from the original size down to 25.5cm. The new scabbard used spring steel plates to hold the balde in place.
- Steel blade
- Plastic grip
- Spring steel plates