What is a bayonet? Original? Government contract? Which manufacturer? Can someone help?

That particular bayonet is a German copy of the US M7 bayonet.  The "tells" are the Phillips screw on the top pommel, and no screws or rivets on the grips.

Here are some pictures of mine. I am not sure if it is genuine Colt, but I was told so.

I have heard about replicas made in Germany. Anyway I can't understand why German companies should make replicas of an U.S. bayonet?

Yours is a real US Colt 62316 M7 bayonet.   I can't tell from your photos, but that particular bayonet should have a sand textured paint on the scabbard.  Tha blade marked German Colt 62316 copies of the M7 bayonet are now actually more rare than the US Colt 62316 blade marked M7's. The rare one is the Colt/Armalite 62082 blade marked M7 with green or brown handle - these were issued with the first Colt 601 rifles.

Thank you for your help! :)

From an older thread.

US military M7's after were:
1) Milpar, marked US M7, Milpar on the crossguard, VN era. NOTE: there are a few M7's known that have US M7 Milpar on the crossguard & the full Colt markings on the blade, these are VERY rare, BUT, there's no info that's been found that Milpar ever made M7's under contract to Colt & it's very possible that these bayonets are Imperial mfg that had a Milpar mkd crossguard fitted during repair, at this point the Milpar Colt blade mkd bayonets are a question
2) BOC, marked US M7, BOC on the crossguard, VN era
3) Conetta, marked US M7, Conetta on the crossguard, VN era
4) FZR, marked US M7, FZR on the crossguard VN era extremely rare!
5) Imperial, marked US M7, Imperial on the crossguard, NO Colt blade markings, ist mfg 1973, technically post VN
6) General Cutlery, marked US M7, GenCut on the crossguard, post VN
7) Ontario, marked US M7, Ontario on the crossguard, post VN, these are interesting as Ontario is the only known mfg who supplied M7 bayonets & M10 scabbards to the Govt at this point.
The above are the US military M7 bayonets to my knowledge, US M7's have been used by a bewildering number of countries & there are numerous small markings usually on the crossguard to indicate foreign usage, Israel & Korea mainly, rule of thumb US military M7's will have US M7 & the mfg on the crossguard (w/the exception of the Imperial Colt mkd ones), any other marking on the guard is "probably" indication of use by a foreign country. Also be aware that a lot of the military mfgs went out of business at some point & parts left over were purchased & assembled at times to sell the bayonets commercially so any deviation from the above guidelines would make the bayonet "questionable" to me, there are other indicators of commercial mfg or "assemblage" that are too numerous to go into here but involve tangs, crossguard mountings, grip material & blade runout!
Onto the German, Eickhorn M7's, first, as far as known NONE of the German mfg M7's were made for the US military or used by them, the first German M7's had no Colt markings on the blade, the 1st had the crossguard shortened on the bottom (they were made to fit the M16 & the German G3 which mounted the bayonet on top of the barrel, the guard was shortened so it didn't interfere w/the sight picture), the second was a "standard" M7, the examples of these that made it here are usually stamped "Germany" somewhere on the crossguard & again, there are minor differences in tangs, runout etc, the next group was the "common" Eickhorn M7 w/Colt markings on the blade, which are usually marked Germany or made in W Germany somewhere on them, almost always under the Colt markings & the scabbard throat, comparing my Imperial Colt M7 to an Eickhorn Colt the Colt markings on the right side of the blade on the German examples is a bit smaller & higher on the blade leaving room for the "German" markings, looking at the blade markings I don't think there's room on the US Imperial Colt for the markings so there is a minor difference in the markings. These German M7's were reportedly mfg for Colt (hence the Colt mkgs) for foreign sale. After these these is a bewildering variety of "Eickhorn" M7's most made for commercial sale, some of these have a Colt marking on the blade but it's just a stylized "Colt", no address, or part number.
Some of the info here comes from "American military bayonets of the 20th century" by Cunningham, & some from Mike Humes M7 bayonet internet page (both excellent sources for anybody interested in them!) & a lot from examining actual examples, info from importers & suppliers etc. At this point I believe the bayonets from Apex are in fact correct Imperial Colt contract bayonets from comparing them to my known original Imperial Colt & a few examples of German Colt M7's that I've had access to.
Hope this info is of some help & interest & hopefully I'll be adding all this, pics & more info on the site soon. I've attached a couple pics of a US military M7 crossguard here, these are the standard US military M7 markings (the mfg may vary) w/the exception of the green handled Colt 601 & Imperial mfg Colt mkd bayonets as described above.

Little logo I made a few years ago.  It would be my avatar here if I wasn't a freeloader

The two new manufacture M7 bayonets that I have are Ontario and so marked.  I don't remember the ones from when I was in the army having as sharp a blade on them though.  I have no idea what the ones in the box that I got from the CMP are....I haven't opened them.  Perhaps I should open at least one?   The side of the box is labeled:
1005-00-017-9701
BAYONET M-7 w/SCABBARD
1EA          CC-A
12-76        C-14

Based on the info above, likely post Vietnam.  I may open one and see.

Edit:  the 1005-00017-9701 is apparently the NSN. I'll go ahead and open one and take pictures to post.  Some folks may find it interesting.  Should have them available by tomorrow.

Mine was apparently made by Blue Oyster Cult.

Need's more cowbell!  

BOC.....that's funny.

Edit:  For those interested, here are some pictures of a M7 bayonet that I got from the CMP.

First...the box:






and contents:















And compared with a commercial Ontario (bottom)

Very cool!

Question:  My M8A1 scabbard is painted flat black on the lower portion.  Did some of them come like that?

The small metal piece at the bottom of the M8A1 scabbard that came with the CMP Imperial bayonet appears parkerized to me.  The Ontario bayonets I have came with the M10 scabbard which is a black plastic.

Here's a pic.  The paint is over the metal pieces.  It's old paint, but that doesn't make it original.

Or maybe I got the limited-run/spec-ops/Force Recon/night vision version!

That scabbard left the factory as OD green, but someone along the line painted it black.  It could have been the military, but more likely it was Bubba.

Joe loses stuff.  Particularly on exercises.  His commander is not pleased.