Posted: 12/29/2007 4:25:35 PM EDT
|
Gentlemen, when you are issued your bayonet does it come already sharpened? Or is it the soldiers responsibility to put an edge on it? What is your preference/SOP, wicked sharp or a less acute utility angle? Colonel Hurtz |
|
| Yes, but in Berlin when the Wall went up we turned in our bayonets and were issued new ones and my God were they sharp. One fellow at parade Rest had his rifle slip he reached out and grabbed it by the bayo and put a really nasty slice on his hand, deep and long. In VN they were sharp as issued. |
|
i found that the m7 bayonet i was issued had a very fine edge, but i doubt it was a factory edge. like most things in the NG arsenal, it had seen some service. midway through my tour, i "lost" it the week before we were to be issued the new m9 bayonets ;) i found the m9 to be sharp, as expected from the factory, but retained burrs and an overall 'roughness' from the manufacturing process. A few minutes with a stone cleaned it up nicely. of course, regardless of it's issue condition, the maintenance of a bayonet is in the hands of the operator. i personally carried my bayonet for its intended purpose, a tanto-point ka-bar as a utility blade, and a kershaw ken onion leek pocketknife for smaller jobs |
|
The reason I asked is I just picked up an Eickhorn M7, brand new, never issued and it's not very sharp. I'm going to hone it anyway but I was wondering if they were normally issued like this. I grasp it's intended purpose but I would like to know how commonly or not they are used as a utility knife. Colonel Hurtz |
Unbelievable!
A Bird Sticker. The Air Force seems to believe in those wholeheartedly. They just do not believe in "Sharp Pointy Killy Things". On my last deployment I was told the knife I was carying (CRKT M16-14D 4") was "too big". This time I deploy with a Gerber LMK II Infantry. They would shit a brick if I had a bayonet. I think I will have to go get one now! |
My old unit at Ft Dix used to issue the M9 bayonet, though it was used more as a tool than a "pig sticker." Some of our students used to drive the HMMWVs through the wire; the cutters work well on the M9.  B_S |