Just redid/updated slightly the bayonet section of the site, got some pics of Colt "601" bayonets, ALL the US military M7 makers & some M9 pics/info, still lookin for more & got other stuff to add but it may hold interest for some of us "retroheads", here's a couple pics from the album & a link to the boring reading part:




LINK TO THE FULL ALBUM: http://imageevent.com/willyp/firearmsalbums/uscoltarmalitem16ar15556/m16accessoryitems/bayonets

Very nice.

^^^
(As always!)

I just seen you where putting together an m7 reference. I own a few of the knifes you show on your site and have photos of a few other variations if you are interested.
I have just recently started this collection and would be very interested to see all the different variations. I was surprised at as many different ones I have found so far.
Also it would be interesting to see if anybody else reports some of the rare ones.

There are probably over 200 variations of the US M-7 bayonet. There was a seller on e-bay a couple of months back that had over 100 different M-7's for sale and all were in like new condition. They all broght some pretty decent money too. He had references in his adds to a book on M-7 bayonets but I don't remember it's title. Good luck on the collections. I need one measly  FZR and then I'm gonna call it quits. What sucks is I've had my hands on at least five of them over the years for less than $20 ea(none were mint) and passed for other mfgs that are still basically worthless, didn't know they were kinda rare. The one the seller on ebay had I lost in the last 10 sec for $118. We live and learn. Dave

I have a m-7 bayo with the curve. it says imperial & m-7. is this one of the 73-74 models? or something else? like a commercial model?

thanks

AR15mutt, I'd say not 73-74 but later. I wouldn't really consider an Imperial blade commercial but US military although I'm not the expert just a collector. My Imperial example is a 90 degree cut blade with a 8A1 TWB marked scabbard from a Nam vet but I'm not saying the blade was his Nam issue either just where it was acquired. He was a marine in Nam 65-68. He lived across the street and gave it to me around 76-77. I know he had a stroke and died in 78. I've got different mfg M-7's with 4 different style 90 degree cuts and also 3 different curved style cuts out of 13 sets. The latest M-7 I purchased is an Ontario mfg and it's cut just  like an old early Colt 62082. I I've also got a curved blade MILPAR in a VPCO 8A1 scabbard that I purchased in 77 or 78 at a yard sale for $3 which I'm almost positive was Nam issue because the old ladies son was killed in Nam but I don't know what year, I'm guessing late 60's early 70's, his car was a 1966 4 sp Lemans convertible with less than 10K miles that she said he bought brand new. Everybody wanted that car but no sale. She did sell his Nam stuff because she said having it around tore her up pretty bad. He hated Nam loved the car. She would bring the car to the gas station I worked at every couple of weeks for full service. We were kind of friends. We also know the later Colt 62316 are post 74 because they came with CH code M-16 uppers and they are curved blade. I'm thinkin the 90 degree or curved blade has something to do with mfg acquired knife blanks and the mfg just finished assembly, but who am I. I've seen all different M-7 bayos in all different marked scabbards also. Good luck!
Dave

I'm always open to new pics & more/new/corrected info!. My "focus" on my site is on US military used items, I was hoping to stay away from all the commercial, export & foreign stuff as the topic just becomes too large but the problem is that some of it should be mentioned & identified, case in point, the W German/Eickhorn bayonets that are Colt marked, as far as I've been able to ascertain none of these were purchased or used by the US military so would be outside the "scope" for US used M7's, BUT they seem to be a very popular "collecting" theme in themselves so I put up some pics of them, those pics by the way were very kindly provided by the collector who was selling the M7 collection on Ebay a while ago. As said in one of the answers to this thread there is a huge number of "M7" bayonets out there, Philippine, Israeli, German, reportedly Thai etc, also a very large number of commercial products, some of the companies that had US military contracts sold off component parts surpluses on the commercial market which were then used in "new" production bayonets that were never US military issue/used. Add to this military M7's that were rebuilt/repaired/refinished & things get more confusing. There are also some experimental &/or very limited production M7 bayonets reported, the so-called "sniper M7" an experimental model reportedly built at Rock Island, the Navy M7 w/bowie style blade & MkI scabbard etc, I have pics of some of these that I haven't put up yet as there just isn't enough info on them (at least I don't have it!) to include them yet. At this point in my research on the topic of US military issue M7 bayonets the only ones I've confirmed are the Colt "601" style, MilPar, Conetta, FZR, & BOC bayonets as US military use during the VN war, Imperial possibly at the very end, BUT Imperials contract shows first deliveries in 1973 pretty much after US combat involvement (on a lg scale) was pretty much over, most Imperials were delivered after the VN war (at least US combat involvement), General Cutlery & Ontario are definitely post VN. The Imperial & Milpar M7's w/Colt marked blades are a big question, the Imperial/Colt M7's as to whether they were actually ever bought/purchased by the US military & the Milpar/Colt's same question & if they were actually made as such! Any M7 w/Colt markings would indicate the bayonets were made for Colt & sold thru them or licensed by them, needless to say this would increase the cost per M7 to the final buyer (US military), in 1963 the first contract was signed for the M7, believed to be Milpar, these bayonets were bought directly from Milpar by the US Govt, the M7 was basically a developement from the US M4 carbine bayonet, from what I've been able to find the bayonet for the AR15 as originally used w/the 601 was not a proprietary or design owned by Colt so the military simply used the modified M4 (as modified by Colt!) as their M7, now, tare the so-called MilPar/Colt M7's, if they were built as such, the earliest production by Milpar for the US military (1963-1964) & marked w/the Colt trademark on the blade a "concession" to Colt's rights/interest in the bayonets design before it was determined (or allowed by Colt) that the bayonet design wasn't "owned" by them (Colt), or were they simply M7's that were rebuilt using earlier Colt blades & Milpar crossguards, or were they an actual contract for Colt by Milpar? The Imperial/Colt M7's form what I can see (& I will point out, my "thought" & I've been wrong before LOL!), appear to be an actual contract for Colt by Imperial, interesting thing about these is they're NOT marked Imperial, just Colt on the blade, the fact that they're Imperial mfg comes from Imperial's records of the contract, these M7's all have the later curved runout on the blade which makes me believe they were post VN, & probably an export item. All the "definite" M7 bayonets made during the VN war & delivered to the US military show the 90 degree type runout, as does the M4 ithey were "based" on & the Colt "601" bayonets which preceeded them. The first "definite" US military contract M7 that I've seen that has the 90 degree runout is the General Cutlery made between 1985 & 1990 ("American Military bayonets of the 20th Century).

Willp, I believe this is going to keep you real busy. I never even thought about using the earlier blade blanks for the M-7 but they are almost identical in appearance. I wish I had the time and resources to do similar research. I have always had this thing for knives and bayonets and started collecting M-7 because of affordability and the era of my existence. I didn't even like the plastic rifles when I was young. Times have surely changed over 45yrs. Please keep up the good work. I do know a funshow knife dealer who told me of an excellent book about these bayonets and I will get it's title the next time I see him. As far as I remember he had told me it was up to version 3 and was a must have for the M-7 collector. I just didn't have the resources so I didn't write it down.  That seller on e-bay sold that one Colt for $1200 plus. Unbelievable but true. That was by far the largest collection I had ever seen of M-7''s. I'm very smalltime and try not to spend over $35 except for Colt or possibly the FZR that I need. Way too many hobbies: guns, motorcycles, women,fishing, knives etc. I remember when it was women, motorcycles, guns, fishing and knives. Seems like knives have remained  the last on the hobby priority list for me. I do keep 2 or 3 real sharp knives on me at most times. The different scabbards and mfgs are a little interesting also. A lot less variations of those. I do see some sellers wanting more for the scabbards than the blades go figure. Again thanks for the pics and your timeless work.
Dave

I have some pictures for you put have not figured out a way to post them to you.
I have an original Milpar without colt markings
An original colt green handle with brass rivets
A West German with a red blade
And a West German with a electro pencil colt logo not marked west German
let me know if you want any of these

Nicely done and very informative. Thank you, willp!