Original Excellent U.S. WWII M1 Garand 10 inch Cut Down Bayonet by Oneida Limited with M7 Scabbard – Dated 1942 Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is an excellent barely used& M1905/1942 U.S. bayonet with a 10 inch cut-down blade for the M1 Garand Rifle, complete with the correct WWII Issue M7 scabbard. The M1 Garand rifle was designed to take the same blade bayonet as the M1903 Springfield rifle, so at the beginning of the war they were issued with bayonets originally made for those rifles. To keep up with Wartime production, new orders were placed for a version of the M1905 bayonet with plastic grips, and collectors use the designation M1942 for these bayonets, made from 1942 to 1943. Six civilian firms produced 1,540,578 M1905 bayonets from April 1942 to May 1943. Of these, only 250,000 were made by Oneida, making this a very desirable maker.

In 1943, the U.S. Army made the decision to shorten the M1905 bayonet’s blade to 10 inches (25.4 cm) and as many of the M1905 and M1942 bayonets were recalled, their blades were cut down to size, and were reissued. These shortened M1905 bayonets were re-designated as M1905E1. The U.S. Army also introduced a new purpose-made shorter M1 bayonet which was designed to be used with the M1 Garand rifle. The M1 bayonet’s blade is 10 inches (25.4 cm) long and the handle is 4 inches (10.1 cm) long. Like this example, they are easily identified by the blade fuller, which on a cut-down version runs to the edge of the blade, such as the blade on this example.

These shorter 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 inches (40.0 cm), bladed Type 30 sword bayonet on the already very long Arisaka rifle, which caused many American troops to retain the longer, unmodified M1905 bayonet.

This example is in excellent condition, and looks to have seen little to no service once it was shortened to have a 10 inch blade. The blade ricasso is marked with maker O L (Oneida Limited) above U.S. around the Ordnance flaming bomb. Below this is the manufacture date of 1942. The reverse still has a faint ordnance “Crossed Cannons” cartouche slightly visible, along with U F H, indicating that the bayonet was shortened and refinished by United Fork & Hoe of Columbus Ohio. The parkerized finish on the blade is nearly completely retained, with just a bit of runner wear, and the original plastic ribbed grips are excellent.

The original M7 scabbard is marked U.S. on the parkerized steel throat over the “Flaming Bomb“, and is in good condition. The B N marking on the underside of the metal throat lip indicates manufacture by Beckwith Manufacturing, who produced a variety of thermoplastic impregnated cotton fabric scabbards during the war. The N is for New England Pressed Steel, who made the steel throats under contract with Beckwith. The scabbard is in excellent condition, with great parkerizing on the throat, and very little wear on the scabbard body.

An excellent 10” cut down M1 Garand bayonet by the rarest of all M1942 makers, complete with scabbard! Ready to display or fit on your Garand Rifle.

Specifications:
Blade Length: 9 5/8″
Blade Style: Single Edged with Fuller
Overall length: 14 1/8“
Crossguard: 3 1/2”
Scabbard Length: 11 1/4″