M1 bayonet

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M1 bayonet
M1 Bayonet made by American Fork & Hoe
Service history
Used by	United States Military
Wars	World War II, Korean War
Production history
Produced	1942-
Specifications
Length	10 inches (25.4 cm)

The M1 Bayonet was designed to be used with the .30 caliber U.S. Rifle M1. The blade is 10 inches (25.4 cm) long, and the handle was 4 inches (10.1 cm) long.

Before 1943, the M1 Garand and all variants of the U.S. Rifle Model 1903 were using the M1905 bayonet and later M1942 bayonets.

In 1943, the U.S. Army decided a shorter bayonet would be better, so as many of the M1905/1942s as possible were recalled, had their blades cut down to 10 inches, and were reissued. These shortened bayonets, along with the newly made 10-inch bayonets, are called M1 bayonets. They 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. However, in the Pacific theater, the much longer Japanese sword bayonets on the already very long Arisaka rifle caused many American troops to retain the long M1905 bayonet.