Gunshow wrapup
The one thing I managed to take home from the funshow, the bayonet mount for the Carbine, had to wait until I could pull the front sight, of course. I wasn’t about to spend a wad of cash on a puller, so I made one
It’s just a couple blocks of steel, a cutout the same diameter as the barrel, and a pair of socket screws. Yes, you have to carefully turn one and then the other so it doesn’t cock, but I didn’t want to be pressing against the actual barrel, so I figured this was the easiest build
It worked like a charm. I had the old barrel band off and the new one on in a few minutes. Now I just need to buy a bayonet.
Purists, I suppose, may point to the fact that a bayonet on an M1 carbine is like a spinnaker sail on a wombat, but fuck you all, I want a bayonet on an American rifle.
Also, if anyone wants to borrow a cool sight puller I gots one.
17 comments Og | Uncategorized
Hmmmm what kinda bayonet / mounting setup didja come up with?
I gots me a post-war Universal M1 and I wanna add sharp sticker thingy on it.
Gots one original on my 30-40 krag,
and one on my Chicom SKS.
Carpe Diem!
Mark: as long as the carbine is a “Standard” in as mu ch as it takes the normal front ring, you should be able to swap the ring out with the bayo mount. I’ll post pictures.
The Danish ones are cool and with the leather handle most reminiscent of the WWII ones, but the plastic handle Vietnam-era ones might fit/feel better in your grip. Those really shouldn’t cost as much as some are asking on eBay (Bren-Dan, Imperial,Conetta, TMN etc.). There’s also someone selling assemble-it-yourself Bayonet kits.
For everything bayonetty there’s Gary Cunningham.
I’ve got a plastic-handle one in my dirtbike toolbox that needs sharpening and a loving home – want it? The one on my NPM Carbine is an Ariel.
Oops, nevermind, it’s a POS semi-Garand bayonet with a half-assed Carbine blade so fugly I forgot what it was.
Any M4 bayonet will work. Tolerances are very loose, and it is not rocket science. Cheaper Than Dirt almost always has some that will work for $20ish as does Sportsman’s Guide unless you are a nutsoid anal retentive type and HAVE. GOT. TO. HAVE. the actual bayonet that the grunt who carried your carbine in WWII had on it. Prices can be in 4 figures. For normal people, twenty or thirty bucks should get your carbine all pointy and cool looking. Try to find an M8A1 sheath. That’ll run it up another twenty or so.
Sorry, guys, the days of the five dollar bayonet and two dollar sheath are gone even though manufacturers all over the world are making M4 and M8A1 copies by the carload.
Prowling around the yard in your Dr. Denton’s carrying your carbine with it’s bayonet fixed and a 30 rd. mag in it, investigating why half the dogs in the neighborhood are barking, can start a really fun and interesting conversation with the cop in the patrol car who’s investigating the same thing. They don’t pay me any particular attention any more. Except that I usually have fresh coffee and a box of day-olds in the kitchen until about 03:30 or 04:00, when I hit the rack.
Gerry N.
I’m not looking for some all original perfect thing, I just want a pointy bit on the end of the carbine. And a sheath. Yeah, definitely a sheath. Kmart sucks.
I’ve seen a couple of the DIY ones on fleabay, and the price isn’t bad. It would be nice to have something like a Camillus, one of the old standbys, but a good Jap one would be fine too.
I’m envious of your skills.
The sheaths are pretty easy to come-by, get a Conetta or a Utica ‘Nam bayonet and you’re good to go.
My skills are just the result of some opportunity and access to some nice equipment. YOUR skills are the ones I’d love to have. And new knees, that would help.
I am getting into the market for an M1 carbine, since I have my father’s WW-II bayonet (with original painted service number on hilt and scabbard!)
60 years old, it is a better built blade than the new issue ones.
Not sure how much he messed with the M1, since he was a tail-gunner on B-24s
I have his M1911-A1, holster and half a box of 1943 Lake City .45ACP that he brought back home after V-E day.
Maybe so, but most of my skills are… illegal in the average world.
Kevin – you have a valuable gem in the bayonet and a priceless artifact in the 1911A1, but I’m sure you know that already! God bless your father.
Dick: The world ain’t average no more
true up…not average by a long shot.
Having access to good machining equipment to play with fucking rocks. One of the few things I truly miss about working second shift at my old job.
And I want to get a Saiga 12 and put a bayonet on it. Because I like pointy things. Pointy things and firing 15 double aught 12 gauge shells off in 5 seconds.
Grau, this is why I like ot party with you.
Nice puller! And easier than replicating the original, I’d think.
Gots a pair of bayonets: one of the later plastic-handle ones and a couple of years back at a flea market picked up an early leather-hilted one. The latter is in the ‘precious pointy things’ box, the other’s going to get sharpened. Just in case, y’know.