SKS-FILES FORUM
General Milsurp Weapons => Milsurp Rifles & Carbines => German => Topic started by: echo83 on March 24, 2020, 09:51:39 PM
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I haven't had a great deal of success finding information about this bayonet, so what does the hive mind have to say about it?
(https://i.ibb.co/K2MVNfK/20200324-180608.jpg) (https://ibb.co/k4Rq3wm)
(https://i.ibb.co/3787Ksg/20200324-180551.jpg) (https://ibb.co/t4N4RhV)
(https://i.ibb.co/gPftcbj/20200324-180509.jpg) (https://ibb.co/4YX40wm)
(https://i.ibb.co/7gPZbFZ/20200324-180451.jpg) (https://ibb.co/q0Kcxwc)
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It looks like an M1898/05 bayonet that has been shortened and sharpened. The original would have a 14.5" blade with a fuller that did not extend to the tip and yours looks to be about 9". Originally made in the WWI era by Mauser Oberndorf am Neckar (aN). Are there any markings on the spine of the blade?
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Whoa! Your length estimate is spooky! Blade length is just over 9.5 inches, total bayonet length is 15 inches. At the very base of the spine is W then 18 then what looks like a small crown.
On the guard, just under the Waffenfabrik Mauser AG Oberndorf a.N is the number 33. It's barely visible in the photo.
On the very bottom of the handle is what looks like a serial number. 6022.
You think this was chopped down?
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I almost said a chopped M1898n/A but the blood groove doesn't jive.. the M1898/05 had more of the butcher blade appearance.. someone probably did some serious grinding.
I'd say chopped down regardless of model
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Also looks like the strip of metal on the grip was added around 1915 to protect against muzzle blast.
What do these "modifications" do to the overall value?
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Whoa! Your length estimate is spooky! Blade length is just over 9.5 inches, total bayonet length is 15 inches. At the very base of the spine is W then 18 then what looks like a small crown.
On the guard, just under the Waffenfabrik Mauser AG Oberndorf a.N is the number 33. It's barely visible in the photo.
On the very bottom of the handle is what looks like a serial number. 6022.
You think this was chopped down?
In 1918 Mauser was not making short bayonets. Given that 1918 year of manufacture and that most of the 1917 to early 1918 Mauser production of the Gew98 and bayonets went to Turkey, I'd guess it was shortened by Turkey during their "standardization" program in the 1930s. Value isn't very high due to the shortened blade and beat up condition of the grip scales, maybe $30-40, but who knows what a bayonet collector might need for his collection.
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What about....
(https://i.ibb.co/ncTmkQ8/IMG-1314.jpg) (https://ibb.co/G2XpPC3)
...source Janzen's Notebook pg. 83 - Model 1898 a/A - shortened - "...units shortened these bayonets on their own authority for trench knives."
Perhaps?
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I was under the impression that the ones shortened for trench knife use had the ring ground off as well.
My guess is the standardization program.
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What about....
(https://i.ibb.co/ncTmkQ8/IMG-1314.jpg) (https://ibb.co/G2XpPC3)
...source Janzen's Notebook pg. 83 - Model 1898 a/A - shortened - "...units shortened these bayonets on their own authority for trench knives."
Perhaps?
The plot thickens!
I think it makes all the sense in the world to grind it down for use as a trench fighting knife, desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess.
The psychological impact of a charging mass of troops with the full length bayonets must have been something else, but using what must have felt like a sword one on one at bad breath distance?...not so much.
Great info and replies, all! Thanks for filling in the gaps here.