Oh guys, those are some beautiful bayonets.
This bargain-basement $40 surplus example from Midway is the only one I own currently. I just bought it last month.
The Scabbard is from VIZ which did a short run contract between May and November of '69. That makes this a real Vietnam War era knife, and (if this is indeed the original knife for the VIZ Scabbard) it dates the manufacture very closely two eight or nine months. Because this was a high production item that might make this one slightly rare. Rarity matters not however for the real importance of this object as its history. Otherwise the blade itself is from Bauer Ordnance company and marked BOC and US M7 on the finger guard. There are no markings on the blade except for machine marks. They cranked these babies out fast.
My buddy Dave says that because this one did not come home in good condition with the owner then it probably came off of a dead GI.
I don't know if this is true but it's certainly a probable, because we lost a lot of guys there.
Anyhow, I wiped the numbers off with some oil, but nothing more, and in honor of that and dried mud and stands are going to remain and I'm not going to fix the blunted tip or the gouged edge or the huge burr & jagged notch in the blade.
I'm not going to attempt to restore this or change it in any way.
If I want a pretty one I'll just go buy a pretty one.
this detail appears different than the one my dad carried was the clip for the web belt. Maybe the owner spread the ears on this clip to fit his belt better, and it seems that my dad's had the ears sticking straight up and closer together, and on this example they spread slightly wider and at an angle.
It's possible that they had a different belt arrangement entirely when my dad was there as he was in the Air Force and it was 1965.
I would like to have another bayonet in any style in just the same condition from . . . well any interesting manufacturer through history.