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M1 Garand Bayonet questions

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August 11, 2021, 10:10 AM
redlickranch
M1 Garand Bayonet questions
I picked up a few bayonets for my Garands. I was curious are these suppose to be dull or due to the age the edges just round off?

These look to be in pretty good shape for their age. Anyone know who made these by the symbol?

Thanks.





NRA Life Member

August 11, 2021, 10:40 AM
RogueJSK
They're not intended to be razor- or knife-sharp.

Your bayonets are postwar copies of the WW2-era US M1 bayonet, produced under contract in the early/mid 1950s for the US government to be sent as military aid to Greece. The E_US markings at the base of the blade stand for Ελλάδα (Greece)/United States.

At the time, the US was sending large amounts of surplus weaponry to Greece, including M1 and M1903 rifles. The US was assisting Greece in rebuilding their military after their post-WW2 anti-Communist civil war, and intended for them to be able to stand as the final bastion against Communism in the Balkans (with all the other Balkan nations having already fallen under Communist/Soviet sway, including Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Albania), as well as be a strategically positioned member of NATO with control over the Eastern Mediterranean and the approach to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. However, while we still had plenty of rifles available, simultaneously supplying the South Koreans and a number of other countries with rifles and bayonets had depleted most of the US's stocks of available surplus WW2-production M1 bayonets, so more had to be produced under contract in order to have enough to also supply the Greek forces.

ENS is a code intended to identify the maker, but the exact maker of these ENS bayonets is unknown today, since no surviving records for the contract have been located. However, it's believed to possibly be one of the various German knife making firms in Solingen, with E.F. Horster being the most common hypothesis.
August 12, 2021, 10:05 AM
h2oys
Unfortunately I don't know much about Garand bayonets but I do know some about WW1 & WW2 German Mauser bayonets.

The Mauser bayonets are collectible. The value drops dramatically if they were sharpened, because as Rogue stated, they were not intended to be knife-sharp.

Even the Russian capture Mauser bayonets are collectible albeit not valued as highly since the Russians stamped the captured bayonets with their own markings.

Hence my recommendation is don't sharpen yours just in case they are considered collectible as well.
August 12, 2021, 11:26 AM
redlickranch
Thanks for the info. I just wanted them for display really. I cleaned them up a bit and will not mess with the edge.





NRA Life Member