M7 Bayonet

Vietnam Era M7 Bayonets

The M7 Bayonet is a bayonet that was used by the U.S. military for the M16 rifle, it
can also be used for the M4A1 carbine. It was introduced in 1964, when the M16
entered service during the Vietnam War. The M7 is based on the older M6 bayonet for
the M14 rifle. The most notable differences between the two are the diameter of the
muzzle rings, and the locking mechanism. The M7's release mechanism is on
the pommel, while the M6 has a spring-loaded lever near the guard that when depressed
releases the bayonet. Both models are approximately the same length, have the same
black finish, and use the M8A1, or later M10 sheath. The NSN for the M7 bayonet is
1095-00-073-9238.
The M7 was partially replaced by the M9 bayonet in Army service. And the Marine
Corps replaced it by the OKC-3S bayonet. The Army, Navy, and USAF still use M-7s
and may do so for years to come. The M7 was manufactured in the United States,
Canada, West Germany, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea.

After the M-16 was fully approved by the US Military in 1963-64 and massive
production began, the M7 was slightly redesigned with a two piece finely checkered
removable black plastic handle held on to the tang by two machine screws, all metal
parts were Parkerized, the cross guard was made a little wider with manufacturers
stamping their maker marks and US M7 onto them, and the pommel was now peened
onto the tang. All of the Vietnam Era manufacturers, with the exception of Imperial
Schrade Corporation, used what is referred to as a slotted tang, which has two screw
holes and two elongated slots. Imperial, as well as Ontario Knife Company and General
Cutlery Corporation used the solid tang, which only had two screw holes through the
tang. Ontario and Gen Cut only produced M7's after the Vietnam Era. The first new
production M7's were manufactured by Columbus Milpar and Manufacturing Company
and Imperial Schrade Corporation under contract with Colt Industries. In a letter dated
September 13, 1979, Mr. Robert E. Roy of Colt Industries wrote "The numbers that you
have seen stamped on the blades are not license numbers. They are the part number of
that particular bayonet. Part number 62316 is the standard pattern of the M7 bayonet
which we have been furnishing since the early 1960's. They have been made by a
variety of manufacturers, but in many cases there are no identifying marks to indicate
who the manufacturer is." Milpar and Imperial are the only two manufacturers that I am
aware of, other than Carl Eickhorn produced W. Germany versions (which will be
discussed in the future), that produced the new model M7 with the blade stamped
showing the Colt trademark and "COLT'S 62316 HARTFORD CONN USA" .

The Milpar Colt stamped blade versions are somewhat rare and I have not been able to
locate production numbers for this particular version. Imperial Colt stamped blades had
approximately 30,000 produced and are fairly common and easily gotten for one's
collection. Milpar had "MILPAR USM7" stamped onto the cross guard while Imperial
only stamped "US M7" on their version, obviously being the manufacturer that Mr. Roy
acknowledged in his letter.

BOC MILPAR IMPERIAL CONETTA FZR

With the onset of United States involvement in Vietnam, the Department of Defense
issued contracts to companies other than Colt to keep up with production request for the
M7 bayonet. During the Vietnam War approximately 3 million M7 bayonets were
produced by five different makers. It is believed that MILPAR was the first non-Colt
government contract for M7 production and began in early 1964. From 1964-1967
MILPAR delivered approximately 650,000 M7's. FZR is an unknown maker, but may
be Frazier Manufacturing Company according to M. H. Cole. The M7 bayonets marked
FZR were Vietnam War era and saw service there but there are no government
procurement records for FZR. If FZR was associated with Frazier Manufacturing
Company is currently being researched and if a direct connection is made in the future it
may lay to rest why these M7's are uncommon if not rare. CONETTA produced
approximately 130,000 M7's during the war and went out of business shortly before the
end of the sixties. BOC is by far the producer of the majority of Vietnam War M7's with
approximately 1.8 million delivered by them during the war. IMPERIAL received a
government contract in 1973 and produced approximately 350,000 in that year. All five
of the Vietnam War M7 makers had there maker marks and US M7 stamped onto the
cross guard. Some makers have slight differences in their blade configurations, but other
than the MILPAR and IMPERIAL Colt contracts mentioned earlier, these later
production M7's have no Colt stampings on their blades. Each company developed their
own style of peening the pommel to the tang. The issued scabbard for the Vietnam War
M7 bayonet was the standard USM8A1 scabbard, with the exception being the
IMPERIAL Colt contract M7's that were issued with a USM8A1 scabbard that had a
crinkle type OD finish (The throat of this scabbard was stamped only "USM8A1" with
no maker's name.)

I remember the M7 bayonet being used in many different ways in a combat zone, but
when on patrol everyone I knew always had his M7 readily available. We had a buck
sergeant that used to have us fix bayonets anytime we had perimeter guard at night. This
used to scare the hell out of us thinking he knew something was going to happen that
particular night that we were not aware of. One day we asked the sergeant why he had
us fix bayonets on night perimeter and he told us his perimeter was overrun by VC one
night and troopers were struggling to get their bayonets mounted, so he always assumed
from that day on that we were getting overrun each and every night. When you are 18
years old, you don't have to be told a story like that more than once. When we returned
to Ft. Hood, Texas we had a 1st Cavalry Divisional review for a new Divisional
General. I remember it was about 108 degrees and very humid. We were in formation
for approximately 45 minutes in the blazing Texas sun in full dress uniform waiting for
the ceremonies to begin. The order was given to "Fix bayonets" which everyone
complied with. Normally this would be done with the scabbard attached over the
bayonet blade for safety in the New Volunteer Army, but this particular day the order
was for bayonets mounted without scabbards so they could see the bayonet blades
"glistening in the sunlight". Well, as the ceremonies began troopers started to pass out.
As they fell, their exposed M7 bayonet blades were inflicting injuries on troopers next
to and behind them. The ceremony continued while Medics attended to the injured. All
told the amount of injured troopers was 42 with no major injuries reported. Needless to
say I never saw any more formations with fixed bayonets. In the photos below is a BOC
M7 with what appears to be a blade modification. This was carried by a 1st Calvary
trooper from the 1/9th during 1969-70. The trooper said most of his fellow troopers had
the same type of blades and they called them "Delta Pig Stickers". This may have been
carried by just his platoon or his company, he is not sure. He was a helicopter door
gunner and all the troopers on his chopper had this modification. At first I thought it
may have been a factory modification, but I am now convinced it was a Unit field
modification. 1st Cav units were notorious for coming up with anything that made their
unit different from others. If anyone has any info on this type of modification or has
ever seen one or has any additional information it would be greatly appreciated. Next
month I will finish with known US M7 makers, both military and commercial types. As
always your feedback, additional information, or questions concerning the M7 bayonet
is greatly appreciated and requested.