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Introduction
The M9 Bayonet is a multi-purpose knife and bayonet officially
adopted in 1984 by the United States. It is issued with
a special sheath designed to double as a wire cutter.
As not many of you know and least of all care, February
19th was my birthday...
Thankfully, I'm not a Hobbit, which means I didn't have
to give anyone gifts (and I can spare myself the hairy feet),
but instead, my friends gave ME gifts. Among them, this
beautiful bayonet courtesy of Forum Moderator and fellow
teammate, Angel.
First Impressions
A week ago Angel came to our usual Saturday game with
something that raised a few eyebrows... specially mine.
HE BROUGHT A KNIFE! Angel was the person who introduced
me to airsoft in Greece. Furthermore, he's the most serious
and dedicated member of our community, which added a lot
more weight to my shock seeing him with such an item.
My first thought was... gosh, I had too many, I don't know
where to start.... "it's not very wise to bring real
weapons and why would him, being our spokesman, do such
a dumb thing? did he go mad? what's wrong? is this a joke
that I'm not getting? damn, that's a cool knife... "
Anyway, I finally came up with the guts to stop him cold
and ask him something like "is that what I think it
is?" and he grins and says, "sure buddy, take
a look" and he pulls it out of the sheath and waves
it around. My doubts had been confirmed, he was mad. Then
I held it, and boy was I wrong... and in love... I realized
it was a beautifully crafted replica of what looked like
Rambo's favorite sidearm, and to my surprise... a gift to
me.
 |
Make no mistake...
This is NOT a replica of Rambo's
knife... but wear a red head band, a green wife beater,
a mean face, and 200 pounds of muscle, and you can
easily rebaptize it.
|
Realism & Feel
The knife is virtually weightless, and the material
feels... well... like plastic, how else?
As soon as I got home I started juggling with it in front
of my wife and she almost had a heart attack... after many
screams, threats of divorce, flying sandals, etc, etc, I
let her see that it was a toy, and she couldn't wait to
call a friend over to do the same thing... to her friend.
 |
 |
| Here
you can appreciate the impressive metallic finish. |
Mounting Procedure
The back end of the grip comes with a clamp that attaches
to M4 type rifles and any other rifles that use the same
bayonet attachment system. Just insert the gun's barrel
through the hoop on the knife's handle, push it in, and
let the clamp lock into place. Very easy.
 |
| Here
it is, mounted on my ICS M4A1 |
Construction
The HFC Bayonet is built with hard plastic and has an
excellent metallic finish. I can't stress it enough, you
won't know it's a toy until you touch it. However, despite
all the praise, the knife does have some flaws. Let me rephrase...
the SHEATH has a construction flaw. The screws that hold
the belt attachment piece come off easily because the holes
where they go in, disolve with movement and lose their thread...
in fact, I never saw those screws again. However, this is
easily fixable with black tape around it.
I read at wikipedia that the M9 design of the real steel
version had some origins in designs for SEAL teams and the
Rambo movies, believe it or not. The basic design was originally
a commercial product (Buck 184), but it was developed into
a model to compete in the new bayonet race. The design was
later sold commercially as the Buck 188, but it was widely
copied and sold by other makers. In 1986, Buckmasters patented
the design and by doing so, they put many copycats out of
business.
It is also worth it to mention the precise replication
of the hole in the blade and the relevant insertion point
in the sheath. Once the blade is attached to the sheath
via these points the whole thing can act as a crude but
rather effective wire cutter... At least the real-steel
can...
 |
| Showing
the wire cutter application |
Pricing
Very fair... around $17.50 USD. BUT it's only 8.95
at Airsplat (Link Below)
http://www.airsplat.com/Items/AC-UP-H203-BAYO.htm
WARNING!
BEWARE!!! Although this knife is a toy, it could potentially
cause SERIOUS injury AND DEATH if mishandled. If pressed
strongly and straight, its hard plastic construction can
EASILY penetrate medium density objects, such as animals,
and people! Do not play CQB with the bayonet mounted on
your rifle. Use it for LOOKS AND PICTURES ONLY.
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Credits/Acknowledgments
This review was brought to you
by this website's administrator, Alex Alvarez (aka TripleA).
March 1, 2006. Athens, Greece. |
