m9 for sale 1987 sample knife one of a kind

[ss choppers]

i dont know much but i will try here we go . 1987 sample from the goverment it has an S stamped in it in front of USA on knife blade it has never had an edge on it from buck it came dull as a sample for the color of the handle and scabbard as aproved by buck / phrobis and the military . comes with phrobis scabbard as well it shows some wear of being pulled out and put back in scabbard who knows how many times it will be sold to the high bidder .i may do it on ebay but not hure yet any questions just ask Thx Chopper

[Quarterbore]

A forum like this is not a place to run an auction.... try comming up with a price or I will have to delete this... also classifieds belong in the classifieds area...

[ss choppers]

Ok $1500.00 This Is My First Time Here Thx

[mr short radius]

can you post some detailed pics? thanks

[porterkids]

I think I know what this bayonet is without seeing it. I have a few in my collection. It is probably a 1987 commercially marked blade, second generation style markings on the left ricasso. To the left side of the normal marking is a smaller hand-stamped "S". There are also blades marked with an "H". These are blades that were used by Buck for heat treating testing to determine the optimum hardness for the blade tangs. I have had several conversations with Joe Houser at Buck knives concerning these blades. Joe told me that to the best of his knowledge the letters stand for "soft" and "hard".

An interesting side note: in December 2004 Buck was clearing out their El Cajon, California facility in preparation for their move to Idaho. They came across some miscellaneous M9 parts in the factory and assembled them into bayonets. I had asked Joe Houser if they had any spare parts around so he emailed me to tell me that they had found some stuff but they were assembling them into bayonets and selling them in the factory store. He put two aside for me, one with a green grip and one with a black grip. They didn't have any M9 bayonet scabbards, but they did have some Buckmaster scabbard bodies without the webbing that they stuck the bayonets in. I was pleasantly surprised when they arrived to find that these bayonets had been made with the heat treating test blades. I received one with the "S" and one with the "H". The blades must have been sitting around in the engineering Department since they did the testing back in the late 1980s.

I wrote a brief article on these bayonets that was recently published in the Journel of the Society of American Bayonet Collectors. Look for it to show up sooner or later at usmilitaryknives.com under the Guest Writers column.
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[mr short radius]

Do you know which version of the blade they ended up putting into production? ...and so it's not a one of a kind? That would explain why some never had an edge put on it.

[porterkids]

I don't remember what the hardess of the tang is, nor do I have information on how much softer or harder they made them for the test pieces. Unfortunately, Buck did not keep much of this information, especially after they ceased production in 1997. I know a person who worked there during that time period and he told me that he would take boxes and cartons of old M9 bayonet related documents out of storage and discard them!

These are definitely not one-of-a-kind pieces, but they are not overly abundant either. I have two or three "S" marked pieces and three or four of the "H" marked ones.
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[mr short radius]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Buck-m9-188-Phrobis-1987-rare-production-sample-knife_W0QQitemZ6611162889QQcategoryZ73523QQssPageN ameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I hope the link works. I thought this was pretty funny.

[porterkids]

Yes, it is funny. Also a little frustrating. The guy starts off this thread by saying "I don't know much" and goes on to prove himself 100% correct. He was told exactly what he has and he still posts that assinine story about a government sample on ebay. What's sad is that some poor uneducated sap will buy the story and think he's got a real prize. All he got was screwed. Don't get me wrong, it is a decent collector's piece, just not a one-of-a-kind sample.
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[porterkids]

The article on these bayonets that was published in the Society of American Bayonet Collectors Journal is now available on line at USMilitaryKnives.com:

http://www.usmilitaryknives.com/bill_porter_ii.htm
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