M9 bayonet LanCay 1994 (app. 1000 units)

[Carlo]

Fred,
I looked around on my pc as I remember I had something written from Brett.
Found this letter:


He said 1.075 bayonet made, of wich 1.064 delivered, so it is probably what you were referring to.
Me and Fred were discussing about the opportunity to tell Howard to not have all his M9s "custom marked".
While I can tell you that the USMC engraving is really well done, it should not be used on scarce variants.

[pwcosol]

Carlo:
Thanks for posting the Brett letter. If this variant is anything like the others, such as the GenCut blades, shallow fullers, etc. then I bet there were more than 1075 made. Although 1064 went to the Army, some small number of overruns, or possible rejects, may have been assembled and sold on the commercial market. But, I do not think the number would have been large enough to diminish the scarcity of this pattern.

[ColinG]

Sir,

I believe the letter does not quite explain the numbers. I have a Brett letter I received with my last of the first contract delivery 1994 LanCay bayonet that is 3 pages long in which he somewhat summarizes the history of the LanCay bayonet up to shipment of the last of the first contact. I believe that he is saying that exactly 1074 bayonets were sent as the last shipment of the first contact and out of those 1074, exactly 1064 were of the kind that Carlo purchased. The other 10 apparently being of the traditional first contract variation.
CG

[Carlo]

A word of caution about a bright LanCay blade (no scabbard or grip) which is on sale on ebay at the moment.
It is NOT one the blades discussed on this topic, but rather a standard first contract blade with the "step" before the saw teeth removed.
Just remember to look at the "space" between the crossguard and the saw: in the product improved blades is much longer than in the standard first contract model.