LANCAY M9 Bayonet with General Cutlary Blood Grove Blade
A very rare variant of the M9 bayonet that is curently on EBAY.
This Knife is FOR SALE!!!
Here is a link to the auction
About this knife:
Following is from my
M9 Page that describes this knife:
Lan-Cay received it’s first contract for 30,500 M9 bayonets on 3/31/92 from the U.S. Army with an additional 21,500 bayonets added during the contract. In an effort to quickly supply the Army with new M9 bayonets after Desert Storm, Lan-Cay turned to General Cutlery as a sub-contractor to provide near completed blades for assembly at the Lan-Cay facility. This sub-contract proved to be totally unworkable, and only about 300 General Cutlery made blades were ever passed by the Army inspectors and put into U.S. military service. The remainder of the General Cutlery blades were then demiled and destroyed as required by the Army.
All General Cutlery produced blades are easily identified as they are stamped on the ricasso "M9 / LANCAY / USA" in block letters of equal size. This form of marking was used only on the General Cutlery made blades and will not be used again.
These General Cutlery made M9 bayonets were produced in a very limited number and are extremely rare as most were destroyed before issue. At least 300 examples, possibly more, were delivered to the Army and are now in collections and/or the supply system.
Here is the description from the auction:
Quote:Rare Early first M9 Bayonet made by LANCAY (all large letters) in mint condition. This early LANCAY was the very first bayonet maufactured by LanCay Inc. The blade was made by General Cutlary since LanCay did not have their machinery set up to make blades. This blade has the blood groove (fuller). Very few were made, approximately 300 were sent to the U.S. Military. The remainder were odered destroyed by the US Military. Making it one of the most highly prized U.S. Military Bayonets by collectors. For more information on this very rare bayonet Reference
www.quarterbore.com. The pommel on this bayonet is the correct unmarked early type. The scabbard is the earlier four loop type. The cutter plate has the screw driver on the side instead of the bottom but is of the early unmarked type. The blade has the original factory ground edge, the gray blasted finish, and the normal General Cutlary rough forge marks.
I e-mailed the seller and asked for some better pics especially of the blade markings to go with the website write up and he sent me the following photos: