Does anyone actually use the bayonet lug?

[milktree]

The bayonet lug looks all tacticool and stuff, but does it really have any advantage at all?

Are there bipods you can mount to it? Or lights, lasers, bullhorns, strobes, IR illuminators... anything that wouldn't be better mounted to a picatinny rail?

From my perspective, the only thing it does is make a gun harder to make compliant with any state that has something like an AWB still in place. That means no matches in those states, which is a big nuisance.

I can't imagine ever using a bayonet mounted to the gun for defense.

Are they still standard on most ARs because they look cool, or is there some other reason one might want to have one? I can't think of any.

 

[mkal88]

ive mounted a bayonet on it once for picture purposes but thats it.

 

[BossHarley]

I agree 100%, waste of time.

 

[jar]

I agree that there's no point on ARs. Now a Mosin on the other hand, is a pretty good spear that happens to also be a gun. Also, I want to get bayonets for my Garand and M1 Carbine, just for historical purposes.

 

[CJKarl]

Although the bayonet is a lethal weapon. I believe 99% it's to give the user confidence.

 

[ChevyGuy91]

Are there bipods you can mount to it? Or lights, lasers, bullhorns, strobes, IR illuminators... anything that wouldn't be better mounted to a picatinny rail?

Are they still standard on most ARs because they look cool, or is there some other reason one might want to have one? I can't think of any.

I am not sure you would want anything hanging from one, I would think it would defeat the purpose of floating a rail tube.

It's what the Mil uses, and the Mil is cool.

 

[icyclefar]

The best practical use of the bayonet that I've seen was at an NES shoot.

All of the rifle racks were full, so a few guys planted their rifles into the ground via the bayonet.

Proved to be a great impromptu storage method.

 

[Davidk]

Did you notice that ever since they were banned under the "Assault" weapons ban, there has not been a single drive-by bayoneting?

 

[1903Collector]

Did you notice that ever since they were banned under the "Assault" weapons ban, there has not been a single drive-by bayoneting?

Indeed

 

[milktree]

Did you notice that ever since they were banned under the "Assault" weapons ban, there has not been a single drive-by bayoneting?

Has there been a documented case of a non-wartime bayonetting, ever?

 

[June4th]

You can keep bayoneting the charging zombies even as your magazines ran dry...

Someone had said that bayonets have more intimidating factor since sometimes wackos don't believe you would actually shoot when you wield your Garand and yell 'Get off my lawn!'

 

[SKS Ray]

Are they still standard on most ARs because they look cool, or is there some other reason one might want to have one? I can't think of any.

You could ask the same question about flash hiders.

IMO I think anything that is supposed to have a lug on it should, same with a folding stock, flash hider, etc. Its the way the rifle was designed, its the way I should be able to own it. Would I ever find any of those features usefull, probably not. I also may never use all the bells and whistles my cell phone has but its nice to know they're there.

One possible reason why they're still on ARs today is because many parts are produced for military/police as well as civillian so rather than adding expenses by making a neutered front sight many companies are just sticking with one design.

 

[amb]

I agree that there's no point on ARs. Now a Mosin on the other hand, is a pretty good spear that happens to also be a gun.

The tip of a Mosin bayonet also doubles as a screwdriver. (I believe it's intentional; it's certainly a good size for taking down the rest of the gun.)

 

[theGringo]

There's still a place in the world for the bayonet. Civilian defenders of liberty take notice. The bayonet simply scares the shit out of the enemy.

Prepared by the U.S. Urban Warfare Analysis Center:

Executive Summary:

In May 2004, approximately 20 British troops in Basra were ambushed and forced out of their vehicles by about 100 Shiite militia fighters. When ammunition ran low, the British troops fixed bayonets and charged the enemy. About 20 militiamen were killed in the assault without any British deaths.

The bayonet charge appeared to succeed for three main reasons. First, the attack was the first of its kind in that region and captured the element of surprise. Second, enemy fighters probably believed jihadist propaganda stating that coalition troops were cowards unwilling to fight in close combat, further enhancing the element of surprise. Third, the strict discipline of the British troops overwhelmed the ability of the militia fighters to organize a cohesive counteraction.


The effects of this tactical action in Basra are not immediately applicable elsewhere, but an important dominant theme emerges regarding the need to avoid predictable patterns of behavior within restrictive rules of engagement. Commanders should keep adversaries off balance with creative feints and occasional shows of force lest they surrender the initiative to the enemy.

I. Overview of Bayonet Charge
On 21 May 2004, Mahdi militiamen engaged a convoy consisting of approximately 20 British troops from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 55 miles north of Basra. A squad from the Princess of Wales regiment came to their assistance. What started as an attack on a passing convoy ended with at least 35 militiamen dead and just three British troops wounded. The militiamen engaged a force that had restrictive rules of engagement prior to the incident that prevented them from returning fire. What ensued was an example of irregular warfare by coalition troops that achieved a tactical victory over a numerically superior foe with considerable firepower.

read the whole thing: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0bd_1249524865

 

[Dench]

People, criminals especially, used to use bayonets frequently in the early 90's "Great Bayonet Scare". Luckily for us simple plebeians, the Clinton Administration banned these from rifles. Bayonet attacks virtually disappeared from 1994-2004. After the ban sun-setted in the majority of the country, bayonet attacks have drasticly increased. Not a single day goes by in states like NH or VT where a person is not brutally stabbed to death with one.

Luckily, I live in Massachusetts. Criminals in MA understand the law and obey it. Not a single bayonet attack here for over 16 years.

 

[milktree]

You could ask the same question about flash hiders.

IMO I think anything that is supposed to have a lug on it should, same with a folding stock, flash hider, etc. Its the way the rifle was designed, its the way I should be able to own it. Would I ever find any of those features usefull, probably not. I also may never use all the bells and whistles my cell phone has but its nice to know they're there.

One possible reason why they're still on ARs today is because many parts are produced for military/police as well as civillian so rather than adding expenses by making a neutered front sight many companies are just sticking with one design.

But... since no civilians care about bayonet lugs (except for the "rightness" or "coolness" of the gun), and there's no way the police or SWAT or FBI would ever mount a bayonet, and since they don't stick with only one design anyway (all the CA or MA or CT approved guns, for instance)

I'm really surprised how hard it is to find an upper that doesn't have a lug.


I disagree about the flash hider though. I can think of lots of things I'd want to mount, or change, about the muzzle.

For instance: it's perfectly legitimate to want to try several kinds of muzzle brakes, or want to take the brake or flash hider off to make it lighter.


For the record, I agree completely that the AWB is really bad law because it doesn't make anyone safer, and criminalizes otherwise law abiding citizens.

And, I agree that there's something cool about having one that is [strike]exactly like[/strike] visually identical to the ones the army uses.

 

[MACGYVR]

Are there plans that show you how to grind it down into a bottle opener? Would make it 1000x more useful than a bayonet. Although you can open #10 cans with a bayonet....

 

[LKB3rd]

Has there been a documented case of a non-wartime bayonetting, ever?

http://www.assaultweaponwatch.com/
They have had that one on webcam 24/7 for years, and as far as I know, no bayoneting has happened...YET.

December 18, 2004

We received a gracious donation of a bayonet from Model "1" Sales, a merchant of death and destruction that debates our claim that drive-by bayonetings are a serious problem and doubt that assault weapon violence will be spotted!

With their assistance, we finally managed to attach the bayonet to the assault rifle correctly. Little do they know that they will be contributing to their own demise as we record bayonet violence that will no doubt result in a nationwide bayonet ban!

 

[Climbnsink]

I was flipping through Atul Gawande's new book and he talks about a stabbing victim they almost lost in the ER as they thought it was a flesh wound and no one asked the patient what he was stabbed with. Turns out he was stabbed at a costume party by a guy with a bayonet. So it has happened once.

 

[Scrivener]

I was flipping through Atul Gawande's new book and he talks about a stabbing victim they almost lost in the ER as they thought it was a flesh wound and no one asked the patient what he was stabbed with. Turns out he was stabbed at a costume party by a guy with a bayonet. So it has happened once.

Was the bayonet actually used AS a bayonet and not a mere knife? In other words, was the victim stabbed by an assailant using a gun with the bayonet attached?

If not - and I'm betting it wasn't - it isn't really a bayonetting.

 

[SKS Ray]

I disagree about the flash hider though. I can think of lots of things I'd want to mount, or change, about the muzzle.

For instance: it's perfectly legitimate to want to try several kinds of muzzle brakes, or want to take the brake or flash hider off to make it lighter.

I was refering to flash hiders and the AWB. Muzzle brakes are ok in mass, flash hiders aren't.

 

[KBCraig]

i get a kick out of seeing bay lugs on M-Faux/M-4geries. Yeah, go ahead and mount that bayo.... you'll have about an inch of blade extending past the muzzle.

 

[vellnueve]

You get plenty of usable length... 1.5 inches lost due to the longer barrel really doesn't mean that much.

 

[Martlet]

I've never dared use it. I hear bayonet lugs are pretty dangerous.

 

[LoginName]

The tip of a Mosin bayonet also doubles as a screwdriver. (I believe it's intentional; it's certainly a good size for taking down the rest of the gun.)

Another bayonet fun fact... an AK-47 bayonet and scabbard can be combined to fashion a barbed wire cutter.

Whether or not us commoners have a genuine need, desire or Constitutional right to be able to snip through barbed wire is an entirely different subject for discussion.

 

[drgrant]

Kidding aside, a bayonet lug is good because it pisses off an anti.

-Mike

 

[Bill Nance]

Two words guaranteed to scare the living shit out of any grunt: "Fix Bayonets."

If I was in a war zone I'd like to have one for that last exigency, but ya, bayonet charges in the days of full-auto weapons are not something you EVER want to do. If David Hackworth, at the time of his death the most decorated living American soldier thought the idea of a bayonet charge was totally badass brave in Korea, you know it hasn't gotten any easier.

 

[SecondAmdFirst]

Kidding aside, a bayonet lug is good because it pisses off an anti.

-Mike

Mike....thanks for the good laugh.

 

[Mattitude]

Not exactly...the real problem with mounting a bayo on a 16" barrel is that the forward mount on the bayo (the ring) sits just behind the flash suppressor on the barrel which causes the bayo to rattle around. It's designed for a 14.5" M4 or 20" M16 rifle barrel length for the forward mount to properly secure around the flash suppressor. Me personally I don't like it when people say that because a feature has "no real use" and therefore shouldn't be there as that leads to compromises, losing that feature and then moving on to "other features" that have no real purpose. Soon enough all you'll be holding ironically will be the bayonet. Now there are some bipods that attach to the lug and there is even a mini picatinny rail adapter that mounts to it.

i get a kick out of seeing bay lugs on M-Faux/M-4geries. Yeah, go ahead and mount that bayo.... you'll have about an inch of blade extending past the muzzle.

 

[Old Glory]

I don't need one at the range. If I were a soldier I would want one. I don't miss it but I do not think they should be banned. When they wrote the law it was deemed an "evil feature" that was unnecessary for a civilian.