M9 Bayonet

HDCharlie · Jun 30, 1999

Jeff, whatever happened to the M9 bayonet Buck made? I looked on the company web site, but the search function turned up nothing. When were they made, in what numbers, and when were they discontinued, at least for civilian consumption. If possible, could you find out what they retailed for?
TIA for any info you can supply
Charlie

Titan · Jul 1, 1999

... also, is it true that a US dealer can not sell this internationally without approval from a US agency?

Dennis Wright · Jul 1, 1999

Charlie,
I don't know how many were made but they were discontinued late last year. It is my understanding that Buck lost the contract to supply the military with them.

There were several variations in color and blade finish, the last one being all black with a black scabbard and webbing.

The retail price at the last was $213.00 if my memory serves me correctly. I got eight of them right after they were discontinued. I think I have five left.

An interesting thing about the ones I had. Someone goofed at thefactory and the handles were put on wrong. They had the bayonet lug slot on the wrong side, 180 degrees out from the muzzle ring. I took them back to the Buck plant and they fixed them. I have always wondered how many actually got out that way. Jeff, Any idea?

Another sidenote. I have heard from some pretty good sources that the new M9s made by the new supplier aren't holding up in the field. I've heard that they tend to break under heavy use. To my knowledge, none of the Buck M9s ever did that. I guess that's what you get when you go with the lowest bidder. Anyway these things can be found on the street for around a hundred bucks from the cheap knife dealers like Cheaper than Dirt, R Guns, etc. I don't know if I would waste my money on one though. There are also some Chinese knockoffs out there in the 60 to 70 dollar range. I don't think I have to tell you what I think of those.

Jeff can fill you in on the other information you wanted, like numbers made, etc.

Titan, I don't know about the export rules on these. I've never tried to ship one out of the country.

Dennis

------------------
Isn't it amazing how 2 cents worth of opinion takes up a quarter's worth of paper???

wrightknife@ixpres.com

CJ Buck · Jul 1, 1999

Buck became the subcontractor for the M9 bayonet in 1986. The contract was for 315,000 pieces with a couple of 60,000 unit options at military discretion.

The prime contractor was an oceanside R&D firm called Phrobis.

We had a falling out over the last payment due on the contract and ended up settling on buying the company including all product rights to knives that they developed, including the technical data package for the M9.

The contract lasted 3 years, the options were not used and the contract was opened to lowest bidder. We cut margin to the bone, hoping to make up margin on civilian units but were underbid. A company called Lancay.

I do recall complaints on the performance of these units and late deliveries. But you could not beat the price.

We made commercial units until our tooling wore out and the production numbers did not justify replacing that tooling.

I am not sure how many were produced overall. I will look into it.

------------------
CJ Buck
Buck Knives, Inc.
AKTI Member #PR00003

HDCharlie · Jul 2, 1999

Thanks to all for the information posted so far. I look forward to any further info you can come up with.

Charlie

ghostsix · Jul 21, 1999

If you know an authorised person,MIL. Sales still has a few. 1 800-527-2345.

------------------

ghostsix · Jul 25, 1999

I would like to thank C.J. for going to the effort to let the few owners know.One Co. won`t bother themselves.I think that it is an historical service.I wish that more had C.J.`s sense of obligation to history.

------------------

CJ Buck · Jul 26, 1999

Thanks Ghost.

I do enjoy providing the background when I can.

------------------
CJ Buck
Buck Knives, Inc.
AKTI Member #PR00003

ghostsix · Aug 8, 1999

CJ, I`m a pilot.Now, there are people who can tell you what Don Luscombe.or Bill Piper had for lunch in 1948.I suspect that a similar interest is evolving with Buck,Bo Randall,Ek and a few others.Sam Johnson rebuilt a S-38 to recreate his father`s trip to Brazil.He was lucky.The Co`s.involved had lost a good deal of their history.The plane flew onto 27 last week at Oshkosh.I hope that you have a co. historian.

------------------

Jeff Hubbard · Aug 17, 1999

All,
Some numbers I dug up on Bayonets shipped over the years.
<table>
<tr VALIGN="bottom">
<td BGCOLOR="#800000" ALIGN="center" COLSPAN="4">Bayonets
Shipped</td>
</tr>
<tr VALIGN="bottom">
<td BGCOLOR="#800000" ALIGN="left">Type</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#800000" ALIGN="left">Buck Part #</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#800000" ALIGN="right"
Quantity </td>
<td BGCOLOR="#800000" ALIGN="right">Comments</td>
</tr>
<tr VALIGN="bottom">
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">US Army</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">0188-00-0</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"
330,254 </td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"> </td>
</tr>
<tr VALIGN="bottom">
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">Australian</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">0188-A1-0</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"
20,050 </td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"> </td>
</tr>
<tr VALIGN="bottom">
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">Abu Dabi</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">0188-AD-0</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"
1,500 </td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">Desert Sand colored
handle and Sheath</td>
</tr>
<tr VALIGN="bottom">
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">Commercial
(black)</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">0188-BK-0</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"
14,213 </td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"> </td>
</tr>
<tr VALIGN="bottom">
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">Diamaco</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">0188-DM-0</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"
8,681 </td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"> </td>
</tr>
<tr VALIGN="bottom">
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">Marine Proto</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">0188-MC-0</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"
350 </td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">Riveted units</td>
</tr>
<tr VALIGN="bottom">
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">Commercial (OD
Green)</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">0188-CB-0</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"
28,238 </td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"> </td>
</tr>
<tr VALIGN="bottom">
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">Field Knife,
Japan I (latchplate)</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">0188-J1-0</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"
1,956 </td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">Modified Latchplate</td>
</tr>
<tr VALIGN="bottom">
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">Field Knife,
Japan II (Quillon / latchplate)</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">0188-J2-0</td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"
504 </td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left">Modified Latchplate
and Quillon</td>
</tr>
<tr VALIGN="bottom">
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left"> </td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="left"> </td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"
405,746 </td>
<td BGCOLOR="#FFFF00" ALIGN="right"> </td>
</tr>
</table>

Jeff "let's hope the HTML works" Hubbard

------------------
Jeff "Without data it's just another opinion" Hubbard
Quality Supervisor

JeffH@buckknives.com
<A HREF="http://www.buckknives.com]www.buckknives.com[/URL" TARGET=_blank>
Watch for Pete's Custom Knife Shoppe on www.buckknives.com</A>

[This message has been edited by Jeff Hubbard (edited 17 August 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Jeff Hubbard (edited 17 August 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Jeff Hubbard (edited 17 August 1999).]

ghostsix · Aug 18, 1999

An impressive number.And the diversity is of intresst.As few are trained in the Spirit of the Bayonet,most of these lived as field knives.A succesful run nonetheless.Thanks Jeff.

------------------

NamViet Vo · Aug 19, 1999

Holy cow! My M9 is a Field Knife (don't know if it is Japan I or Japan II). How can I tell?

Jeff Hubbard · Aug 19, 1999

NamViet,
This is what I remember about the Japan I and Japan II models.
Japan I - Latchplate is non functional. There is a plate there, but it is more like a butt plate. No Mechanism to attach to the Bayo. Normal Quillion
Japan II - Latchplate as above, and also the Flash suppressor hole on the Quillion is absent.

From what I remember this had to do with the Firearms laws in Japan, the knife could not be capable of attaching to a gun. (hence Field Knife designation instead of Bayonet)

Jeff

------------------
Jeff "Without data it's just another opinion" Hubbard
Quality Supervisor

JeffH@buckknives.com
www.buckknives.com
Watch for Pete's Custom Knife Shoppe on www.buckknives.com

NamViet Vo · Aug 20, 1999

Thanks, Jeff. Mine is a Japan 1. Buck Knives did sent me the correct bayonet latch plate at my request. At the time, I thought that my M9 was a defect without the correct latch plate. I bought the knife to go on the end of my personal M16.

trz · Aug 24, 1999

Jeff, on the Marine Prototypes what do you mean by "riveted"?? Thanks
Frank

Jeff Hubbard · Aug 23, 1999

TRZ

On a normal production Bayonet, the latch plate was held on by a cap screw onto a tang rod screwed onto the blade. With the Marine samples, we used a full tang and rolled the end of the tang to secure the latch plate. This formed a riveted end instead of one with a cap screw.

Jeff

------------------
Jeff "Without data it's just another opinion" Hubbard
Quality Supervisor

JeffH@buckknives.com
www.buckknives.com
Watch for Pete's Custom Knife Shoppe on www.buckknives.com