Went to the Antique Gun and Militaria show yesterday. Pretty laid back show with several friends set up there. I've been on the look out for a nice M3 but today's prices for good examples have held me up. The price was reasonable and I could not turn this one down.

Interestingly, the M8 sheath has the belt hook like that found on the M8A1, which I don't see very often. Approximately 2.5 million M3s made in WW II by various manufacturers but the good ones are hard to find.

Attached Images

	IMG_0736 (2).jpg (170.5 KB, 128 views)
	IMG_0737 (2).jpg (194.8 KB, 119 views)
	IMG_0738 (2).jpg (51.5 KB, 99 views)
	IMG_0736 (3).jpg (121.3 KB, 89 views)

I hope you didn't pay too much for that knife. I believe it is a recent manufactured Camillus M3. The WW II knives had two pins holding the pommel on. When Camillus remade those M3s they only put one pin in the pommel so you could tell the difference. It still is a nice sewn M8 sheath.

This one has two pins on the pommel, one on each side. Thanks for the info. I was not aware of that. He had an earlier blade marked Camillus also, for $25 more.

I'm curious, do the current versions have the Ord. Dept. flaming bomb on them?

Attached Images

IMG_0739 (2).jpg (108.5 KB, 56 views)

Very Nice. Love those WWII knives especially those you can find in great condition. Now you need a Ka-Barr USN MkII. I came across mine in a militaria auction in 2016 in the bottom of a box lot of poor condition knives. Was near the end of a large auction and waited everyone else out for several hours to bid on it. Got it at a reasonable price.

Attached Images

	IMG_1345.jpg (50.5 KB, 32 views)
	IMG_1348.jpg (117.3 KB, 40 views)
	IMG_4381.jpg (137.7 KB, 35 views)

Retired W4 that is a very nice M3, you certainly don't find them in that good of a condition very often these days. That was a good catch indeed.

Just for clarification on the two pins I've attached a picture of what to look for. Camillus did a great service to collectors by making the newer (post war) M3 different by securing the cap at the pommel with one pin rather than two that the originals manufactured in the 1940's.

Reports are that the M3 and, it's replacement, the M4 were very popular with the troops. In fact, the post war M5 bayonet for the M1 Garand used the same blade design as the M3 and M4.

Attached Images

IMG_E0080.jpg (60.5 KB, 126 views)

__________________
Live long and prosper

Don't have the Ka-Bar Mk II but I did get this USN Mk I for practically free at an estate sale a while ago. Not near as nice as the M3 but not bad. RH PAL 35.

I don't really "collect" these. I mostly have Al Mar and Chris Reeve, but I do have an appreciation for the WW II stuff.

Attached Images

	IMG_0494 (2).jpg (150.5 KB, 32 views)
	IMG_0495 (2).jpg (131.6 KB, 36 views)

After looking at the illustrations in my copy of M.H. Cole's book and Puller's photo, what I thought was two pins seems to be one pin that goes through to the other side. Not the two side by side pins. Looking at the recent versions of Camillus M3s, most of them seem to have something like a M6 sheath repro. Oh well. Still a nice knife, and no, I didn't pay too much for it. Thanks for the insight.

They are such nice blades! Love the balance. I have a Utica.

__________________
No baby we aint

The blade design was used on the M6 bayonet for the M14 as well as the M7 bayonet for the M16, still using the M8A1 sheath.

The M3 was designed as a combat knife in place of the Fairbairn-Sykes knife that American Rangers and other special operations troops had been using.

It was quickly replaced by the M4 bayonet for the M1 carbine when someone figured out the same basic knife could perform both roles with minimal changes.

The M3/M4s main weakness as a fighting knife was the only partially reverse edge which limited its utility in backhand slashing attacks, but it was necessary to strengthen the spine of the blade as they used a narrow blade profile to conserve strategic material. Another weakness was the relatively short tang, compared to the USMC Ka-Bar, which leaves the forefinger and thumb closer to the guard and more prone to getting cut when parrying a kite attack.

The other complaint some folks made was that they wouldn’t hold an edge, but that’s a relative thing. They were made from 1095 Crovan steel which has a hardened in the 56-60 range. As such it’s both easy to sharpen and still holds an edge fairly well. The USMC Ka-Bar was made from the same steel and the Marines didn’t complain about its edge holding ability.

1095 Crovan steel is not very rust resistant, thus the M3 and subsequent bayonets were parkerized. The Ka-Bar was made of the same steel and was painted to protect it from rust.

—-

Post war the M3/M4 design was adapted to create the M5 as a new bayonet for the M1 Garand, replacing the M1 and cut down 1905 bayonets.

The major changes were, the plastic scales to accommodate the button and internal lever arrangement to engage the bayonet stud on the M1 Garand, and the stud on the guard to engage the hole in the gas cylinder.

The M6 bayonet used on the M14 shared the same design, but with a ring on the guard to engage the flash suppressor.

Interestingly, the M7 bayonet for the M16 reverted to the M1 Carbine/M4 bayonet style locking mechanism. It retained the plastic scales, but also reverted to a rounded profile for the grip.

The tang and grip however were about a half inch longer than the M3 through M6. The length of the grip on the M7 is nearly identical to the length of the grip on the USMC Ka-Bar, finally overcoming the short grip concern on the M3 after 20 years and three intervening bayonet designs.

Have a U.S.N. MkII from Robeson, a bit more used than yours

Attached Images

89D6D162-B838-416F-B313-FA9F628D020C.jpg (143.7 KB, 22 views)

The Camillus M3 and M4 reproductions are superb and are head and shoulders above the other reproductions out there. It’s still a superb knife that doesn’t require any apology.

Have a couple of the Ka-Bar reproductions.....handy little 5" knife!

My Dad was in the Coast Guard and carried a 7" ( it has a Bowie Blade with a Fairburn/Sykes dagger shaped bone handle & brass guard) custom knife he picked up on the way to the south Pacific/Philippines.

He'd been a police officer since 1938 (riding an Indian Motorcycle and carrying a 6"Colt New Service worked over by Kings in .357 magnum) before enlisting on early 1942.

Recall him saying one time it took a month to figure out downsizing and who was going and who had to stay! Came out a Quarter Master

I'm sure there was a lot of difficult decision making in 1942. My dad wanted to quit his senior year to join. His older brother was already in. Dads teachers convinced him to finish HS and he joined the Army Air Corps as soon as he graduated.

I have 5 of the Ka-Bar M2 knives. All but one are recently made. It is my outdoor knife of choice and have one in every emergency kit.

When my son deployed to Iraq in 06, he had a M2 on his web gear. We found it at a local show for sale on a table with several used items of combat gear, My son wanted this knife! The owner said, His dad used it in WWII and Korea, he carried it in Vietnam, and since my son was deploying he could have it for free. My son insisted on paying the $40 he had on it, and turned down $75 later in the show. In Iraq it hung upside down on his web gear harness. But since he was a Blackhawk flight engineer it didn't see any intended use. When he was rotating back to Germany he met another Blackhawk mechanic that had just arrived in country. They have been in the 1/325th together since Jump School. so he kept the knife in it's 4th war!

Ivan

Killer story Ivan. 4th combat tour for one knife.