[Cosmoline]

I've had an ancient Turkish Mauser bayonet lying around in cosmoline for years. It's pretty much impractical now that the rifle has long since been sold off. I used it for throwing and it was OK, but on a whim I had a local knife shop turn the dull edges into sharp ones. WOW! The fellow commented that he was surprised how good the steel was, and it's holding an edge sharper than any of my regular knives. I would not want to get stuck with this thing. It could smash through ribs and cut a heart like butter.

Are there any drawbacks to using a 16" bayonet for self defense, other than concealment problems?

[JShirley]

Personally, I really like that size, and have considered modifying a few similarly-sized bayonets by removing part of the barrel ring and the metal slot at the base.

When you say "drawback", are we speaking technically, or legally? Firearms are usually easier to use in legitimate self-defense. If you're just talking about working out with manual weapons, there's a lot of material from both East and West to address weapon tecs with two blades.

John