M7 Bayonet Loose

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Panzerschwein

Panzerschwein

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Hello all. I have a new Mossberg M590A1 shotgun and decided to get a bayonet for it. I got a surplus Vietnam era M7 bayonet off ebay and it came today. I attached it, but it seems very loose. It rotates on the lug badly and rattles a whole lot. The bayonet does not come off no matter how hard I shake it so it's on there, but is not snug to say the least.

I am wondering if this is normal for this bayonet to be loose on a M590A1 shotgun? Should it lock up tight? Are some M7 bayonets looser than others, should I worry?

If anyone could help, that would be great. I spent over $40 for the bayonet and scabbard and plenty on the shotgun so if anything is wrong, I want to know. Thank you so much.
 
Have you tried stabbing anything with it? Does it work correctly, or does it come off when you try to withdraw it from the body?
 
Sam1911 said:
Have you tried stabbing anything with it? Does it work correctly, or does it come off when you try to withdraw it from the body?
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I stuck a couple carboard boxes (vacuum cleaner box, probably shouldn't have done that) but that is all. I held it by the bayonet handle and jerked the hell out of it, I don't think it's going to come off. But, it's quite loose and rattles.

Here is a video I took with me wiggling it:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gqldwva6wq4who8/J#.mp4?dl=0
 
Normal. If they fit snugly, they'd be a pain to get on and off. the attachment point is the spring loaded "fingers" that go onto the lug. The barrel band (or magazine tube band, in your case) is just to keep it pointed in the right direction. Hardly a precision weapon.
 
When I had an M590, I had one M7 that was a sloppy fit. And, another (which had been an M8 bubba-ed into an M7) that fit "M-16 sloppy.' The M9 I had almost would not mount

$40 for an M-7 with scabbard is an excellent deal.

Now, most bayonets do not fit rigidly--not in the way the old socket bayonets did, or even the M-1903 series. Now, those latter did not always have a tight grip at the muzzle, but the lug had a long spine and corresponding slot. This was reduced on the M-14, and almost done away wit on the AR.

If it bugs you enough, you could take the mossy down to the gun show and cruise the tables with bayonets, and give them a try until you find one you like. But, given that the locking lug mating surface is only about 5-6mm . . .

That's my 2¢ having owned a 590, and still own a plethora of bayonets.

If you want to fit the 590 out like the way the FAST guye used to--you need a green nylon Garand type (with a spring clip rear) sling. You can slip a spare round OG green sleeve on the stock, too, if you care to. Some teams, the shotgunner would got get a COTS sling with shellholder, but that was outside TO&E.
 
When I had an M590, I had one M7 that was a sloppy fit. And, another (which had been an M8 bubba-ed into an M7) that fit "M-16 sloppy.' The M9 I had almost would not mount

$40 for an M-7 with scabbard is an excellent deal.

Now, most bayonets do not fit rigidly--not in the way the old socket bayonets did, or even the M-1903 series. Now, those latter did not always have a tight grip at the muzzle, but the lug had a long spine and corresponding slot. This was reduced on the M-14, and almost done away wit on the AR.

If it bugs you enough, you could take the mossy down to the gun show and cruise the tables with bayonets, and give them a try until you find one you like. But, given that the locking lug mating surface is only about 5-6mm . . .

That's my 2¢ having owned a 590, and still own a plethora of bayonets.

If you want to fit the 590 out like the way the FAST guye used to--you need a green nylon Garand type (with a spring clip rear) sling. You can slip a spare round OG green sleeve on the stock, too, if you care to. Some teams, the shotgunner would got get a COTS sling with shellholder, but that was outside TO&E.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much, you are a wealth of knowledge CapnMac. The bayonet an scabbard were $43 with free shipping, so I can't complain. It's in decent shape as well.

The rattle itself really doesn't bother me. Like I said, I'm almost certain it's not going to come off. I was just concerned that it was unusual or that either my bayonet lug was out of spec, etc., or the bayonet I got was defective.
 
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Like I said, I'm almost certain it's not going to come off.
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I wouldn't worry about it. Even if it does come off when you use it, it will have almost certainly done all you need it to do. I mean, what are the odds of your having to bayonet more than one person in such a short interval that you won't have a chance to recover the blade from the body of your first attacker?

Anyway, like you I don't think it will come off. The wiggle could actually be a good thing. It's going to gives you a little more leverage/momentum for if it gets stuck and you need to yank it out of a bone. You know, how if you get an axe stuck in a stump and it won't move at all, you're in trouble. But if it will wiggle a little you can work at it and eventually get it out.

Why don't you do some testing to see how it works for you? Maybe find someone who does a lot of big game hunting and ask them if they will let you bayonet their next kill repeatedly. You can probably learn some good technique from youtube videos. Just be sure to hang the carcass up so it's vertical to keep your practice more realistic.

If you post some video of the bayonet actually being used on something realistic, someone here will be able to tell you if there's a problem.
 
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All the toadstabbers I have on all my milsurps would qualify as "loose", so I'm guessing it's normal.
 
I have an M4 bayonet for my M1 Carbine and the fit around the barrel is very loose. Like others have commented, I think that is intentional and what matters is if the catch at the base of bayonet gets a good grip on the bayonet lug on the gun.
 
Some rattled on M-16A1s so I am guessing that is normal. When thrusting into the "chest" of laminated end on rubber targets in the bayonet assault course it was not particularly unusual to have an M7 come off an M-16A1.

So they dropped the bayonet assault course......

We had troops coming to my Infantry out fit as early as 1974 that claimed to have had no Pugil stick training or even bayonet katas with even the new "instinctive" style.

By 1975 the higher ups had pretty much decided to never issue us bayonets even when we asked for them.....there was an unfortunate thing involving a misunderstanding between one of our officers and an MP officer that resulted in a bayonet wound....

I always thought of ancient pike men whenever I saw an M97 with 1917 US "Enfield" bayonet. Men of Harlocke standing ever.......

-kBob
 
Yes I am SERIOUS.
I use the bayonet while feral hog hunting as a rule now. Before that I had one (250 Lbs.) play dead on me and when I approached he jumped up and I got severely slashed requiring emergency air lift and fifty plus stiches to the legs and one arm. Could have bled to death if not for others that helped in the hunt. Now they all get a bayonet thrust before attempting to roll one to dress it out.
 
col.lemat said:
Yes I am SERIOUS.
I use the bayonet while feral hog hunting as a rule now. Before that I had one (250 Lbs.) play dead on me and when I approached he jumped up and I got severely slashed requiring emergency air lift and fifty plus stiches to the legs and one arm. Could have bled to death if not for others that helped in the hunt. Now they all get a bayonet thrust before attempting to roll one to dress it out.
Click to expand...
Yeah a guide I saw one time released the pig my buddy just shot was still alive. He pulled out his ka-bar and plunged it into the oinker's heart, killing it with much authority. It was pretty badass, I'm not going to lie!
 
You know I always assumed the traditional German hunting custom of using a "Hirsch Messer" (Stag Knife) on large game had a reason other than silly tradition.

We did joke about the need to always have a bayonet mounted when hunting Jack-a-lope ( I have forgotten the German name for the critters) Most every rural Gaste Haus and half the urban bars seemed to have a mount of an antlered Hassen (jack rabbit) on the wall some were and New-bees always were fascinated with them.

There fore we took it upon ourselves to make up a host of stories about Jack-a-lope attacks on the innocent. It sort of backfired in that some guys were deathly afraid of the non-existant little fellers to the point of arguing about NOT going on patrols and when forced to do so spending all their time looking for the things.

I must say that for stopping a charging Jack-a-lope I found a sharpened e-tool worked just as well........

-kBob
 
Ace,

In 1975 we got a bunch of guys in with zero bayonet training. They also had other holes in their training brought about by the use of the "M-1 Pencil" in their stateside basic and AIT. We failed a NATO level inspection on a NUke Site because three out of the four New-Bees on a site for the first time literally on their second day got called on by the testers to field strip and M-60 GPMG. All had cards in their files showing training with them two claimed to have had KP and no make up classes, one said they just never got tested for it and the one did it but was very unconfident. Not only was M-60 training required, but it was supposed to be tested at the end of the training cycle.

We started a policy of running the version of the end of cycle test one of us had from 1973 with all new-bees and found issues almost every time.

Hey! "The War" was over, man. Just CYA with the paper work and get on home to Momma, Dude.

Biggest issue to come from this for the Old Boys was a rift in bayonet training to give New-fers. Myself and a Military High School grad and all the older NCOs wanted the use the old style kata based Bayonet training and the younger NCOs all wanted the then new and standardized instinctive training. Exactly how does one standardize instinct?

-kBob
 
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