thorin6

Three things to add. Take good, clear pictures, in adequate light of all the important parts of the item, as well as one overall shot. Answer questions promptly. Spell everything correctly. I've bought many a bargain off ebay because the seller couldn't spell. And an incorrect spelling will miss various searches buyers use.

By the way, I can attest to the fact that they can be slept in, having done so on a summer night in Maine on the St. Croix river with the Boy Scouts.

I'm not sure that is a theater knife, as it looks well made. There are knives called pattern knives. These knives were generally unmarked, and are made in the same pattern as marked knives. This one looks a bit like a Case or possibly an English knife. As far as I know there has never been a compilation of the pattern knives, although Bill Walters talks about them in his Book II on pages 118-122. In fact, there is a knife identical to this one on page 121, number 7. His description of it is "This Case Stiletto pattern has a curved guard and leather handle with thick grey fiber washers."

Survey or construction scope. The empty holes in the clamp would hold a level while the two studs on the side would fit in an A frame type device.

Could they be WW1? I have a pair of WW1 USN binoculars in 10x45 so maybe they used different power binos than in WW2.

On the helmet you can see a space where another letter would have been attached to the front of the name. The M in McClean would be the reasonable guess. Also, the jump wings on the later uniform are for a Master Parachutist, which he would have earned after the basic jump school. You don't have to be jump qualified to be Ranger, but typically infantry officers would go to jump school then to Ranger school either before or right after Officer's Basic Course at Fort Benning.

In that case just keep looking. When the shortening first occurred, the bayonets were cut down into spear points, but as time went on, several manufacturers found that the bowie point was stronger (the spear point was in the fuller while the bowie point was in the upper part of the steel). I don't thing anyone knows how many were cut down into spear point versus bowie point. Anecdotally, it does appear that when PAL cut down the M1905s they used the spear point.

Already there.

I'm glad that most of my knife collecting is done. I no longer look for general manufacturers knives such as Mark 2s, Marine Corps Fighting Knives, Western and the like, I have more than enough as I'm a one of everything and not everything of one. I'm now looking for things that interest me and projects that can consume a considerable amount of time. It looks like I'm acquiring a new knife (one of a type that is not in the collection) about every other month, mostly off ebay these days. I just picked up a DIX knife and it was me and one other person bidding. He didn't want the knife as mu

Are you looking for a M1905 bayonet cut down to a bowie point by PAL or are you looking for a PAL M1905 cut down into a bowie point?

The shell and round second to the right, about $40, the shell to its right, about the same. Shell and round on the far left, around $60-75. Ones in the middle, no idea.

For what it's worth, I agree with your assessment. Looks like the original flap was used to attach the swivel part and a new flap put on. It appears to have been to allow it to go on a narrow belt and to hang down farther than a regular holster. As to when and where it was done, that's a good question that I don't think will ever be answered.

To make it clear, I was saying that I don't believe the OP posted a picture of a firing mechanism for a tank. I was thinking that it might be pre-WW2 blasting machine but I don't have any pictures to go on, just a guess.

Just doing a quick look for M8 sheath/scabbard on ebay there were several in the $30-50 range with a couple of bids each.

Look in the pinned section and you'll see information about these knives and the 1949 dated one. Best guesses have been 30 or less were made.