Kcb 70 Stoner bayonet

[SanderNL]

I was wondering if the kcb 70 stoner 63 bayonet saw any action in Vietnam.

According to Wikipedia it saw limited use in Vietnam, but how common was it?

If anybody knows how much action it saw in Vietnam and in what kind of operations I would like to know. :thumbsup:

 

Sander

[DSchlagan]

While the Stoner 63/63A LMG, and it's variants, saw very limited use in the Nam (primarily with U.S. SEALs and SFs); I would doubt that it's KCB 70 bayonet was Issued in any type of quantity, as the weapon will accept a M7 bayonet.

BTW, what you illustrate in the photo does not appear to be a bayonet. Note lack of barrel band and locking lugs; though it does appear otherwise similar to a KCB 70.

Did they possibly make a fighting knife, on same design, after lack of orders for the bayonet?

[SKIPH]

Hey Gang! Bac fom a short vacation. I picked up a Stoner bayonet in the late 70s for $15 from a friend. We were both in 5th SFGA. The bayonet was, and is still new condition. It was "not an issue item". They were selling them in pawn shops, and surplus stores. It was made by Eichorn, with the "Squirrel" trade mark and some little hidden removable piece that adapted to I think the German G-3 rifle. I don't know any SF guys who ever carried one in Vietnam. USN, possibly. Personally, I don't like it. SKIP

[marysdad]

That's not a Stoner bayonet. As DSchlagan points out, yours isn't a bayonet at all. It is a later commercial clone, made as a knife.

 

The KCB-70 Stoner bayonet has the Eickhorn trademark (squirrel) over "NWM" (Nederlandsche Wapen-en Munitiefabriek). That's how the real deal is marked. They were designed by the Carl Eickhorn firm (which went bankrupt in 1975), but produced in the Netherlands (along with the Stoner rifles). There were many subsequent clones made (the various Eickhorn follow-on firms kept making KCB-77 variants in Germany at least into the 1990s). You could get a KCB-77 to fit on almost any assault rifle made. Some had the squirrel and others were unmarked.

 

The real KCB-70 Stoner bayonet has a smooth, shiny black plastic grip and scabbard body. This plastic proved too brittle and suffered from cracking (in the link above, my scabbard is cracked between two of the rivets securing the wire cutter). Later clones had a rougher, matte black plastic which held up much better. The hidden, removable piece was the Stoner rifle's sight adjustment tool (I would love to find one, 'cuz my Stoner bayonet is missing the tool).

[majormadmax]

I know this is a seven year old thread, but I picked up a similar Eickhorn yesterday and wanted to add some thoughts to this discussion...

 

 

 

First, the knife SanderNL and I have are Eickhorn combat knives, not bayonets although they still used the KCB (Knife, Cutter and Bayonet) nomenclature. AES (Eickhorn) produced these in the 70s and 80s as Kampfmesser KCB 77 mit Schere ("combat knife with scissors") as seen in this 1982 AES catalog:

http://worldbayonets.com/Bayonet_Identification_Guide/Germany__Post_WW_II_/aes_catalog_ca_1984.pdf

For $56, I didn't think it was a bad deal; but I do wish it would have been a bayonet. There is no provision for mounting it to a rifle...

 

Anyone who wants to know more about the history of the KCB 70/77 should read this excellent article:

http://worldbayonets.com/Library/Articles/eickhorn_kcb_70_article.pdf

 

Cheers! M2

[kilian]

The claim that the KCB70 NWM-Eickhorn Stoner bayonet has a brittle plastic grip that therefore is prone to cracking is not correct. The plastic material used is very tough. I suspect the cracks have something to do with a suboptimal injection moulding process at the time of manufacturing. Maybe they still had to master the process for this plastic.

 

You cannot remove the grip by removing the plastic screw. If you try to loosen the screw, it will break. And with the srew out, the grip still cannot be removed. Possibly some ultrasonic welding process was used to secure the grip to the tang. I have once removed the grip from a KCB70 and it could only be done with brute force and strong tools (hammer, saw, chisel), litterally breaking it to pieces. Then one notices how tough the plastic is. It's not brittle.

 

I have never taken apart a scabbard, but I would expect that is of a tough material too. I do not know what caused the cracked scabbard shown in the article by Ralph Cobb. Personally I have not observed a cracked scabbard before, whereas I have seen several grips with cracks.