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M4 Bayonet "TMN" with rubber grips.


Ben G.
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I know that there is some confusion about whether or not rubber grips on the u.s. m4 bayonets were a Korean war modification or some kind of post war commercial or military retrofit as a way of upgrading existing m4's with a better grip material than leather. This particular m4 I know is post Korean war, because it was made by Turner manufacturing company "marked TMN". I know that Turner didnt start making m4's until after korea, and they are usually found with the black checkered plastic grips. I was wondering if anyone could shed any light about this subject.

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zzyzzogeton

I read that the rubber handled M4s were reworked leather handled versions that the handles were rotting off of.  That the work was done on Okinawa during the VN war.  That said, I doubt TMN ever made any leather handled ones that would have then deteriorated to be reworked.  Maybe someone on Okinawa did a TMN just because they could.

 

Still looking for where I read the above info.  I still haven't found everything back after my last computer died and I had to pull data files off the old HD.

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Interesting, I was not aware that the rubber grips continued to be added even up until Vietnam. maybe it was done in support of south Vietnam, since the carbine was not in U.S. service anymore at that time.

 

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It's unusual to see a TMN M4 with rubber grips, since they originally came with plastic grips.  It's likely that the plastic grips were broken and the bayonets thrown in with the other M4s waiting to be rubberized.  The conventional wisdom is that these were not done by the U.S. at all, but rather, by the South Koreans.  M4s by the thousands were left in South Korea after the war.  They simply made them last for as long as possible.  There are two styles for rubber grips. The one you have was likely made in the late fifties early sixties. The earlier styles that have been reported as being used during the Korean war,  were smooth and glossy (there is no documentation to prove Korean war use)  Photos are inconclusive since the old black and white pictures look no different than the leather handled M4s. Here's a pic of a glossy rubber grip. Sadly, I no longer have this bayonet.

Marv

resized_056 M4 M3 blade Rubber handle.jpg

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As I've stated several times in past posts, my father served in Korea in 1852-1953 with the 40th Inf Div, and he carried and brought home a rubber handled M4 bayonet from that conflict.  I have that bayonet in my possession today and it is much as Misfit45 described; there are some other subtle differences between it and the TMN in the OP's post.  I have no doubt that they were present in the Korean War, but where they were made is unknown.

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Well I guess the proof is in the pudding, the rubber handled m4's were definitely used by u.s. forces in korea. I guess mine is likely a south Korean referb then, since it was made post korea and appears to be re-parkerized. Also, the us military would really have no reason to restore something that is already perfectly servicable, and not to mention, the carbine fell out of service only a few years after plastic gripped m4's started being made. Thanks for the information about this subject. I am a relatively new user, and I will most likely be posting more new things in the future!

 

 

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Just as an aside, I don't know if this is Misfit 45s long lost blade marked M4, but I picked this up off ebay when Skip pointed it out.  Its the top one in the picture.

 

M4 Bayonets KW.jpg

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That's pretty close thorin6, but not quite. Mine has a dimple in the rubber near the crossguard.  Is the second one down your dad's M4?  That is beyond cool!  What a memento!  The leather handled M4 is surely a Camillus as well.  Thanks for showing those. 

Marv

 

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From top to bottom,

Camillus blsde marked, rubber handle M4

Camillus rubber handled M4 my father carried

Camillus wood handle M4

TMN plastic handle M4

Kinfolks WW2 M4 bayonet with plastic handle

Camillus leather handle M4 Korean War era

A note on the blade marked M4.  I am of the opinion that this one did not start out as a bayonet.  I believe it was an M3 that had a deteriorated leather handle and was in the same batch that the M4s were.  When they began adding the rubber handles they would have been instructed to make only M4 bayonets, so the pommel was remove and an M4 guard added.  However the handles had to all be the same to fit in the mold and after cutting off the pommel the tang it was too short.  The solution was to cut away some of the shoulder of the M3 so it would fit in the mold.  If you look closely at both my M4 and Misfit 45's old M4, you can see that the space behind the runout is shorter than the ones on the other bayonets.  Just a theory.

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20200712_143935.jpgHey Gang! These are my two rubber handled M4s. Finally learned to take pics, and transfer to files. We"ll see how this goes. Camillus M3 & an RCC M3 conversions to M4s. Consider the RCC a real prize. OK! How do I post pictures now, can't figure it out. HELP! SKIP Not sure how I did it. But it messed up my statement. LOL! 

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Skip,

You'll get the hang of it.  I never post pictures until I've finished with the narrative.

On your two M4s shown, are the guards marked with the manufacturer's name or blank, and are they WW2 or post-WW2 (wider)?

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Bill- Both post war,  unmarked guards. I had actually finished the narrative, when I posted the pics. Like you said I'll figure it out.  SKIP

 

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Skip, when you say you posted the pics, do you mean that you successfully imported them underneath the reply you wrote?

You may have overlooked the last step.  You'll see a little plus sign in the upper lefthand corner of the pictures you imported.  You should place the curser at the spot in your text where you want the first picture to go and click it to get the blinking line there. then move your curser down to the plus sign of the first picture and click on ti. That will import the picture attachment into our post.  You repeat this step for the rest of the images you wish to show in your post than click on the Submit reply.

 

Hope this helps otherwise I was assuming something different than what your dealing with.

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sactroop- Thank you!  I'm not even sure I can repeat the process. Just a lucky hit. The plus sign will help. Have not seen anything in the "Image Posting" thread on this new way. Appreciate the assistance. SKIP

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