CMP bayonet: New or Used?

[Bayonetman]

Anyone familiar with the M5A1 and M4 bayonets and M8 bayonet scabbards being sold by CDNNinvestments? A friend of mine bought one M5A1 and one M4 along with two M8 scabbards. The M5A1 arrived in a long plastice ziplock bag with a slip of paper enclosed stating "repacked 7/86. The maker was marked AKI I believe. The M4 bayonet was similarly packaged but with no "repack date". Both M8 scabbards came packaged similarly with a slip of paper enclosed stating the manufacturer to be Atlantic Textile Company with a date of 6/77. Are these USGI in origin or are they "genuine" reproductions? I don't know squat about bayonets - I also need a copy of Bayonetman's book. Opinions? Thanks.

AKI has not been identified to my satisfaction, but is not a US military manufacturer. It may be that the maker was trying to play on the KI (Kinfolks Incorporated) name, but the maker is almost certain to be in SE Asia, quite possibly in Korea. One of the importers told me that he understood that it stood for American Korean Industries, but I have no firm proof of that. There is a AKI (Alliance Knife Inc) that makes commercial blades but they assured me that they had never made any sort of bayonet. But whoever AKI may be, the bayonets are apparently made outside of the US for commercial sale. I have seen the M4 and M5A1 bayonets so marked, and had a collector tell me that he had an M6 marked that way.

Atlantic Textiles is a name used by a commercial maker, also unidentified so far. These were common a few years ago and probably still are. Others were Western Plastics and Keller Manufacturing. I combined photos of the slips found in the packages of these three, note that all show the same information, contract number, etc. Just another way to make someone think they are getting real US military items.

[173rd]

Bayonetman, thank you for the most informative reply on the bayonets and scabbards. Don