Yeah, the bayonet could lock into the slot either forwards or backwards, so it could be stowed easily when not in use. Unfortunately this meant it could lock into two bayonet slots at the same time and it could not be removed then. Later versions added an extra hole so you could still unlock the bayonet even if you were dumb enough to do this.
The average grunt is the most creatively inventive demographic you've ever seen. Unfortunately for their COs, they will exclusively use that talent to break shit, so the CO's job is to keep them leashed into they can find an enemy's shit to break, or said grunt learns how to direct themselves in that manner.
A Sapper friend of mine found his talent for such things being not only exploited but endorsed by Big Army. Somebody somewhere, after seeing that my buddy had managed to severely damage or comprehensively demolish several pieces of engineering equipment, arranged for him to be sent to Fort Nameiforgot, in Maryland I think it was, to spend six weeks driving test vehicles around and trying his best to break them. He described it as pure heaven, driving expensive government property into obstacles and ditches, off of small cliffs, into moving water, over ploughed fields and "car-killer" washboard roads, even seeing what sort of aggressive stupidity could roll the vehicle over and send it down a hill. He was, in effect, a human test dummy. Apparently he was told to imagine all the dumbest soldiers he'd ever served with, distill their fuckwittery down to it's purest essence, and do to these vehicles what Pvt. Snuffy would if given the chance. He was annoyed however, that he wasn't allowed to try out any explosives or EFPs- I think his professional pride as a Sapper was somewhat slighted by that, as well as his inner Adam Savage, which frankly was never very inner to begin with
I did this with the flute section in highschool (yes flute heads got stuck in the end of other flutes). When you're bored and curious, you fuck around with things
To add on to the other replies, they called it the French Finger Trap like those ones you'd get at arcades or fairs as a kid. The bayonet itself is pretty nasty, fairly long as as cruciform in shape and incredibly sharp. The rifle itself is the MAS-36, i've got a 36/51, gorgeous rifle.
Edit: I guess if i just scrolled a bit further i'd see someone else explain it but hey.
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u/TruePianist 20d ago