Folding bayonet

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Interested Party

... Concerning the other examples shown what is the advantage of a folding bayonet for a military weapon?.

Quoting the author of the abovementioned work on the Carcano bayonets, Frederick H. Stephens himself:

" Why one made it at all attachable instead of keeping it fixed as with the cavalry carbines is not entirely clear - probably to provide for the case that a soldier would need his bayonet for the (much more common) use of opening tin cans, slaughtering the requisitioned chicken or rabbits, or even for the (rarer) use as a fighting knife in close combat ".