Recently, a video popped up in my feed showing an “influencer” mounting a bayonet on an AR-15 rifle and then engaging what appeared to be 8-inch steel plates from a distance that looked to be around 100 yards. The first view showed the shooter at the bench and the second view was down range with the “clang, clang, clang” of bullets hitting steel.
Far be it from me to cast aspersions, but I wondered just how realistic such a display was?
Many years ago, my friend and gun writing mentor, Wiley Clapp, told me, “You can destroy the accuracy of a rifle platoon by saying two words: Fix bayonets!” Wiley was a major fixture in the gun writing world for about forty years, but many don’t know that he was also a Marine Company Commander during Vietnam.
This was fascinating.
My assumptions were incorrect.
I know it is more shooting related, but the bayonet angle gave me an in.
Read the whole thing at KnifeWire.com
https://www.knifewire.com/features/2026/07/barrel-harmonics-how-shooting-with-a-bayonet-attached-affects-accuracy/
Read the full article here