Bayonet Use on Rifles: Effects on Accuracy and Barrel Integrity

If using a bayonet seems like it might be a good idea then the enemy is a LOT closer to you and worrying about harming the barrel or lowering accuracy should be VERY low on your list of concerns. Read More About Bayonet Effects on Rifle Accuracy

Accuracy and the Bayonet

If you are in a situation where you need to use a bayonet for combat by that time accuracy of fire is no longer a really big priority item in your life. For the most part no use of a bayonet doesn’t lower accuracy.

Impact on the Barrel

Unlikely that a bayonet affixed to a barrel designed with a bayonet mount will damage the barrel in any appreciable way. Read About Bayonet Effects on Barrel DurabilityAny weight or pressure impinging on the barrel forward of the action will affect the harmonics of the barrel and will change the rifle's zero and point of impact. Whether the rifle is more or less accurate after re-zero can only be determined empirically.

Design Considerations

It won't harm the barrel and it won't affect the accuracy. Although it might actually improve the accuracy because you're adding a little bit of weight out there at the end that's going to help reduce recoil and might improve the follow-up shot. Military rifles are designed to have a bayonet on them. Its not going to damage it in any way.

Engineering and Experience

You would imagine that an engineer designing a rifle barrel with a bayonet lug would design the barrel to withstand the strains of combat. After all, bayonets have been around since the earliest muskets, replacing the lance when the lancers became fusiliers. There is a lot of experience there. Read About Bayonet History and Design

Practical Considerations in Combat

Now when you learn to shoot without the bayonet, adding that weight to the muzzle will affect your ability to aim. But since you only affix bayonets when you're in bad-breath range of your enemy or out of ammo, aiming suddenly becomes an afterthought.

Actually fight an opponent with fixed bayonets can potentially damage the rifle. There is a lot of force applied in parrying the thrusts of someone who is trying to kill you and in striking him with your own weapon. Read About Bayonet Combat EffectsShooting a rifle with the bayonet attached however does not harm the rifle but it will change the point of impact on the target. The amount is usually small but it is different for each rifle. If the bayonet is properly attached using the rifle's bayonet lug and in good repair, it will simply shift the point of impact from the aim point and not affect the size of groups achievable with the rifle.

American and Soviet Doctrine

If the rifle is zeroed for 200 meters for example, you would need to re-zero the rifle with the bayonet mounted to correct for the mounted bayonet's effect on the harmonics of the barrel if you intended to shoot with the bayonet mounted all the time. Read About Rifle Zeroing and Bayonet Attachment

U.S. military training doctrine and practice is to keep the bayonet in its scabbard until it is needed or likely to be needed for bayonet fighting or crowd control. We prefer to keep opponents at distance and shoot them as far away as possible rather than letting them get so close as to need the bayonet. There is actually a command to "fix bayonets" for such situations and when it is given, everybody mounts their bayonet and starts getting mentally prepared for an up-close-and-personal shit-hits-the-fan moment. The small shift in bullet strike is the least of your concerns if the bad guy is within bayonet distance.

Soviet doctrine called for zeroing the Mosin-Nagant with bayonets fixed. Different rifle, different mindset.