Attaching a bayonet doesn’t make shots impossible, but it can affect point of impact. The anecdotal answer in Garand shooting communities seems to vary anywhere between a 1 to 8 inch vertical shift at 100 yards, and an opening up of group sizes.
The vertical shift can be compensated for if you know what to expect on a given rifle (I’m going to assume a lot of little variables adding up between different rifles to account for different anecdotal differences), since pretty much everyone reports that a given rifle with a given bayonet is going to have a predictable shift.
There was almost certainly value in training to shoot with the bayonet attached to get the feel for it. It is easy to think of many WW2 situations that would have been at ranges where the opened up groups were not a make or break, especially if compensated for with adjusted aim to mitigate them.
Does a bayonet disturb the balance that much?
Attaching a bayonet doesn’t make shots impossible, but it can affect point of impact. The anecdotal answer in Garand shooting communities seems to vary anywhere between a 1 to 8 inch vertical shift at 100 yards, and an opening up of group sizes.
The vertical shift can be compensated for if you know what to expect on a given rifle (I’m going to assume a lot of little variables adding up between different rifles to account for different anecdotal differences), since pretty much everyone reports that a given rifle with a given bayonet is going to have a predictable shift.
The change mechanically is barrel flex and harmonics (which for years have not will continue not to pretend to understand beyond the pop-sci tier articles I read).
There was almost certainly value in training to shoot with the bayonet attached to get the feel for it. It is easy to think of many WW2 situations that would have been at ranges where the opened up groups were not a make or break, especially if compensated for with adjusted aim to mitigate them.