FN FAL Type A Dress Bayonet

FN's initial bayonet design was what we know today as the FAL Type A bayonet. It was an innovative design that confronted the adverse effects that a bayonet has on the accuracy of a self-loading rifle with new technology. It's designers introduced the "free-recoil" concept, where a spring plunger hidden inside the hilt allowed the bayonet to float during rapid semi-auto and full-automatic fire, decreasing the bayonet's adverse effect on accuracy. This ingenious approach was later adopted by the Dutch firm, Artillerie Inrichtingen, when designing a bayonet for another groundbreaking assault rifle, the Armalite AR–10.

The most distinctive feature of the Type A bayonet are the flash-hider "prongs" integral with the muzzle-ring. These served as an ersatz flash-hider on early FALs that had no muzzle device. The blade profile is a variation of the U.S. M4 design. The grip scales can be wood, plastic, or sheet steel. The steel scabbard follows the standard FN Mauser export bayonet scabbard design developed in the 1920s. Scabbards with oval frog studs are also encountered.

The Type A was the FAL bayonet used with the standard FAL rifle, which had no muzzle device. When NATO standardized on the 22 mm. rifle grenade in the early 1960s. This necessitated a new bayonet design, due to the large diameter muzzle device required to accept and launch the 22 mm. rifle grenade. Despite it's obsolescence, the Type A bayonet remained in use for many years, seeing combat service with Argentine forces during the 1982 Falklands War.