Military doctrine of the era still depended on the bayonet to be an important weapon. Prior to the Great War infantry rifle barrels were universally long, 28-30", for the express purpose of extending the reach of the bayonet. Gew 98's in the hands of Kaiser Bill's troops retained that long length and a relatively short bayonet but the Brits' SMLE's and Yanks' '03's had been shortened by then to 23-24" barrels (but fitted with rather long bayonets to make up the difference). Hence the MHG fell somewhere in between. Interesting statistic: less than 1/2 of 1% of recorded injuries were attributed to bayonets. Then as now they were mainly used as kitchen utensils.
I wouldn't have wanted to spend any time in the trenches of the Western Front trying to keep the flotsam-jetsam and mud out of those enclosed delicate innards of a Savage lever gun. (Heck, I wouldn't have wanted to spend any time in those trenches period.)
