VERY EARLY FRENCH SOCKET BAYONET

[cpatrick]

Here's an interesting piece. I believe this to be an early French socket bayonet, pre-1750, having seen use during both the French and Indian War, as well as the Revolutionary War. I am posting it here not only because it is a very interesting socket bayonet (You'll see why), but also because I am not 100% certain exactly what pattern this bayonet is. I know that it is french, and it matches the patterns that were used before the Revolutionary War. The thing that I love about this historic bayonet, is that it was modified my a colonist to fit on a smaller caliber weapon. The socket was shortened, and a hole was drilled though the socket in order to accommodate the use of a wing nut. This modification allowed a larger caliber bayonet to be fixed on a smaller bore weapon. The tightening of the wing nut would tighten the bayonet onto the smaller bore. Robert M. Reilly covers this very rare modification in his book on American Socket Bayonets and Scabbards.

 

The tip of the bayonet was broken off long ago. Could have been done by a musket ball, could have been done by a soldier prying open a hard-tack crate... Nonetheless - no pitting, etc. Just a nice age patina.

 

The neck is marked with four vertical lines, and what looks like a "V". (Numeral 5?) Followed by: "2417".

 

An unknown mark on the ricasso.

 

My question to you bayonet experts out there is:

 

What pattern bayonet is this??

 

Would you agree that it could have been used in both the French and Indian War, as well as the Revolution? (Maybe I'm way off! )

 

How many of these modified bayonets have you seen?

 

What is the significance of the numbers??

 

I would really appreciate your help and comments!!

 

Thanks!!

 

Chris

[cpatrick]

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[SARGE]

Chris,

 

I have seen bayonets modified in this manner before as well as some strikingly similar cast bayonets from a much later time period. I always thought they were Bannerman modifications for "cadet" drill rifles. I believe that I have seen similar shortened bayonets with these odd shortened sockets and a wing nut screw in Bannerman catalogs.

 

I don't know if this is the case with your bayonet but the similarity is striking. Can you tell if the screw threads are old hand cut style or a later machine cut thread? US or European threads?

[cpatrick]

SARGE,

 

This doesn't look like a cast piece. The threads are very old, hand drilled - with a nice dark patina (Same as the rest of the bayonet). I am not so sure that this is a Francis Bannerman piece - I will look around for a similar bayonet of the pattern that I refered to.

 

Chris