1905 Bayonet Date

[Calflash]

I have an M-1905 SA dated 1918 with serial #985581. What would be the month of production? Best guess?

[GWS]

I don't know of a way to tell what month a bayonet might have been made, it would be an estimation at best. Try contacting Bayonetman(Gary Cunningham) on this forum.

[bayonetman]

1918 Springfield production of the Model 1905 bayonet ran from ABOUT 780,000 to ABOUT 1,050,000 making total for the year ABOUT 270,000 divided by 12 = 22,500 per month. This would put 985881 sometime in early October.

 

Keep in mind this is an ESTIMATE only. I do not know if bayonet production was reduced in the early months of 1918 as the rifle production was, but probably not. It is likely that late year production did go down greatly after the Armistice, which would put production of the bayonet in question possibly back into September.

 

All that I can say is that it was almost certainly after September 1, 1918 and quite possibly closer to the first of October. I would suspect that it would not have gotten to France in time to see combat if that is your question.

[Calflash]

Thanks to both of you. I wasn't concerned about if it got to France, I just wanted to get an educated guess on the month of production. October is close enough for me.

Thanks again.