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Colonial Revolutionary War bayonet


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Hello,

I usually post on the edged weapons forum, but thought I might have more interested parties here.

I bought this bayonet as an American copy of the Brown Bess type bayonet circa 1775. The resemblance is certainly there. I'd like to see if someone has any thoughts about this bayonet as to whether or not they agree about the authenticity. Unlike the Brown Bess, the socket is only 2 3/4" long. The ID is approx. 7/8". The blade length from shoulders to tip is 12 1/2". Thanks for any input you have.

Marv

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It looks good to me. Other bayonet experts may have more to say. What is the diameter? Is it big enough for a .77 cal weapon or smaller for .69?

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It looks good to me. Other bayonet experts may have more to say. What is the diameter? Is it big enough for a .77 cal weapon or smaller for .69?

 

Thanks for responding. As I said, the inside diameter is approx. 7/8 of an inch. As with many of these old bayonets, the socket is somewhat irregular. With a caliper, the diameter varies from about .830 to .860.

Marv

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My take would be .69 caliber at the outside. Based on the socket and blade length, could be for an Officer's fusil. Those were often more in the .65 caliber range.

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I would concur with marysdad. I'd say this is an officers fusil bayonet. It would be very difficult to say if this is American or British . Some British examples are unmarked as well. Standard length of typical bayonet would be 21 1/2. It looks to be of the period but without any markings it is difficult to say with certainty. Similar bayonets were used up through the War of 1812 and beyond.

 

Great reference book:

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/294/1/BOOK-TSB

 

Check this out as well. Don Troiani has one of the best private collections in the US. It's a searchable site:

http://www.historicalimagebank.com/

 

Last suggestion would be this old reference but good:

http://www.amazon.com/Swords-Blades-American-Revolution-Neumann/dp/1880655004

 

I have two originals myself and one is a Fusil bayonet like yours. Very similar in length.

 

Good luck.

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Since this bayonet has so much smaller dimensions than a regular Brown Bess bayonet, I had not considered that it might be an Officer's fusil bayonet. With that in mind I contacted Jeff Hayes who has a great Brown Bess web site. http://jeffreyhayes.com/bayonets/master_index1.htm After sending him more pictures, he agreed that it was an Officer's fusil bayonet and dated it to between 1755-1768, the time period in which this bayonet was made.

Thanks for leading me in the right direction.

Marv

 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 months later...
Grenadier2002

I have always been told when you flick the blade with your finger the sound should be "thud". Modern re pros will ping or ring.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have always been told when you flick the blade with your finger the sound should be "thud". Modern re pros will ping or ring.

 

Are you talking about Revolutionary war bayonets, or does that include Civil War bayonets? Be that as it may, I would say that when I hang the socket of my angular bayonets by one finger, and flick the blade with the fingernail of my other hand, only one bayonet actually made a thud sound. That was an 1842 conversion bayonet. The others made variations of tink ring type sounds.

Marv

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  • 4 years later...

The different sound is due to the hardened steel tip welded to the softer iron body, collar and socket. Sorry to jump onto a really old post, but I wasn't on here then.

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