Folding bayonet

[Interested Party]

It is an interesting and apparently well item from the photographs. That said I am curious about a few things concerning this piece.

1)I find the round pin odd. Why not a deep, square cut notch like on many navajas? To me they seem stronger than the narrower round shape. Is the round pin an integral piece forged and shaped with the blade and then rounded or, I believe, more likely a pin that was soldered into a drilled hole?

2) No one has commented that this bayonet mounts with the axis of the blade 90° different than most modern bayonets. attaching to the barrel through a side ring not the proximal quillon.

3) Concerning the other examples shown what is the advantage of a folding bayonet for a military weapon? To my understanding this style of knife originated as a way to skirt regulations on the possession and carry of weapons. A military naturally isn't confined by there. Yes, it would take up less space on the belt, but the tradeoff is a slower drawing weapon that has a natural tendency to fold on the hand using it, or at the end of the barrel just when you really do not have time to fiddle with a gunked up locking mechanism. These are long blades that theoretically have large amounts of leverage placed on them (I have seen a lock fail on a friend's knife with only a 3-4" blade, and it wasn't pretty). Even for a civilian weapon a folding mechanism seems dodgy for dispatching large game such as boar if you have a better legal option.

[Interested Party]

Interestingly enough, for what it is worth, I found a stag handled navaja on Wikipedia's English site under the entry "Navaja" that is attributed to 1790 and uses a round pin as well.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Interested Party

... Concerning the other examples shown what is the advantage of a folding bayonet for a military weapon?.

Quoting the author of the abovementioned work on the Carcano bayonets, Frederick H. Stephens himself:

" Why one made it at all attachable instead of keeping it fixed as with the cavalry carbines is not entirely clear - probably to provide for the case that a soldier would need his bayonet for the (much more common) use of opening tin cans, slaughtering the requisitioned chicken or rabbits, or even for the (rarer) use as a fighting knife in close combat ".

[Bayowolf]

Originally Posted by Interested Party

It is an interesting and apparently well item from the photographs. That said I am curious about a few things concerning this piece.

2) No one has commented that this bayonet mounts with the axis of the blade 90° different than most modern bayonets. attaching to the barrel through a side ring not the proximal quillon...

The way fits on the firearm, to the right of the barrel or underneath would depend on where the bayonet lug for the pommel was mounted. It could fit either underneath or to the right. However, I believe the round stud on the muzzle ring is designed to go into the ramrod channel. If so, that would make it fit underneath the barrel.

Both fittings are quite common. Generally, bayonets fit to the side until the era of breech loading and then began to shift to underneath.

If you were meaning the position of the blade to the barrel being horizontal or vertical? Both are common until the modern era.


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