Which model bayonet?

[Chris Boonzaier]

I found this today....

Looks to be a bit unusual... not the kind of spike I know....

[Brian Wolfe]

Hi Chris,

You have a British No. 4 Mk III.

What you are used to seeing are the earlier models which are of much better quality. The first Bayonet in this series was the Mk I (I guess that goes without saying) and had a blade that was cruciform in cross section.

I've included a photo of an entry from Paul Kiesling's book "Bayonets of the world" Volume One as a reference for you.

Cheers

Brian

[Chris Boonzaier]

Thanks,

I had never seen one of these before. I had bought it hoping it was insanely rare... I guess not.... what a wasted EUR5 :-( ... ;-)

[Brian Wolfe]

Thanks,

I had never seen one of these before. I had bought it hoping it was insanely rare... I guess not.... what a wasted EUR5 :-( ... ;-)

Nope, not rare but you didn't pay too much. I've seen them from $15.00 to $25.00 Canadian at shows.

I used to have the whole set but lost them during the Dark Ages (divorce).

Cheers

Brian

[Tony]

Thanks,

I had never seen one of these before. I had bought it hoping it was insanely rare... I guess not.... what a wasted EUR5 :-( ... ;-)

5 ?? A bargain Chris. They can set you back at least twice that in the more up market parts of London.

Use it to poke about in the ground while walking the fields of Verdun, not even you will manage to stuff it up. That well formed blade will stay straight for years to come.

Tony

[Chris Boonzaier]

That well formed blade will stay straight for years to come.

Tony

Thats been my sales pitch ever since I was a teen.... :rolleyes:

[peter monahan]

Thats been my sales pitch ever since I was a teen....

Chris

If you want "rare" you'll need to find one that's chromed - a few were for use by the (short-lived) Canadian Guards and clolour parties of other reg'ts too, I expect. Talk about trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!

The worst part of the No. 4 is that, while it was never useful for stabbing people - something it shares with MOST bayonets, IMHO. It isn't even useful for toasting cheese (too short) or opening cans (no edge). I suppose in a pinch a half dozen would make half-a**ed tent pegs to pin down a shelter half.

In fact, IMHO, the spike bayonet is one of the classic examples of why "tradition" is not always a good thing! "We have to have swords to fight with" becomes "We have to have a blade to put on our firelocks, to fight with when we run out of musket balls" becomes "We have to have something to put on the end of the weapon, because we always have.".

I'd love to see stats from Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan on how often and with what results bayonets are used in combat - can't think of any newsclips I've seen in which they're even fixed by troops in combat/on patrol.

On the other hand, they make neat collectables and I'd buy one myself if I had the $ !

Peter

Edited June 22, 2008 by peter monahan

[Brian Wolfe]

Thats been my sales pitch ever since I was a teen....

It won't stay that way if you poke it in the ground.

Cheeers

Brian

[Brian Wolfe]

Hi Peter,

I've heard this since I was a kid and I'm not sure I totally agree with you on this point. I've never been in the military so I admit to not having real-life experience, however, I would think that in cases of prisoner escort or crowd control a bayonet on the end of a rifle makes a pretty good point (no pun intended). I guess it's a matter as to whether these duties are worth issuing bayonets in this day and age of full autos, then again opening up on an

out of control crowd of protestors would look bad in the morning paper and up set the public during their breakfast.

Back to the No. 4.

I don't have the references in front of me at the momnent but I recall that when the British government was looking for a new design of bayonet it was decided that they needed one that would be able to go through the thickest battle dress of any potential enemy of the time (post WWI). That potential enemy was considered to be the Russians and in full winter gear the thickness that needed to be penetrated was 4 inches. Therefore the no. 4, it was decided, needed to be 200 mm (around 7 3/4 inches).

Cheers

Brian

[Brian Wolfe]

Hi Boris,

That's a handy resource, thanks for posting it.

Cheers

Brian