Questions about P/1853 Enfield bayonets accecpted?

[new3.2]

I recently obtained a P/53 Enfield bayonet. The scabbard has the Broad Arrow and WD; however there is no arrow on the blade. Is this common for that pattern? The blade is stamped: E over Crown over 25. Is this an Enfield inspection mark? Sorry to move so far back from the GW, but I do know of a fellow who brought back a M/1853 Enfield rifled-musket from Viet Nam.

Thanks, Ken

[Lancashire Fusilier]

I recently obtained a P/53 Enfield bayonet. The scabbard has the Broad Arrow and WD; however there is no arrow on the blade. Is this common for that pattern? The blade is stamped: E over Crown over 25. Is this an Enfield inspection mark? Sorry to move so far back from the GW, but I do know of a fellow who brought back a M/1853 Enfield rifled-musket from Viet Nam.

Thanks, Ken

Ken,

Are you referring to an 1853 Socket Bayonet, or the brass hilted 1853 Artillery Sword Bayonet, or the 2nd pattern 1853 Artillery Sword Bayonet with the leather grips, and does your bayonet have a leather or steel scabbard ?

This information will help identify your bayonet, and do you have any photographs ?

Regards,

LF

[new3.2]

Hello- LF, Thanks for the reply. It is the socket bayonet for the rifled-musket, not the shorted rifle. The scabbard is leather with brass fittings at each end. I will try to get photos.

Regards, Ken

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Hello- LF, Thanks for the reply. It is the socket bayonet for the rifled-musket, not the shorted rifle. The scabbard is leather with brass fittings at each end. I will try to get photos.

Regards, Ken

Ken,

Your bayonet's Enfield connection could be that it is an original 1853 Socket Bayonet, and one of the 224,278 Pattern 1853 Socket Bayonets converted at Enfield between 1872 - 1879 so as to fit the Martini-Henry Rifle, sometimes referred to as a Pattern 1853/72 Bayonet.

It is also very likely that some of these converted 1853 Socket Bayonets, i.e. the 1872-1879 conversions, were still in service with the Martini-Henry Rifle in parts of the British Empire at the start of WW1.

Photos of the bayonet and scabbard would be helpful, particularly a good view of the front opening of the socket itself.

Regards,

LF

[new3.2]

Hello LF- Will try and work on some photos. The socket fits easily on my 1862 Tower rifled-musket. I suspect that any one year of the American Civil War would have produced more casualties caused by the 1853 Enfield, than all the use of this weapon in the British Empire. Common belief is that this weapon was only used by the CSA. The Enfield .577 including the 2-band rifle were listed by the US Ordnance Dept. as first-class weapons, and many were used by the Union. As an example, Illinois troops used more .577's than m/1855-64 Springfield rifled-muskets, until the third quarter of 1864.

Regards, Ken