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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Remington 07/15 Berthier


Khaki

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Here is a near mint Remington 07/15 that was part of the contract made for the French and was subsequently rejected by them and disposed of on the local (US) market.
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Very nice. Was it 10000 made? If so rare chap?

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I am not too sure of production figures, some went to France and were rejected and a number were sold off here in the states, whatever the figures were, they (the rifle) have pretty well disappeared altogether, even the carbines which were more common on dealers inventories have become more difficult to find,

khaki

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Khaki, your epee-baionette looks to be a French 'Rosalie'. Of course this will fit your Berthier rifle, but if you wanted to be perfectly correct you will be needing a Remington version. :)

That is what was matched to your rifle at manufacture. They are very similar to your normal Lebel bayonet but have a slightly different grip profile. They're usually devoid of markings.

Here is one (at top) that I picked up in a job lot. As you can see they are always 'sans quillon'. You may be able to make out the flatter profile as the grip meets the crossguard piece.

Cheers, S>S

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I am not too sure of production figures, some went to France and were rejected and a number were sold off here in the states ...

I believe that the original Remington contract was for the supply of 200,000 rifles - however after the initial shipments were rejected, only about half of that number were eventually produced.

Cheers, S>S

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For the full details on these rifles I would recommend Luke Mercaldo's book "Allied Rifle Contracts in America" lots of nice background and a detailed discussion of the contract situation (which also needs to be understood in the context of the Remington contract to supply M1891 Nagants)

Chris

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Unserialed, Remington.

Is this true of all the Remington 'Lebel' bayonets? This seems to be confirmed by the link that SS posted... I saw such a one the other week at the market, with the 'German silver' grip and sans quillon and without a serial number, which I thought odd, but I already have examples of the main Lebel types and as I don't concentrate on these ones I confess that I didn't really give it any more thought :blush: ... I'll check next week though!

Trajan

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I believe the rifles/bayonets were supplied unserialed so the French could add their own.

The small number of rifle sthat were delivered I suspect will have serial number and that rifle serial number will have been repeated on the bayonet with which they were issued (would the French process have kept the rifles and bayonets together or would they all have gone into storage no idea...I suspect manufacturer is far more important to collectors 100 years later than to issuing authorities in the midst of a war!

The vast majority of rifles (sold as surplus in the US in the inter-war period and in to the 50s) were not serialled. My RAC 09-15 has no serial nor have any of the others I have seen. I have seen period ads where advertised paired with bayonets so my assumption would be that yes the huge huge majority of Remington produced bayonets would be unserialled.

Chris

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... you can see the little dip in the grip profile as the handpiece meets the crossguard section. The Remington made bayonets are quite flat in that area.

I thought I'd posted something on this Remington profile before - and indeed at: http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=229427&page=2&hl=adam#entry2293168post 31, and the same reproduced here from Adam et al p,198, with arrow pointing to the relevant part..

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Adam, et al on p, 199 mention the maillecourt version, ans also that the markings include, apart from the regular stamps: numéro de fusil sur le plat avant de croisière et le forreau... Well, these Frenchies are not my thing and perhaps this was just a throw-away comment in what is, after all, a basic handbook. Anyone have the ABC to check? Whatever, if that one I saw a few weeks back is around then I'll certainly give it a harder look!

Trajan

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Well, Adam et al say: on peut aussi rencontrer des poignées en maillechort - and so 'German nickel silver' ones existed as well. The one I saw in the market over here was nickel silver one and I did think of buying it as it had a straighter blade and scabbard - but I was happy with my 'selected examples of the kind' as far as my Lebel's go... And also thought, I admit, well - no serial so not that interesting a piece? BUT, I will look more carefully if it is still there next week!

Julian

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