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WW1 US M1917 Enfield Bayonet


Gildwiller1918

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When the US went to war in 1917, the main rifle of choice was the M1903 Springfield. Unfortunately the US only had about 600,000 when the war started. Until the production could be increased to meet demand, the US turned to another source for rifles. The pattern 1914 Enfield rifle was being made in the USA for British forces in .303 caliber, so the US decided to produce these in the .30-06 round instead and the M1917 Enfield was born. The rifle used the same bayonet as the P14 rifle and looked virtually identical. The US did purchase over 500,000 of the P14 bayonets, added the "US" markings and acceptance stamps. 

The Bayonet is quite long, at 17 inches and 1.5 inches wide. The overall length is 21.8 inches. The bayonet has walnut grips and the typical locking plunger found on most bayonets of the time. Just over 2,000,000 bayonets for the M1917 and the P14 were produced before the production was stopped after the war. Additionally, the number of bayonets made did not correspond to the amount of rifles made, there was a shortfall of about 500,000. This put a strain on the training camps in America, but did not affect the front line troops. Interestingly these bayonets were not stamped with a serial number like the M1903 bayonets were. The blade has a two-tone finish while the remainder is blued, after the war these bayonets were refurbed and had a parkerized coating added.

The scabbard is made from leather and metal. The leather was green colored and had a brass hook attachment to fixing to the web and ammo belts. There were two patterns of scabbards, the first pattern had an additional leather pad that was riveted to the throat on the reverse of the scabbard, the second model eliminated this. The scabbard below is the second type. This bayonet was used on the trench shotguns as well, which made for a fearsome weapon. During WW2, the scabbards were made of plastic and production continued into the 1960's as the bayonets continued to be used on military shotguns. 

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