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Sighted Socket Bayonet for Mississippi Rifles & Bavarian Muskets

Sighted Socket Bayonet for Mississippi Rifles & Bavarian Muskets

  • Product Code: EWB-1533-SOLD
  • Availability: Out Of Stock
  • $1.00


This is a very scarce socket bayonet from the American Civil War era. For years the bayonet has been best known as the socket bayonet used on New Jersey altered M-1841 Mississippi Rifles that had their barrels turned down to accept a socket bayonet, but did not have new front sights installed on the barrels of the rifles. These unique bayonets had a front sight dovetailed into the socket of the bayonet in such as way as to be aligned for use when the bayonet was correctly mounted on the rifle. The bayonet appears as Figure B83B in Robert Reilly’s American Socket Bayonets & Scabbards. The bayonet is about 23 ““ in overall length, with a blade that is approximately 20 ““ long and a socket that is 2 5/8” in length. The bore (muzzle) diameter of the bayonet is .852” and the muzzle to stud distance is 1”. The bayonet is unmarked other than a touch mark on the left side of the shank (or neck) of the bayonet. The dovetailed sight is .539” wide, .354” deep and about .4” tall. The bayonet is in FINE overall condition and has a pleasing dove gray patina over all of the metal surfaces. The metal is almost entirely smooth throughout, with only some very light scattered peppering and minor pinpricking scattered about the blade. There are also a few scattered patches of minor age staining and mild discoloration. The original locking ring and tension screw are present on the socket and both function exactly as they should. Reilly notes in his short description of the bayonet that there is a strong similarity between this Mississippi Rifle bayonet and that used on the Model 1842 Bayerischen musket. In fact, recent research has confirmed that this same bayonet is the appropriate bayonet for the Belgian manufactured Bavarian M-1842 muskets that were imported in very limited quantities for US use during the American Civil War. It had always been assumed that the bayonets used on the M-1841 Mississippi Rifles had been imported, as they did not conform to any pattern in current use in the United States. It makes perfect sense that the rifles were altered to accept an available imported bayonet. These bayonets are extremely scarce, and even Reilly notes that they are very rarely encountered. It is unlikely that more than a few thousand were imported, and today they are very rarely offered for sale. If you have a New Jersey altered Mississippi Rifle with a turned down barrel and no front sight, or a Bavarian M-1842 musket, you need this bayonet to complete your display. I have been actively looking for one of these bayonets for about 5 years, and this is the first one that I have been able to obtain, and one of only a couple that I am aware of being offered for sale over the last few years.

SOLD

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Tags: Sighted, Socket, Bayonet, for, Mississippi, Rifles, Bavarian, Muskets