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US Model 1882 Remington-Lee Rifle Bayonet & Scabbard

US Model 1882 Remington-Lee Rifle Bayonet & Scabbard

  • Product Code: EWB-2427-SOLD
  • Availability: Out Of Stock
  • $1.00


This is a VERY GOOD example of a scarce US military Model 1882 Socket bayonet (Reilly B137A ) for use on the Model 1882 Remington-Lee Army and Navy Rifles. The M1882 Rifle was a bolt action, .45-70 caliber repeating rifle that was the invention of renowned arms designer James Paris Lee. The first US military acquisition of the Lee design was by the US Navy. In 1880 the Navy ordered 300 of Lee’s original Model 1879 design. Lee had contracted with the Sharps Rifle Company to produce these arms, but Sharps went out of business in 1881. As a result, the Sharps assembled parts, tools and machinery for the project were turned over to the Remington Arms Company who completed the order. Remington made some minor changes and improvements to Lee’s design and the newly redesigned rifle, designated the Model 1882, was subsequently offered for sale. A few more changes were made circa 1884-1885 and the rifles with those improvements were designated the Model 1885. Remington would produce some 100,000 Model 1882/1885 Lee patent long arms in a variety of configurations through the first decade of the 1900s, with many being sporting arms and the large majority of the guns being sold to foreign customers on the export market. Remington had a world-wide customer base during the late 19th century, particularly for military pattern arms. The majority of the military pattern 1882 and 1885 rifles were sold to foreign governments. These guns were accompanied by a socket bayonet (Reilly B137) with a 21 ½” long, ¾” wide blade and an overall length of 24 1/8”. These bayonets were unmarked. The US military did acquire a small number of the Remington-Lee Model 1882 Rifles, with the US Army purchasing 770 of the rifles and the US Navy purchasing about 1,500. These rifles were also delivered with socket bayonets, but they were somewhat different from the commercial pattern bayonets for the export market military rifles. The US military pattern of the bayonet was very similar to the M1873 socket bayonet then in general use by the military. Like the M1873 bayonet, the M1882 has an 18” long blade with the same general profile as the tapered shoulder socket bayonet blade adopted with the US M1855 socket bayonet that had remained the standard for some three decades. The primary differences were a slightly narrower blade width for the M1882, being ¾” instead of 11/16”, a smaller bore diameter of .718” instead of .730” and a slightly wider mortise cut with an obviously wider locking ring. This locking ring is the only immediately obvious visual difference between the two bayonets. Like the US M1873 and unlike the commercial variant of the M1882 bayonet, the US military M1882 bayonet was stamped with a US on the ricasso.

This example of a US M1882 Remington-Lee Socket Bayonet is in about VERY GOODcondition. The bayonet conforms to the nominal dimensions of the example listed as B137A in Robert Reilly’s American Socket Bayonets and Scabbards. The bayonet has an 18” long, .8” wide blade with a 2 7/8” socket and a .722” bore diameter. The mortise cut is also appropriately wider than the standard M1873 bayonet mortises, being 5/16” wide forward of the locking ring. The blade is stamped with a clear U.S at the ricasso and has a small V on the locking ring. The bayonet has a mottled grayish-brown patina with an underlying smoky gray metal color. The metal shows scattered patches of brownish surface oxidation over the blade and socket. The metal is mostly smooth with some minor scattered surface roughness and some small areas of lightly scattered pitting. The light surface crust on the socket could probably be carefully cleaned off with a little effort. The original locking ring remains in place and is fully functional. The bayonet is accompanied by a correct pattern US M1873 bayonet scabbard with a Hoffman patent leather bayonet frog with a cast brass US swivel roundel and a blued steel scabbard body. The scabbard remains in about VERY GOOD condition as well. It retains some traces of blued finish on the body with patches of scattered surface oxidation and some surface crust. The leather of the frog shows moderate crazing and finish loss but remains usable and the swivel still functions correctly.

Overall this is a solid example of one of the less common US military socket bayonets from the Indian Wars period. With less than 2,300 of the Remington-Lee M1882 military rifles being acquired by the US military, their accompanying bayonets are relatively scarce. This would be a nice addition to your US military M1882 rifle or to any collection of post-Civil War American socket bayonets.

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Tags: US, Model, 1882, Remington, Lee, Rifle, Bayonet, Scabbard