I am looking for a bayonet for my Springfield M1873 Trapdoor rifle. Are they all essentially the same, or are there some differences? What are the key characteristics that I should be looking for?
TIA.
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I am looking for a bayonet for my Springfield M1873 Trapdoor rifle. Are they all essentially the same, or are there some differences? What are the key characteristics that I should be looking for?
TIA.
There is no significant differences in the bayonets for the .45-70 rifles from 1873 to 1889. Almost all of them are modified Civil War Model 1855 bayonets which have had their sockets cold pressed to a smaller diameter and blued.
The correct bayonet will have an 18 inch blade and be about 21 inches overall. Marked US on the flat just in front of the socket. Fully blued, socket interior diameter such that you can insert a dime but not a penny.
There are a number of different scabbards for these bayonets (actually mostly different frogs) so in most cases collectors try to match the scabbard to the time period of the rifle rather than the bayonet.
Don't forget the trowel bayonets.
I have a Springfield Socket Bayonet. Original, no scabbard, U.S. stamped, good shape and in Maine.
I have one on my trapdoor. It really makes the rifle.
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