Originally Posted by
Peter Laidler
The very reason why the No7 and No9 bayonets were sold scabbardless is because we kept them to use with the L1A1 bayonets that were replacing them. In much the same way as the leather Grenade Launcher frogs were scarce....., because they were retained for use with the L1A1 rifle grenade launcher and when the new webbing came out, with a small pocket for it, they languished in quartermaster stores and were then scrapped locally!
Anyway, that's the reason why the big retailers try to sell you these bayonets with cut down SMLE and other scabbards. It's a load a bxxxxxxs. No7 and 9 bayonets only come with No5 scabbards
If I remember rightly, there were two sorts of scabbard. The Mk1 variant that was made on cycle frame rolling machinery that needed a small oval end to be brazed in place. I won't go into why, but.............. And the much later 50's era Mk2 type that was hot rolled all the way down and didn't need an end stopper. There was also two types of mouthpiece. The brass and folded steel type. The 6BA hole in the steel version would strip easily and so was immediately unserviceable but the stripped brass version was brazed over, redrilled and re-tapped
There, another useless bit of Lee Enfield rubbish.