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I bought this for my No5 and it fits perfect.I know BSA made the rifles but I can't find out if BSA made a bayonet.Could anyone help please?
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My gut instinct because of the finish is that it is a fake, however the fake RFI ones do not have the cleanign hole. It coudl be a commercial rather than issue one, I woudl need to dig mine out to see if it is BSA made, but i think mine is unmarked. I just dont like the paint for an issue item
Could it have been re done for the sub machine gun somewhere along the way?
It is a later Hopkins made No5 bayonet. Made for the commercial sales of the Sterling sub machine gun. Fully interchangeable with the No5 rifle of course. You can see that it has the roughness associated with this company. You can still see the harsh shear marks on the sides of the crosspiece. There is a little sequel to this........ After a while they couldn't get new Sterling SMG bayonet blades so carried on manufacture using L1A1 rifle bayonet blades. That was OK so far as it went, but the holes for the grip screws/rivets were in the 'wrong' place. As a result, the later Hopkinson No5 bayonets that utilised L1A1 rifle bayonet blades were produced with pressed steel grips that were configured for the rifle blade.
There. Not a lot of people know that but you do now if you happen to have a steel gripped No5 bayonet! The Army didn't accept these from Hopkinson. Another little bit of useless Enfield knowledge
Peter
ANother great snippet of info, that means yet again I have new blades to look out for ;-)
That's not useless...it's something no one around here knew!
Thanks all for your kind comments. I do try! I don't know how common or rare the steel gripped No5 bayonets are but Hopkinson acquired the steel grips from UK Ordnance stockpiles as part payment against the supply of bayonets to the UK MoD. Just as a matter of interest, how rare/common are they?
I've never see them in Canada.
Thanks Peter.
I have had this bayonet a few years and never been able to find its history.It is nice to know it isnt a fake even if it wasn't made for the No5.
I did fire the No5 rifle with it attached once.The group was 3" higher than normal at fifty yards,so its been on the wall since.
Andy
I've a plstic gripped No5 but never seen a steel gripped one.
They're out there Smithy........ They LOOK very similar to the common L1A1 bayonets. Similar but different..........
I have one in the collection, It also has "Sterling" etched in the fuller.
Came straight out of the Sterling factory at Dagenham, as apprentices we used to trade various things, the lads from Sterling had Bayonets, we had digital verniers.
One digital vernier got me two of these bayonets.
Armourers always had a No5 bayonet tucked away in their tool boxes or under their work benches as a sort of 'currency' that could be traded on the 'old boy net'. Many old Armourers will remember the old boy network. It was a bit of a trading system all through the REME technical side. It was described as a bit like the wartime lend-lease, only on a bigger scale! A replacement boat engine for your Bedford engined boat...... no problem
I came across a No5 bayonet that had just gone through the phosphating tanks many years ago. It was extremely well made but as the original finish had been bead blasted away, the original toolroom markings, DD(E) engravings and a (presumably a matching/mating) number were now clearly visible on each part. There were several small differences between it and a standard one including grip bolt holes being radially countersunk and the male part of the catch (the bolt) being machined for a forked screwdriver as is the standard practice for the female nut. Someone in Australia wanted it so I let him have it for a song.
While I'd seen loads of single screw hole grips and catch bolts withoug screwdriver slots in Malaya, I'd never seen or certainly noticed a forked screwdriver slot variation.
There, another small variant if you're ever idly browsing through a pile of them. Incidentally, we refurbished 70,000 Sterling SMG's and bayonets for war reserve stockpiles
As an Armourer & avid collector myself. Like Peter, I have handed, Inspected & Repaired MANY Thousands of Bayonets of all variaties over the years!Quote:
Originally Posted by old-smithy
In all my years of collecting, I have NEVER encountered any No:5's with Plastic grips. However, I have just acquired a matching PAIR of Black Plastic grips for a No:5 Bayonet.
I know that India manufactures a variant with the wood grips. But I am wondering if they also now have gone over to plastic rather than wood?
Anyone know?