sa80 bayonet

[eagle1941]

hello to all , and especially the bayonet collectors amongst you!
years ago i started a baio collection that comprises today some 45 items that date back as from WW2 and refer to the rifles they were designed for: Lee Enfield N° 4, SAFN, Fal (and its clones), G3, Stoner.
My latest baio is a SA80 front line, and here i have a question to you: i notice that there are 2 versions: one with a square wirecutter sheath mount and another with a "hooked" version.
Does anyone know why these 2 versions exist? Since when?
Regards to all and hope to "enter" a new, interesting community!
Herman

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Peter Laidler]

There are MANY versions of the SA80 bayonet, scabbard and fittings Eagle. Maybe you should show a photo of you version

[skiprat]

The early scabbard had a fixed cutting "anvil" these have a more "hooked" appearance, the later scabbards had a replaceable 3 sided cutting piece.
Please be aware the early "hook" type are already been reproduced......... ( faked )

[Flying10uk]

Not all the SA80 bayonet scabbards have the attachments fitted such as the cutting block and saw. The reason according to various dealers but not independently confirmed to me is that only front line troops had the scabbard with all the attachments fitted and non front line/reserve troops were just issued with the bare scabbard with no attachments. The later 3 sided cutting insert fitted to some scabbards has the appearance of a carbide cutter insert as used on some lathe tools and milling cutters. Is that what it is, a carbide cutter insert, does any-one know, please?

[Peter Laidler]

Yep, three corner cutting tool tips (made by Sandvik ?). And by pure coincidence, that's what my lathe tools come tipped with! Front line troops get bells-and-whistles scabbards while arse-enders get the bare scabbards. The usual easy to tell method of who's-who is SUSAT rifle troops = bells and whistles scabbards. Arse-enders, poor mans iron sights and bare scabbards. That doctrine might have changed recently.

A display of all the variants would be interesting. We still had some bottle opener bayonets and serially numbered ones at Warminster.

Seems incredible to believe that these scabbard parts are already being faked......... amazing! I'm sure that one lot, made by some micky-mouse outfit from Wolverhampton were made to snap the tips off......

[Roy W]

Some of the earliest bayonets were made at a factory in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight. The factory was called Trucast and was a subsidiary of Vickers.

The bayonets were made of wax and cast 6 at a time by investment casting (lost wax)

I used to have a couple of the wax ones, but they tended to break during house moves.

I expect there were other factories that also made them.

Incidentally Trucast also made the 'Spirit of Ecstasy' Rolls Royce bonnet ornament, false hips and Turbo charger hot end wheels.

[Peter Laidler]

Your wax ones probably lasted as long as the tips on the Wolverhampton cast ones Roy!

[tankhunter]

One of the Main reasons the 'Hooked' scabbards were dropped in favour of the replaceable insert types was. The 'T' pivot on the scabbard cutter section. Was thinner than the later versions. This was a weak area, And these 'T' posts fractured with alarming frequency!........

[Peter Laidler]

Does anyone have a lineage of SA80 bayonets and scabbards to show the progression?
There was a period when there were no spare catches or springs in the spares system. So if/when the spring or catch was defective (they would round off at the rear end so can be blasted off when firing - so said.......) the whole bayonet was written off! Strange but true. Corrected now of course.

The axis joint between the scabbard and the bayonet was a bit of a weak point as pointed out by Tankie. But if it was just wire or nails that the crunchie was cutting they were OK. But give them a cutting tool and guess what.......... Yep, railway lines, tree trunks and.......

[eagle1941]

Thanks a lot for all the info/help already received ... !
Here are my 3 pics of the baio a just bought as a non-issued official item; i also bought 2 different frogs with it (a green an dpm one, both made by Remploy); i noticd a 3rd type exists with 2 brass hooks as this seems to be the initial model.

PS - if i try to attach more than 1 file, it gives me an error ("failed to upload file")