Help wanted to identify this 1907

[bigduke6]

Anyone have any info on this, arrived the other day i bought it on line, bit of a drunken purchase (too much stella artois when on line).
Started life as a 1915 willkinson, no other or later dates, blade is 8" and looks like the muzzle ring has been slightly enlarged.
Have shown it next to the Owen sub machine gun and a standard 1907 to compare.

Information

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[shippingsteel]

Looks to be an original No.1 bayonet that has been converted into the profile of a No.5 (the 8 inch blade and the bowie style tip is pure No.5), probably a WW2 era conversion.
Could be an early British experimental/trials bayonet in the No.5 style, or one of the many shortened Indian conversions which they liked to do on the good old No.1 bayonet.
Skennerton does have an Indian version listed as I57 which has had the MRD slightly enlarged to 17mm, don't ask me why. Its an unusual one. Cheers.

[uzz75]

Looks to be an original No.1 bayonet that has been converted into the profile of a No.5

I think the same...

[Peter Laidler]

Looks to me like a classic case of a man with a broken Patt '07, bayonet, a file and a hacksaw

[bigduke6]

Looks to me like a classic case of a man with a broken Patt '07, bayonet, a file and a hacksaw

After sobering up the morning after I thought that may be the case, but doesn,t explain the enlarged muzzle ring, was hoping for some german stamps so i could match this with the SMLE on the Enfield forum, but no stamps to be found.

[marysdad]

The absence of a frog stud doesn't seem like something that would have been done in service. The frog appears to be British, by D.R. Melbourne Ltd.

[bigduke6]

The absence of a frog stud doesn't seem like something that would have been done in service. The frog appears to be British, by D.R. Melbourne Ltd.

Couple of pics shows the the locket, and no sign of ever having a frog stud. The locket and the chape are the same make (GF).
After catching up on lost sleep and on a closer inspection has had paint on the scabard in the past (olive drab).

[tankhunter]

I agree with Peter! There was to my own knowledge. Nothing in E.M.E.Rs to the effect of modifiying 1907 Patt bayonets to a shorter type. ONLY rounding the ends to make D.P variants. And indeed, these were done to bayonets that had been condemed due to sharpening & becoming undersize in length generally. Thus extending the bayonets life from what would effectively have become scrap & would have been stripped for parts & the main blade assembly destroyed. My Father who like me was an Armourer & served through time frames a lot earlier than myself. Had one identical to this one shown. (But without the muzzle ring enlargment) He had simply reshaped & reground the tip from a snapped blade. & then CORRECTLY shortened & refitted the scabbard End Tip. (Chape) It looked proffesional & to the unknowing eye, 'Correct'! It was done simply as something to do, to see if something usefull could be done with a broken bayonet. It made a reasonable knife, so im told. & of course, with any squaddie, something that was different that nobody else had on thier belt in the field! It hung on the wall in every Armourers shop he was ever posted to. (Along with countless Weapons that had been dug up on excersises & restored by my Father)I remember seeing it as a Kid. He was & still is, an avid bayonet collector. The end result was, that Bayonet was purchased by the Late Gordon Huges. A well know & respected bayonet collector & Dealer who lived in Brighton. Gordon was informed it was NOT an original Piece as such. But made my Dad a very good offer on it as he didnt really want to sell it! & as we were as a family, fresh out of the Army & Dad was attempting to put a goodly sum together as the deposit on a house in Civvy street. a LOT of things had to go! You wont belive some of the extremely rare guns he had had in storage for over 2o years. Trials .303" for example. But that is another story!..................

[old-smithy]

It could be one of the later Indian 07 variations th eV or VI is supposed ot have a bowie type blade. Interested in why you wanted German marks on a UK/commonwealth blade?

[bigduke6]

Thanks for the info Carl,

Reference to the German stamps was just a joke regarding a rifle under question in the Enfield forum, as Peter and I have posted on the thread.