Long Indian L1 type bayonets.

[Peter Laidler]

Right, stand by your beds..... Here's a question that has just come to light. Indian longer L1Ax type bayonets. Usually fitted with No5 type wood grips with the shorter spacing between the grip screw holes. So far, so good.

I have just encountered a bit of a tatty GRIPLESS one with the holes more widely spaced to take the steel UK/Can/Aust type grips.
Anyone else got one?
Comments?

[Flying10uk]

I've got a stripped down Indian L1 long bayonet, bare blade, in my collection of No.5 style blades and it has 4 holes in the middle part of the tang, 2 of which were used to fit the original wood grips. I had assumed that the other 2 holes were for the option of fitting metal grips but I have not actually checked to see if they would align with the holes in metal grips. I think that others may have suggested that these 2 additional holes were purely for lightening purposes but I'm not sure that this has been proved or disproved.

I thought that one of these long Indian L1 bayonets with metal grips has been seen either here or elsewhere?

[Flying10uk]

Here are some photos of the long Indian L1 blade against a British No5 blade and a British L1A3 blade. Without actually measuring it the hole positions on the tang of my Indian L1 blade would appear to be the same as on the British No.5 blade, apart from the 2 pommel attachment holes, but are different to the L1A3 blade. The metal grips won't fit this Indian L1 blade because the hole centres don't quite align.