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Legacy Member
Swiss 1899 bayonet - serial number does not seem to match?
Good afternoon!
I have a Schmidt-Rubin M1911 infantry rifle that was manufactured in 1916. I do not currently have a bayonet for it, so I have been doing a bit of looking.
I found a 1899 bayonet (with arresting bar) but the serial number is 191xxx. To my understanding, the serial number was not put on the bayonet until it was matched up with a rifle. Per my sources, the 1899 bayonet was used on the 1889/96 rifles, as well as the M1911 and the K1911.
The 1889/96 rifles SNs started around 212000, and the M1911 SNs started at 355000.
Now I did find a K1911 that was in this serial number range, but it would have been manufactured in 1930. So I would have thought that this rifle would have used the dual edged 1918 bayonet, since the 1899 bayonet was not produced after 1917 or 18.
Does anyone have any insights on this situation? From what I am seeing, this serial number does not match the bayonet model. Is it possible tat the crossguard was replaced?
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06-17-2021 01:16 PM
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Contributing Member
Your numbers seem correct. I would assume it is simply a refurbished bayonet that was either issued with the rifle or provided as a replacement for a lost bayonet. Just because it is older doesn't mean it wasn't functional.
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Legacy Member
If I'm not mistaken a new bayonet was issued every time the rifle was refurbed. You kept the bayonet you were issued when you left service. In turn you received an older service weapon that was obsolescent, to keep at home. So there could be multiple bayonets with the same SN. This is one reason why the bayonet mounts stayed the same from 1889 to 1958. If you were issued a k11 there's a chance you were given/issued a m1893 when you left service. Unless you were in service at the tail end of the rifle you were issued being kept in service.
I have a 1957 k31 that looks like it was issued once and may have went home with the soldier it was issued too. (I never got a reply when I tried contacting the soldier on the tag)
Now there are bayonets without SN's. They were either surplus or issued to musicians which weren't issued rifles so they weren't marked. Usually the unnumbered pioneer bayonets are musician bayonets. The double edge k31 bayonets are late production unissued surplus.
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