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Thread: No. 8, Sterling or anything else?

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  1. #1
    Advisory Panel Lee Enfield's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Melanie_Daniels View Post
    I bought this bayonet in a Britishicon auction in the 80th:
    Attachment 133834Attachment 133835Attachment 133836Attachment 133837
    It was sold as Bayonet No. 8, but it is totally unmarked. My main problem wtih this was that blade and pommel came from an early Sterling bayonet - I think that is the reason I got it cheap. Since then I found another in a private collection. And now two further:
    War Department Militaria | Rare No 8 Bayonet
    https://www.ima-usa.com/products/ori...39491880255557
    The first of the bayonets has a Sterling-marked blade.

    In Skennertonicon`s "British an Commonwealth Bayonets" ist a simillar bayonet with plastic grips (B313 on page 252-253 and 254). But he merely states that it does not fit either the No. 5 rifle or the Sterling SMG.

    The Canadian C1 SMG has another bayonet holder then the Sterling, so the C1 rifle bayonet also fits on this Canadian Sterling. Is it possible that Britain made trials with another bayonet (holder) for the Sterling in the 50th?
    Or:
    I read, that Canadaicon bought 11 British made Sterlings for trials in the 50th with a modified bayonet holder. Is it possible, that these bayonets are made for Canadian trials.
    Or:
    Any other ideas?
    Edited to add: I guess this can't be right as the L1A1 latch is different - unless unscrupulous people have been converting No5 bayos into No8 bayos for example or profitable fraud:

    I would suspect that rather than a No8 bayonet it is actually an L1A1 bayonet built with a No5 blade. There was reference to this variant here on the board in the past.

    In my Junque I have a Sterling etch marked No5 bayonet, X1E1, Ex1 and T48 bayonets.

    The differences between the X1E1 and Ex1 bayonets are subtle, but noticeable if the 2 types are side by side.
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    Last edited by Lee Enfield; 11-14-2023 at 10:06 PM.
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  2. #2
    Legacy Member Melanie_Daniels's Avatar
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    The main problem with the bayonet: Like the War Department Militaria bayonet it has a 50th Sterling blade, most made by Hopkinson since 1953. So it is impossible, that both were made in 1946.

    And yesterday I got photos from another sold in an auction in 2021:

    A Hopkinson L1A4 blade, a 70th Hopkinson Sterling Pommel, one No. 5 Mk. II grip and one early Sterling grip. Sounds like a puzzle, looks like a puzzle - but if it is possible that all of were made in the 70th, there could be another theory: In the 70th Sterling worked on a assault rifle and there is no much information about them - and their bayonet.

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