Springfield Trapdoor Bayonet

[vman]

I posted a similar question on the Bayonet forum. Looking for advice on what to look for when purchasing a bayonet for my M1873 Trapdoor rifle.

I hope that this forum will be as helpful and friendly as the old CSP.

TIA.

Jim

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.

[jnz]

You might want to try to find one that matches your rifle, condition wise. A bayonet and scabbard in like-new condition is going to look goofy on a well used rifle with more patina than blue left on it. There really are no good ones vs. bad ones. I have an early Model 1873 that is NJ marked so I found a bayonet that had a NJ rosette on the scabbard. It's all personal preference.

[John Sukey (Deceased)]

My BIG mistake. Years ago I had a table at a gun show with my trapdoors, (ONLY one left now) but I hadn't walked around the show. A friend came up to me and asked me if the bayonet he found was a good deal. I said yes, but then turned it over and trhe rosette said USMC!

[Jim K]

Oddly enough, with the exception of some early test ones, there were NO Model 1873 bayonets. All were Civil War era bayonets for the .58 rifle musket with the ring cold forged down to fit the M1873 barrel and then refinished. Just goes to show the way the government saved money in those long-ago days (not any more!) and how huge the volume of CW surplus was.

One of the reasons for going to the rod bayonet later on was that they were running short of CW musket bayonets.

Jim