British No. 8 Bayonet Find

[marysdad]

I masked-up and made a quick pass through a very small swapper at our local sportsman club last Saturday. I was late to miss any crowd that might have been there for opening. There were probably 15 tables and the exhibitors outnumbered the lookers when I went through.

There were only two bayonets and I came away with one of them that was tagged: “SMLE Bayonet.” I knew that wasn’t the case. I didn’t see any markings, except for a tiny number on the crosspiece. I thought it was a standard-length Indian 1A SLR bayonet (which appealed to me, as my standard Indian 1A example is really beat up and this was a nice upgrade).

When I got home, I was looking it over under good light and saw “SMT” and a broad arrow on the pommel end. Not what you would expect on an India piece. Got out Skennerton and sure enough, had me a British No. 8 bayonet. Go figure: how this ended up in rural north Texas, the only bayonet on a table with a bunch of hunting stuff, commercial knives, etc.? It just goes to show that there is still good stuff out there and you never know where it may turn up.

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