Original British WWI P-1913 Bayonet with Scabbard by Winchester for the P-14 Enfield Rifle Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is rare, especially in this lovely very well preserved condition. Near unissued, this is a P-1913 British WW1 bayonet made by WINCHESTER Arms Company in the U.S. for the British Army’s Pattern 1914 Enfield (P-14) Rifle.

The blade ricasso is marked 1913 / I –17 / W on one side of the blade and has various British Acceptance markings on the other.  The bayonet comes complete in its original WW1 scabbard with “Lozenge” shaped frog stud. The scabbard itself has markings stamped into the leather on the reverse, including a large W and British Broad Arrow.

This really is a gem and ready to display.

History of the P-1913 Bayonet

The British Rifle, .303 Pattern 1914, was developed from the experimental Pattern 1913 Enfield, originally intended to replace the S.M.L.E. as the standard issue rifle for British Troops. During the Second Boer War, the British Army had been faced with expert Boer marksmen equipped with the Mauser Model 1895, in 7×57mm caliber. This led them to develop a similar rimless cartridge and a Mauser action based rifle to shoot it, the first version being developed in 1911. This went through several revisions until the 1913 Enfield was developed and put into trials. A bayonet based on the P-1907 bayonet was developed at this time as well, and was known as the P-1913.

The outbreak of World War 1 then stopped the development in its tracks, as introduction of a new rifle cartridge during Wartime would have been a logistical nightmare, and there was no time to set up mass production to be ready for the war. The Pattern 1913 was then redesigned to take the standard rimmed .303 British Cartridge, and became the Pattern 1914 Enfield. However, the primary contractor Vickers was only able to make a handful of the rifles, so the rifle was almost an afterthought. The SMLE was retained as the standard issue rifle through WW1, WW2, and beyond.

There was however still much need of additional rifles and second line weapons for the war, so Britain contracted with U.S. Manufacturers Winchester, Remington and Eddystone to manufacture the P-1914. Tooling and production delays led to the first P-14 being accepted in February 1916, and they were never received in large quantities. They were mostly used as Sniper rifles, having been found to be more accurate than the SMLE Rifles.

One the United States entered into WW1, production of the P-14 had ceased, and the same three companies modified the P-14 to use the .30-06 cartridge, making the Model 1917 Enfield, which was issued along with the 1903 Springfield Rifle, and eventually surpassed it in production during the war. The bayonet for the M1917 is identical to the P-14, with markings being the only difference. They were made in the same factories by the same people.

This is a great chance to finally get an original WW1 era P-1913 bayonet to go along with a nice WW1 issue P-14 Enfield Rifle.