Original Item: Only One Available. This a very nice British WWI P-1913 bayonet, made by REMINGTON Arms Company in the U.S. for the British Army’s Pattern 1914 Enfield (P-14) Rifle. It comes with a very nice WWI Pattern MkII scabbard, with the later round shaped frog stud.
The blade ricasso is marked 1913 / 5 17 on the blade ricasso over the round REMINGTON logo, and has various inspection markings on the reverse ricasso. Condition is very good, with a good amount of the original finish on the blade and handle, though the pommel is worn bright. There also appear to be Egyptian markings stamped into the metal. There is no major corrosion that we can see, just some areas of staining, and the original machine marks are visible on the blade.
The scabbard is also in very nice shape, with the finish worn from the metal fittings, and a nice leather body. It is marked H.G.R. 1918 on the rear, for manufacture by Hepburn, Gale & Ross Ltd, a well known maker of British WWI era holsters and other leather items.
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.
Specifications:
Blade Length: 17″
Blade Style: Single Edge with Fuller
Overall length: 21 3/4″
Crossguard: 3”
Scabbard Length: 18″
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.