Tore’s Tuesday. The P13 and M1917 bayonet.
Last week i told the story of the P14 and M1917 rifles. Of course, those rifles came with bayonets, and that is quite a story too…
The story, of course, begins before 1913. When the British adopted the Lee-Enfield No 1 Mk III rifle (SMLE) in 1907, they decided to copy the Japanese Arisaka bayonet, which they deemed better than their own previous designs. Thus, the P07 bayonet was born. It originally had a quillion as its Japanese forebear, but that was dispensed with in 1915.
When the Brits had the experimental P13 rifle in .276 made, a bayonet was accepted as well, and named the P13. But, because the brits decided not to change calibers during a world war, the rifle was adapted to use the standard .303 caliber and accepted as the P14 in 1914. However, the designation of the bayonet remains P13.
The P13 bayonet was identical to the P07, except for its high muzzlering, so there was a chance of mixing the two types up, and to avoid confusion two vertical grooves were cut into the grips of the P13 bayonet. The P14 rifle has a different bayonet lug than the SMLE rifle, and the bayonets are not interchangeable.
The bayonets were manufactured in the US by Remington and Winchester, as well as a smaller number in the UK by Vickers.
As the United States entered the war in 1917, they did not have enough M1903 Springfield rifles to fulfill their needs, so they took over the production, changing the caliber of the rifles to 30-06 and naming both the rifles and bayonets M1917.
They took over the existing, undelivered, weapons and had them restamped. Typically they retain the British 1913 and month of manufacture stamps on the ricasso, but on the other side the British inspection marks are Xed out and they are stamped US. There is supposed to be a frog for these to allow the British type scabbard to fit the M1910 pistol belt. I have seen photos, but never handled one.
New production was marked with 1917 and standard US inspection marks. About 75% of the US expedition force was equipped with these weapons.
The scabbard developed a bit during WWI. The first version has a leather hanger riveted on, on which the brass belt attachment is fastened. The second type has a brass hanger attached directly to the chape. The third version has some metal removed from the chape to lighten it, and a steel hanger.
A rarer version of the M1917 bayonet exists, marked 1918. (Had one, but sold it to a good friend in need) This is due to a misunderstanding, someone did not know that 1917 is the model year, and subsequently changed the stamp come new year…
These old warhorses saw use long after WWI too, lots of the M1917 bayonets came to Britain during WWII, as part of the lend-lease program and were used by the home guard. Many were used in other countries too, like here in Norway. Not rare bayonets by any definition, but a fascinating part of history nonetheless.