US Brass Hilted Sword Bayonets
US Brass Hilted Sword Bayonets
Ames versus Collins 1856 to 1865
Ames versus Collins 1856 to 1865
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This comparison between Ames and Collins manufacturing styles is limited to pre war and war time production. Many changes were made during post war production by both parties.
Differences in the Brass Hilts
The brass hilt made by Ames is more rounded overall and less defined than those made by Collins. This is very easy to see in the construction of the cross guards. The surfaces on the Ames’ cross guards are slightly curved and the finials are poorly defined and not quite round. The Collins’ cross guards have near flat surfaces and squared off edges and the finials look much more like a disk attached to the end of the guard.
Collins on the left / Ames on the right
Collins on the left / Ames on the right
Most of the bayonets made by Collins have a single steel rivet through the center of the cross guard pinning the hilt to the blade. Most of the bayonets made by Ames do not have this rivet. This makes the presence of the rivet a strong indication of the manufacturer. But, there are exceptions. The following picture clearly shows an Ames marked bayonet with a rivet in the cross guard.
The next picture shows a bayonet without a rivet. This bayonet has no makers mark but it clearly shows features of being a Collins bayonet. So, the presence or absence of the rivet does not definitely identify the maker.
Differences in the Press Stud Springs
The press stud spring of the Ames’ hilt is normally 41 mm in length and the spring of the Collins’ hilt is normally 51 mm in length. The width of the springs is near the same. Also notice the extra tooling around the Ames' screw hole. This feature appears to have been done on early Ames production and dropped on later production.
Collins on the bottom / Ames on the top
The back side of the Ames spring shows tooling marks where the spring was ground to make the press stud side of the spring thinner then the screw side.
The Collins’ spring is the same thickness from end to end and appears to have been stamped out of sheet metal.
Differences in the Press Studs
Although identical in function the press studs are also machined differently. Both press studs have an extension on the spring side that prevents the press stud cylinder from rotating in the hole drilled through the hilt. The Collins stud cylinder terminates into a thin oval extending to the right side probably produced in the original casting of the stud. The Ames stud appears to have been made in a similar way but modified by removing half of the extension and leaving a small rectangular extension.
Collins on the bottom / Ames on the top
Collins on the left / Ames on the right
The slots in the brass hilts reflect the differences as well.
Collins on the left / Ames on the right
Differences in the Date Fonts
Although not always available for comparison, the font used to date the blades by Ames is noticeably different than that used by Collins. These differences were pretty consistent through the war production.
Ames used a light thin font that was easy to read but fast to wear off.
Ames date stamp example
Ames date stamp example
Ames date stamp example
Collins used a heavy wide font that was more durable but it was messy and harder to read.
Collins date stamp example
Collins date stamp example
Collins date stamp example
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