Reference # 318

Remington Rolling Block Rifle Bayonet

Feathered Grips - Type III

Petr Rubín Collection

Information about this bayonet

It is press stud spring and the long blade length that makes this bayonet unique from the other listed types. It is also the longest US brass hilted bayonet recorded.

This bayonet is not marked in any manner but a bayonet with the same style hilt is listed for sale in Ames' 1882 catalog and believed to be made by Ames. The feathered or scaled brass hilt is 124 millimeters long. There is a forward swept round finial on the bottom of the guard and no finial on top of the muzzle ring. The press stud spring is 57 millimeters long. There is no blade rivet in the center of the cross guard. The muzzle ring is flush with the hilt flat and the inside diameter is 18.2 millimeters.

Petr Rubín Collection

The lug slot's top edges are straight and unchamfered and there is a 79 millimeters guide slot that runs to the middle of the muzzle ring. The slightly curved blade is 654 millimeters long and has unstopped fullers.

Petr Rubín Collection

Information from other sources

Albert N. Hardin, The American Bayonet 1776 – 1964, #126, has this bayonet listed as unknown. The all-brass hilt, with a poorly defined eagle's-feather design on the grips, ia 4 13/16 inches (122 mm) long. The bore is .719 inch (18.3 mm) in diameter. The lower guard terminates in a forward-curving disk finial which lacks sharp definition. The stud groove runs to the lower surface of the bore and does not flare at its juncture with the stud groove. The latter is deep and heavy. The pommel is of the standard bird's-head pattern. The almost straight straight blade has a deep unstopped fuller. The blade is 20 inches (508 mm) long, 1 1/16 inches (27.0 mm) wide and 5/16 inch (7.9 mm) thick.

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Jerry L. Janzen, Bayonets of the Remington Cartridge Period, pg. 130, refers to these bayonets as "Ames Export Remington Bayonets". Later Janzen states, "An interesting phenomenon surfaced when numerous specimens of these bayonets were examined. The handle castings, release springs and blades exhibit major differences. The specimens also reflect significant differences in quality of workmanship. This could mean that this pattern was not a proprietary Ames' product and may have been a design specified by Schuyler, Hartley & Graham (a large arms dealer based in New York) and for use by all sub contractors. The author's research did not yield the answer, though Ames (and other firms) produced thousands of Remington .43 caliber bayonets for Schuyler, Hartley & Graham in the 1879 to 1890 time frame." Janzen also states "Numerous alternatives exist including the possibility that Ames purchased (or produced and sold) brass handles as a manufacturing component." Janzen shows four variations of the bayonet in Figures 126 & 127.

Speculation and questions

Multiple hilt and blade types for a single type of rifle is pretty common within this work. Look at the Colt Lightning with three bayonet variations for a few hundred rifles produced. The Remington Rolling Block Rifle was produced in huge numbers and dozens of variations were exported all over the world for a very long period. The number of variations in the bayonet does not convince me that there are multiple vendors making the same style of hilt. I will continue to list this as an Ames product until more information is found.

How many variations are there?