Reference # 308

Remington Rolling Block Rifle

1870 Export Saber Bayonet

Ribbed Grips - Type I

Information about this bayonet

This bayonet is unmarked but it has a typical Collins style long hilt. The ribbed brass hilt is 122 mm long and has 14 ribs. 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 and 51 mm long spring are typical Collins style construction. There is a steel 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 mm.

The lug slot edges are straight and unchamfered and there is a 80 mm guide slot that runs to the middle of the muzzle ring. The lug depth is 8.1 millimeters. The yataghan blade is 502 mm long and has heavy unstopped fullers.

Information from other sources

Jerry L. Janzen, Bayonets of the Remington Cartridge Period, pg. 100, refers to these bayonets as "Remington Generic Saber Bayonets". Janzen also states, "Some of the state and local issued weapons (Remington Rifles) may have included the Remington generic saber bayonet. Though typically a brass-gripped yataghan, it has been observed fitted with different blades. This could possibly be the work of Schuyler, Hartley and Graham (New York arms dealer). It has also been observed attached to Evans sporting rifles."

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Edward Hull, Notes on Remington Bayonets, 1870, The SABC Journal, Volume 34, refers to this bayonet as a Remington 1870 Export Saber Bayonet. Remington shipped 920 of these bayonets for the Spanish Rolling Block Rifle in .43 caliber to France in 1870. Remington's sales agent, Schuyler, Hartley and Graham of New York, sold 300 to Cuba from 1870 to 1871. Other sales of the rifle occurred but details of the saber bayonet supplied were not enough to positively identify the bayonet. (Note that the Ames saber bayonet for the Remington rifle, with the fish scale hilt, did not enter Schuyler, Hartley and Graham's inventory until 1878.) Thus, it appears that the number of Remington 1870 Export Saber Bayonets made was limited to a very few thousand.

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What appears to be a second example (ER5018) was sold to Shawn Gibson as an Evans Military Musket bayonet.

Speculation and questions

Thanks to Ed Hull's research, the records show that similar bayonets were sold and shipped by Remington but were they manufactured by Remington? It is a strong possibility but they could have been made for Remington under contract. This example is very similar in many small details to those produced by Collins & Co. during the US Civil war.

Labeling this specific bayonet as a Remington Rolling Block has strong support from Hull but the number of slight variations found within bayonet style leaves it in question. It could very well be for the Evans Musket or some other currently unknown rifle.

Hopefully, as more details are collected in the future, these questions will be resolved.