P. S. Justice

Bayonets Produced

Did PS Justice actually manufacture these bayonets or were they produced by a third party contractor?  It is a bit unusual that some of the bayonets are stamped "P.S. JUSTICE / PHILA." on the blade ricasso while others are unmarked.  In my opinion, the similarities in the overall construction between the Justice marked and unmarked examples are too close to not having been manufactured by the same hand.  For now, I will continue to identify these bayonets as made by PS Justice until more information is obtained.

The PS Justice bayonets are commonly found and they are fairly easy to identify even without the logo on the ricasso.  See PS Justice Identifying Features for more details on identification.  But, there are several variations to be found.  At the moment there are three major features, that have been identified, that vary between known examples.

The first feature is the inside muzzle ring diameter.  Currently, there are two known muzzle ring diameter sizes found in the surviving P.S Justice bayonets, ~20.8 millimeters and ~22.4 millimeters.  Records show that Justice was at least attempting to sell a sizable number of short Enfield pattern rifles with saber bayonets.  The bayonets for these rifles would most likely have required the 20.8 millimeter muzzle ring.  Records also show that Justice may have supplied saber bayonets for rifles purchased for resale from J. Henry & Son.  The bayonets for these rifles would most likely have required the 22.4 millimeter muzzle ring.  This rifle identification is pure conjecture on my part but for certain there appears to be at least two different rifles involved with this group of bayonets.  I have used the muzzle ring size to separate these bayonets into "Types".  The 20.8 millimeter group is labeled as Type 1 and the 22.4 millimeter group is labeled as Type 2.  

Note:  This labeling of types has nothing to do with the rifle type numbers identified by George D. Moller, American Military Shoulder Arms – Volume III.

The second feature is the blade construction. There are currently two recorded blade styles.  Style 1 has a beveled blade edge that terminates well short of the hilt leaving a flat ricasso.  Style 2 has a strongly beveled blade edge that runs all the way to the hilt.  See P.S. Justice Identifying Features for more details.  Why two different blade styles?  Maybe the blade production was sub contracted to two different producers.  Maybe one style was produced first before changing to the second style.  Clearly both blade styles are found on both types of muzzle ring diameters.  So far, only blade style 1 on Type 2 bayonets have been stamped with the P.S. Justice logo.  

The third feature is the press stud spring construction.  There are currently two recorded press stud spring styles.  Style 1 has a 43 millimeter long press stud spring that expands around the screw hole forming a circular section.  Style 2 has a 41 millimeter long press stud spring with parallel sides more commonly seen on bayonets produced by other manufacturers such as Ames Mfg.  See P.S. Justice Identifying Features for more details.  There is no clear understanding as to why two spring styles were used.  So far, the Style 2 spring has only been recorded on a Type 2 bayonet.  

A PS Justice bayonet with its original scabbard is a rare fine and knowledge of this scabbard is currently very limited.