How Rare is a 1895 Dated Krag Bayonet??

[Fred]

Long ago, a buddy of mine, George (Chips) Hensel noticed a bayonet on another friends table at a Missouri Valley show that had a nitrate blue blade. It had an 1894 date and was in a mint early hook scabbard, that was a second model with the square cornered throat.
The bayonet was pretty mint and only had a little wear from the new owner who was slipping the mint blade in and out of the scabbard in the wrong direction and off center of the offset internal spring guide that was meant to fit into the blade groove.
the guy who had just bought it from someone at the show didn't know the significance of the bayonet.
while talking to my buddy, he continued to slide the blade in and out of the scabbard, causing wear on the bayonet as they spoke.
Finally George just reached over and took the bayonet and scabbard away from the other fellow to stop the desecration of the blade, which was otherwise minty.
George got the bayonet and scabbard for $150.00 and later sold it to our friend Bill Mook for I believe $500.00. That was back in the 1980’s.
Bill was overjoyed.

[Kragrifle]

Interesting that the few months the blued 1895 bayonets were produced coincided with the very short period of time the early hook scabbards with parallel throats were the standard.

[cowtownscout]

I know its not dated 1895 but I finally took some photos of my blued bayonet dated 1894. It defiantly shows some hard use which is fine with me.






This pic shows the blued bayonet next to a bright bayonet for comparison.

[Dick Hosmer]

Lots of "character" there! Is that a 'keystone' scabbard?

[cowtownscout]

Unfortunately I don’t believe it is as the opening does not appear trapezoidal to me and the bayonet will go in turned either way. However I have never seen a photo of what the Keystone opening looks like. I would appreciate if you could post a photo of yours.



In addition there is a hole where the limiting pin was most likely removed by someone so the hanger loop would spin 360 degrees. When I look in the hole and move the hanger I can see the limiting grove in the hanger so this also leads me to conclude this is a type 2 hanger with the limiting pin removed.

[Dick Hosmer]

I completely agree with your analysis.

The trapezoidal hole is just BARELY so - easily missed.

My stuff is all packed away just now but I'll post some pics when I can.

[Kragrifle]

OK, here goes . First the photo of the three model hook scabbards. First we gave the earliest style with sharp edge on the hook, no limiting pin and non parallel opening. This would have been the scabbard with the early blued 1894 bayonets.Attachment 47502Attachment 47502Attachment 47503Attachment 47504Attachment 47505

[Kragrifle]

Next we have the transition scabbard with sharp edges on the hook, no limiting pin but with parallel sides on the opening. This is the only one of these I have seen and came with a worn blued 1894 bayonet. Likely produced only a short period of time around March of 1895.Attachment 47506Attachment 47507Attachment 47508Attachment 47509

[Kragrifle]

Finally we have the third, more common hook scabbard. This will have rounded edges on the hook, parallel opening and pin limiting rotation of the hook. This was produced up to around August of 1899 when the final more common belt attachment scabbard, Model 1899 was introduced.Attachment 47511Attachment 47512Attachment 47513Attachment 47514

[Kragrifle]

So, the three points of comparison are
1. The opening
2. The edge at the top of the hook
3. The presence or absence of a pin limiting travel of the hookAttachment 47515Attachment 47516Attachment 47517

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The above concerns standard rifle length scabbards. Cadet length scabbards are another story with at least five variations.