4 rifle and the Mk. V Sten submachine gun. Part knife bayonet and part socket bayonet, the No. 7 Mk. I/L would mount to the Lee Enfield No. The No. 7 Mk. I/L was a very innovative and complex design, with a unique swiveling pommel. Only Wilkinson marked their F-S knives, however, many other firms produced them unmarked like this example. It has seen considerable service, during which the point was damaged and the blade repointed, with loss of a little of the blade's original length. This is a late Second World War British government issue example, as evidenced by the Broad Arrow ownership mark. Many fakes have also been manufactured, owing to the popularity of the F-S design. Many private-purchase F-S knives saw service during the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Current military users include the British Royal Marines, Canadian Armed Forces, and special forces of several Asian countries. The F-S has never lost its popularity with troops going in harm's way and remains in production today. The iconic Fairbairn-Sykes combat knife was first adopted during the Second World War. Sterling bayonets are marked on the blade with “Sterling” inside a rectangle.Īlthough not a bayonet, the Fairbairn-Sykes combat knife is one of the most recognizable British edged weapons. ROF, Poole marked theirs with a “P” inside a small circle. Radcliffe (about which very little is known) marked theirs with their dispersal code, “N187”.Įlkington marked theirs with their dispersal code, “M78”.
Viners marked theirs with “VNS” or their dispersal code “N79”. 5 bayonets with the initials “W.S.C.” and/or their dispersal code “S294”. Side): Crown over "?" and "X" bending proof and broad arrow proofmark. The vast majority of RFI-marked No. 5 Mk. I bayonets encountered today are reproductions. More recently, a large quantity of RFI-marked reproductions has surfaced. Ishapore bayonets were made in small quantity. Sterling (Patchett) machine carbine and at Rifle Factory Ishapore in India. No. 5 Mk. I bayonets were also commercially produced by Sterling Ltd. These early examples are very scarce today.ģ16,122 No. 5 Mk. I bayonets were produced by the end of 1945. Wartime production was carried out by four manufacturers:Īn unknown quantity were produced post-war at the Royal Ordinance Factory, Poole. Early examples have the grip secured by a single screw and a press stud without the screw slot. Unlike most bayonets, the wooden grip scales wrap completely around the tang. The scabbard is the early No. 5, without the thick brass throatpiece found on post-war scabbards. This example was made by the Wilkinson Sword Co. 303 caliber Lee-Enfield No. 5 Mk. I rifle. In the USA, a small steel brewing vessel is still often referred to as a “Grundy.” Their “cellar tanks,” used by pubs during the 1960s and 1970s to store and dispense cheap beer purchased in bulk quantities, became so ubiquitous that all such tanks became known as “Grundies.” Imported to the USA in the 1990s, these tanks fueled the American micro-brewery movement, as vessels for brewing the craft beers so popular today. became manufacturers of inexpensive steel tanks and metal school lunch boxes. In his British patent filings up to 1940, Benno Sippel refers to himself as being of “German Nationality” but his later filings read, “Stateless, formerly of German Nationality.” Today, their old Sipelia Works factory is a homeless shelter. Sippel was a peacetime manufacturer of stamped cutlery that continued into the 1970s. Sippel, a German firm owned by two Jewish brothers, relocated from Germany to Sheffield in 1931. Many reproductions and fakes have been produced, owing to the near unobtainability of period examples. Nearly all of the bayonets were believed scrapped, making period examples like this one quite rare today. The large forward projection on the stamped spring steel catch serves as a fingerguard, so the bayonet can also be used as a hand weapon.ħ5,280 bayonets were believed produced during 1943–1944, 55,800 by Grundy Ltd. The socket also bears a partial Broad Arrow acceptance mark. The socket bears Grundy’s dispersal code, “S41”. This example was assembled by the firm Grundy Ltd. Spikes marked with the lowercase ”L” are believed to be made by Laspee Engineering Co. I represented the ultimate in Second World War bayonet simplicity. Although the STEN rod was of a larger diameter, this enabled the STEN Mk. I bayonet was fabricated out of sheet steel and utilized a rod-style blade copied from the No. NATO caliber FN–FAL selective-fire rifle. These saw extensive use during the Second World War and into the 1950s, when the Lee-Enfield was superseded by the 7.62 mm.