Today's post is on a WW1 vintage bayonet that I picked up at a garage sale near Portland, Oregon about 30 years ago. The bayonet is a Remington Model 1917 manufactured for the Model 1917 Rifle, officially designated as the "United States Rifle, Caliber of .30, Model of 1917". When I originally purchased the bayonet, it was still packed in cosmoline grease and wrapped in the original grease coated paper.
These bayonets were manufactured by the Remington and Winchester firearms companies of the United States (Each manufacturer stamped their own name on the blade. Mine is a Remington). This model of bayonet and the Model 1917 rifle saw service all through WW1 and even during early WW2 with some of the US troops in the South Pacific. After the Model 1917 rifle was replaced, these bayonets continued to be issued with the Winchester Model 1897 Trench Shotgun. The shotgun was standard US military issue all through WW1, WW2, and the Vietnam War. In the 1920's and 1930's, a number of shotguns were sold to various US police and sheriff's departments. I'm not sure if the bayonets were sold with the shotguns though.
This bayonet was very similar to the British Pattern 1907 Bayonet, so it was decided to mark the Model 1917 bayonet with two distinctive vertical grooves on the wooden grips to uniquely distinguish it.
Here's a few pictures of my bayonet. Unfortunately I do not have a scabbard for it....... I'm still looking.
And as usual, here are a couple of historic shots:
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