Scarce “Snell” or “ring-style” sword bayonet for the Mississippi Rifle. When it became evident that riflemen needed a bayonet to put them on equal footing with regular musket-armed infantry in close combat, several methods of attaching long saber bayonets to the shorter barreled rifles were devised. Hardin refers to this as the U.S. Rifle Model 1841 Type I. Measuring 27 ¼ inches overall with a 22 1/2-inch Yataghan style blade, this brass-handled bayonet was fitted with a folding ring at the pommel that could slide onto the barrel over the front sight and then permit the bayonet to be locked in place by a thumbscrew mounted at the muzzle ring. This was seen as a way to avoid extensive modification of the rifle, requiring only two notches be cut on the right side of the barrel forward of the sight to engage the thumbscrew when tightened. The rear ring on the hilt was designed to fold out of the way of the hand when the bayonet was removed from the barrel.

Only some 1650 of these bayonets were made in 1855 (precisely 1646 according to Hardin) for Model 1841 rifles altered to accept them, after which the system was changed to a more conventional stud brazed on the barrel or mounted on a split-ring adapter that was screw-tightened on the barrel.

The brass hilt has a mellow, aged patina mixed with scattered brown spots, small dings to the ribbed grip and some roughness around the inner face of the muzzle ring. The muzzle ring finial and quillon finial are in place. The folding pommel ring is a modern copy. The side thumbpiece appears original. The blade has a good point and edge with no nicks. The metal is smooth and is silver gray with a dusting of dark gray spots. As is correct, it is unmarked. The scabbard has a good leather body with decent finish and mounts securely in place, but is a “place holder,” actually being for a Civil War U.S. Navy Plymouth rifle saber bayonet. It might be possible to find a Model 1855 scabbard that might fit and be more appropriate, but it is a scarce bayonet regardless that would fill a spot in a military arms collection and be a necessary addition to a Mississippi rifle. [sr]

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