This bayonet is marked on the blade with a small U over US listed by Reilly and subsequently identified among collectors as Harpers Ferry. This also bears a P/96 stamp on the underside of the socket at the neck that is probably an alpha-numeric batch number, conforming to delivery of the bayonets in groups of 2400 as laid out by Reilly. The condition is excellent, carefully cleaned to bright a few gray areas, but no pitting and with all the markings still sharp.

Nominally measuring 19 inches overall with a 3-inch socket and 16-inch blade generally with a blunt “slash” point (in Reilly’s words,) production of the 1816 extended into the 1840s and its use extended well into the Civil War, with some replacements made as well. There are lots of interesting variations, but the pattern is readily recognizable by the T-shaped bayonet lug mortise (with integral bridge) that would keep the bayonet on the muzzle of the musket even if pulled forward when withdrawing the blade from a target or jarred by the recoil of discharge. Careful inspection resulted in high degree of uniformity, but there is a lot of variety in blade and socket markings, as here, and they are a collecting category of their own, though this one would pair nicely with a Harpers Ferry made M1816 musket.  [SR] [ph:m]

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