Nepalese Gahendra Socket Bayonet? Or Turkish Socket Bayonet? Age?
Article about: Hey guys, Picked this up the other day for a good price. I can see the socket end has been cut down at some point, so it's not complete. I found a very very close match online - Nepalese Gah
Nepalese Gahendra Socket Bayonet? Or Turkish Socket Bayonet? Age?
Hey guys,
Picked this up the other day for a good price.
I can see the socket end has been cut down at some point, so it's not complete.
I found a very very close match online - Nepalese Gahendra Socket Bayonet.
But can anyone make out what the writing is?
Could this be a Nepalese bayonet used by the Turkish army at some point?
I've always wanted a socket bayonet so I'm happy with whatever it is.
63cm long.
This is what I could find out the Nepalese Gahendra Socket Bayonet.
Socket bayonet for use with the caliber .577/450 Francotte and Gahendra rifles.
A crude copy of the British Pattern 1876 bayonet, with a larger diameter socket. The Gahendra and Francotte barrels had thicker walls than the Martini-Henry, making the outside diameter too large to accept the British Pattern 1876 bayonet.
The Nepalese “Francotte” copied an improved Martini-Henry design by Belgian maker August Francotte and dating to 1877. The Nepalese rifles used Francotte’s detachable trigger and firing mechanism, but without Francotte’s patented cocking indicator. The Nepalese Francotte rifles suffered from poor metallurgy and other defects, so were not a successful design.
The “Gahendra” is named after its developer, Nepalese military engineer General Gahendra Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana. The Gahendra rifle was based on an 1869 Westley Richards patented design, but incorporated its own detachable trigger and firing mechanism. The Gahendra’s distinctive underlever has a downward-curving loop and attaches to the action in front of the trigger.
The quality of manufacture was improved over the Francotte, and was considered a successful design. The number produced is not known. However, a report dated 1906 indicated that 8,983 Gahendra rifles were still on hand. In addition to the rifle that bears his name, Gahendra also developed the Bira gun, a contemporary of the rapid-fire Gatling and Gardner guns.
Could also be a Snider-Enfield Socket Bayonet? 1853.
Socket bayonet for use with the .577 caliber Pattern 1853 Rifle-Musket and Snider-Enfield breech loading conversion.
A crude copy of the British Pattern 1853 bayonet.
hi Didier,
Thanks for that, I didn't have any info about where it came from.
I was making wild guesses about the stamps. Ha ha.
I will have to see what I can find with this new info.
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