In the course of writing this blog, it has been reinforced to me that a good order of thoughts help provide a clear and concise transference of information.  While I had this information in pieces (knowing they went together), it was not organized nearly as neatly as this is now.  So this has really helped me consolidate things and get things all together nicely.

iKC has been a great find and home on the internet for me.  A large array of topics ranging from folders (that I never really paid a whole lot of attention to before) to bayonets and even swords.  Besides being an incurable blade-head, I am also quite interested in firearms.  The last several years have emphasized older military style rifles, which in turn has reinforced my zeal for the bayonets and swords.  A quick glace at my ‘bayonets’ photo album can attest to some of that.  Here are a few of the Swiss bayonets I acquired at the time.  This group is continuing to grow...

Through the acquisitions, I have tried to research things quite thoroughly, and by being introduced to several sources, have been able to piece together what I believe to be a pretty complete picture of topics.  Documenting this is an attempt to provide an overview of one relatively specific area of interest/collecting.  I do hope that you enjoy, and perhaps someone will even gain a measure of fascination into this era and location in history.

Bayonets in general, are designed to be fixed upon a firearm.  In all cases that I am aware of, these firearms were military issued; and for the vast majority, rifles.  There were a few that were designed to affix to shotguns, but those are quite rare.  I find it impossible to properly discuss a family or style of bayonet without at least some consideration given to the rifles for which it was designed.  Therefore, in this arena of concentrating on blades, please allow for a slight detour into the realm of firearms.

This era of these bayonets began partway through the manufacture of the M1869 Vetterli rifle.  

The rifle was designed by a domestic designer, Friedrich Vetterli (who happened to be the plant manager of the Neuhausen Facility overseen by SIG).  It was adopted in early 1868 (bear in mind that this was a mere three years after the American civil war).  He borrowed concepts from the British Terry action and coupled that with the tube magazine found on the Henry (later Winchester) rifle.  It was declared the official rifle of the Swiss Army in 1869 and remained largely unchanged all the way through 1889 when it was replaced by the Schmidt-Rubin M1889.

The rifle was chambered in 10.4mm (.41 caliber) x 38mm black powder rimfire.  But the big deal about this rifle was that it was a thirteen shot, bolt-action repeater!  It also featured a (self cocking) cock-on-open action.  At the time of its adoption, it was the most technologically advanced rifle in the world.  By the end of its active life in the military, it was largely obsolete because it was still designed to use the black powder cartridges.  Smokeless powder had been discovered, and the world was beginning to embrace this.

Now onto the bayonets.  

From 1869, the rifle was intentionally designed to accept the existing M1863 quadrangle socket bayonet.  There was a slight change in 1871, and finally in 1878, a bladed, saw-back engineer type bayonet was introduced and adopted.  This is where the focus of this blog begins.

The 1878, 1881, and 1887 Vetterli bayonets were massive bayonets.  The blade length on all of these early bladed bayonets was almost 19 inches, with the overall length just over 23½ inches.  All three of these bayonets were saw-back style, and when attached to the Vetterli rifle, the tip of the bayonet was almost 6 feet tall!  These bayonets sported a fuller only on one side of the blade.

The differences between the models were relatively minor, but easily identifiable to those that are into these blades.  Crossguard thickness and the number of handle pins are examples of these changes.  On a bayonet, these revisions could reflect either improvement (or change) in tactics, or a means to streamline production.  In either case, these changes tend to make a significant difference to collectors.

The left side photo is of a 1878 bayonet                                       The right side photo is of a 1887 bayonet

In 1889 the rifle (and bayonet) was upgraded to the newly designed Schmidt-Rubin design.

This ‘new’ (M1889) rifle diverged from the bent handle bolt action design and began the era of the Schmidt-Rubin straight pull actions.  Chambered for a 7.5mm x 54mm cartridge, this was one of the most advanced rifles in use at the time.  The rifle was designed by Col. Rudolf Schmidt while the ammunition was designed by Col. Edward Rubin.  These two collaborated together and began the Schmidt-Rubin era of Swiss rifles and bayonets.  Subsequent rifles; the M1911, K1911 and the famous K31 were all based on the initial design, and the bayonets were mostly interchangeable among these rifles.  Yes, there were a few other rifles mixed in there, but the runs were short and small, and finding one of these rifles is hard to do.  The cartridge was changed to 55mm long for the M1911 and subsequent rifles.  

The bayonets - The Schmidt-Rubin era

A new bayonet design was required for the M1889 rifle, and so the M1889 bayonet was born.  

With only a couple of exceptions on the larger saw-back bayonets, all of the Schmidt-Rubin style bayonets had steel scabbards.

Shortly after the M1889 started to be issued to the troops, it was learned that the design suffered from a lack of scabbard retention.  A rivet was added to one side (right side) of the fuller on the vast majority of the bayonets to aid with this problem.  I have read where this officially sanctioned rivet rework was done as early as 1892 and throughout the remainder of the production run, in the very early 1900s, and even as late as the 1940s.  Personally, I find the last option to be absolutely absurd, and even the second option to be questionable.  The serial numbers that I have seen on these correlated to rifles in the appropriate years, and were inactivated; the bayonets showed no signs of being reassigned to subsequent rifles.  Although there has been one documented occurrence of a M1896/11 rifle and bayonet matched set that I am aware of.

The M1889 and M1899 bayonets looked identical as far as the size and shape of the bayonets.  The blade length was a little under a foot, and the overall length was 16½ inches.

M1899 - showing the overall size and shape of the bayonet

M1889 without rivet rework                                                      M1889 with rivet rework

Because of the scabbard retention issue, there was a design change to the blade for the M1899 bayonet that added a machined ramp into the fuller for much better scabbard retention.  These machined ramps are in the fullers on both sides of the bayonet.  You have to really want the bayonet to be removed from the scabbard for it to come out.

A close-up the a machined ramp in the M1899 fuller

The M1906 saw-back bayonet was essentially a transition bayonet that utilized the older style Vetterli saw-back blade coupled with the newer Schmidt-Rubin handle.  Being as this is another saw-back, it is another big bayonet!  It had the same 19” blade and the overall length had grown a little bit to 24 inches long.  Holding one, it feels almost like you have a short sword in your hand.  True to the styling of those older Vetterli bayonets, the fuller is only on one side of the blade.  

I have seen the M1906 bayonets only issued with leather scabbard with steel throats and tips.  Because of the relatively short run on this bayonet, it is one of the more rare ones to find.

The M1914 saw-back bayonet was a little bit different from the earlier saw-back bayonets in that it had a ‘bulge’ at the tip of the blade.  The length of the toothed area of the spine was also a bit longer than the Vetterli saw-backs.  It did follow suit from the Vetterli saw-back design in that the fuller is only on one side of the blade.  Early bayonets of this design were issued with the leather scabbards, and later bayonets were issued with all steel scabbards.

While this bayonet certainly looks imposing, it was only issued to a select handful of troops : engineers, mounted sergeants, driver corporals, blacksmiths, lance corporals, officers involved with horse transport (PFCs, corporals, and sergeants), saddle makers, and drivers for the howitzers and field artillery.

The M1918 bayonet replaced the earlier, non saw-back Schmidt-Rubin bayonets, and had a double sided blade, with no fullers.  The blade looks like that of a large dagger in my opinion.  It was just a tiny bit larger than the earlier bayonets.  There was a variant created in 1955 that had a heavier, bigger bellied handle.  It was similar (but not identical) to that of the M1914 saw-back bayonet.  I find it rather odd that they created a M1918/55 variant so near to the end of the service life of this bayonet design.

M1918 bayonet - showing overall size and shape

The top bayonet handle is of a normal 1918.

The bottom bayonet handle is of a 1918/55.

The ‘Modern’ bayonets

In the year 1957, The Schmidt-Rubin era was at its end.  The new M1957 bayonet had been designed and adopted, ushering in what I consider to be the ‘modern era’ of Swiss bayonets.  

The M1957 was designed to fit to newly adopted Sturmgewehr (Stgw.) 57 assault rifle.  This was a completely new platform, and so the bayonet was also completely new.  It emphasized function and does not pay as much attention to the aesthetics of the bayonet.  The bayonet release mechanism was changed from a push button to one that used a forward push instead.

In 1990, the Sturmgewehr 57 was replaced by the SIG SG 550 assault rifle (aka Stg 90) and to my knowledge, remains the infantry’s weapon, but I understand that the military production of the rifle has ceased.  So a new rifle is to be expected soon?

The Stg 90 bayonet is all about function with no attention paid to it’s aesthetics.  Single edged, the top clip remains unsharpened.  This has what I call a ‘chisel grind’ as the bevel is only on one side of the blade, and the other side remains flat.

This information has been gathered over several years, from in-person research, and numerous online sources.

A few of the more prominent include:

• swissrifles.com
• worldbayonets.com
• Swisswaffen.com
• K31.ch
• Edelweissarms.com

 Photos have been collected, and in most cases edited in some form, from the general image search on the internet for educational and illustration purposes only.