Proofing of a Bayonet

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pud
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Proofing of a Bayonet

Post by pud » Sun Nov 19, 2006 8:01 pm

Source: H.L. Blackmore. British Military Firearms, 1650 to 1850. London, 1961.

**The quotation to follow was originally made by John Marshall who was the Clerk and Paymaster of the Ordinance of Birmingham in 1824. His words were captured at a Court of Enquiry;

"The Bayonets were first gauged - the viewer then took the socket in one hand and laid the point of the bayonet on an anvil keeping the bayonet in an horizontal position; he laid the other hand on the middle part of the blade and forcibly pressed down upon it - it was then turned and pressed on the other side - if it was bent in this proof it was rejected - but if it stood the proof, the viewer with one hand took hold of the blade at about one third of the length of it from the point and struck the neck of it forcibly once, upon an anvil - if the bayonet resisted this proof, it was marked by the viewer on the blade, a little above the neck, and received into store."

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