No.9, no.9, no.9
By now I’m sure you all know my sordid
love affair with that Limey tart Lee-Enfield.
You all basked in the sickly radioactive glow of currency debased fire
sale priced Mosin-Nagants, but as I’ll never tire of yelling at you they don’t
have a gas safety bleed and are hence nothing more than Russian Roulette Rifles. 999 times out of a thousand nothing will
happen and they are splendid little FedGov targeters, and that one time your
face melts off. The Mauser is a fine
rifle, if lacking any characteristics to love, but I hate leaf and post sites
and don’t care for the slower loading ( which of course makes for a more
accurate firearm, so there is that ).
The Enfield might not be the best choice, the Swiss bolt of the era
seems to have had a fine reputation, but for me it was the best choice with all
the necessary compromises one must always make.
And of the Enfield’s, the no.4 of
WWII fame is the best. Alas, they vastly
improved the rifle from the first war, the no.1 ( having everything to do with
greatly improving the economics of manufacture and nothing to do with
considerations involving their users- but unlike forcing poor bastard Americans
to die with their rigid fingers clasped tightly around the plastic stock of the
sad and worthless M-16 which they kept changing everything EXCEPT the part that
kept it getting jammed up, the first Enfield was a hit with the troops anyway )
but more than made up for that by turning the bayonet into a useless tool more
attune to a tent peg than a pig sticker.
*
I don’t pretend to be an expert on
bayonet fighting. I never encountered it
in Basic, probably because at the time they didn’t want to replace the A1’s we
had and of course with the M16 if a bunch of slack jaw idiots put a bayonet on
the end of a plastic carbine and start sticking anything around with it they
will break the thing ( I’m not sure how the Jarheads do it ). And with the Army, money and political
correctness is far more important than proper training. Anyway, while I understand that the primary
function of a bayonet is to be thrust rather than slashed, there are far better
ways of stabbing someone than with a rod.
The basic issue no.4 Lee-Enfield bayonet was a metal rod with the end
flattened and sharpened. Any use with
this, if not a direct thrust with the proper pressure behind it, turned out to
be marginal ( as far as stopping power ) and Tommy was not the happiest camper
with this turd of a tool. I don’t know
if the no.9 bayonet, with the proper knife shape, was developed in response to
soldier complains of the spike bayonet, or if it had been available all along
but not for general kit issue, but the end result was that today all that is
left on the rapidly diminishing surplus market is cheap spikes and damn
expensive no.9’s since there were few to start with.
*
While the spike averages around $12,
the no.9 is closer to $60-$80. This is a
travesty, since when I bought my first rifles I was spending $100 on them and
the real bayonet was under $20 ( the spike versions were practically free as
nobody wanted them ). But here is a new
deal:
South African conversions. I guess from a Bren gun, which I had never
heard of before as far as having a bayonet.
I just ordered one and it is banged up, needs a little work to remove
minor rust and is dull as Hell. But it
is a $30 no.9 bayonet! I just ordered
almost half of what was left in stock, so I wouldn’t dally if you need a real
Federale sticker.
*
I know this type of article isn’t
everyone’s cup of tea, but it was on my mind and so that’s what you get. To make it up to you, tune in later after 1 PM and I'll have a short article for you.
END
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If my Blogger page ever goes down, I will start to post at my regular web site:
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By the by, all my writing is copyrighted. For the obtuse out there.
The Swiss K31 is a fine rifle : very accurate and fast to reload, however it doesn't hold a candle to the Lee Enfield in reliability.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't trust a K31 in the mud.
Good thing I never seriously considered getting one, then
Deletethe ishapores use a real bayonet,although they are expensive.
ReplyDeleteOh, and ishapores use REAL ammo.!
Saw a couple boxes of 303 at Bass Pro the other day. $36 per 20 !!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy mom and pop gun store wanted even more! Message, you are scum and we don't want your business.
DeleteSaw this and thought of an article you wrote last week on the 700 Remington. this was on MSM http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/massive-785-million-recall-for-popular-us-gun/ar-BBgoPPI?ocid=U141DHP
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks, hadn't heard that.
Deletere: they don’t have a gas safety bleed
ReplyDeleteMAYBE...... BUT why isn't there ONE thing to be found on the internet concerning this????????????
YKW
MM
If you remember, I reprinted verboten ( bison blog ) from a magazine regarding this. No info on who or when, but I have the Xerox copy of the article. I can't for the life of me believe it was a hoax as it seems like far too much work just to get a writer of low circulation to hate a rifle
DeleteYeah, I bagged both the Mk9 and the South African bayonets while they were cheap. Both were dull, the SA bayo still is, since it took me most of an afternoon to get the Mk9 properly sharpened (the curved upper part was a pain). Never bothered with those ridiculous pig stickers, although they might be good for tent stakes.
ReplyDeleteJust checked GunBroker: Prvi Partizan (PPU) ammo is listed for between $85 and $90 per 100. 174gr FMJ & softpoint, 150gr softpoint. I've harangued you about PPU brass before, it's very stout and worth buying and reloading.
There are post-war (dark green) bayonet frogs out there with the wire doodad that'll attach easily to a USGI web/pistol belt. Danish surplus, I think. Worth the search, and with the money you'll save by finally paying attention to me and buying that PPU .303, affordable. If you cannot find one, the Indians (dots, not feathers) make a web belt that's 2" wide instead of the Murkin 2.25" version, so the regular frog will just slip on. Also, the dotted Indians, under the Fox Tactical brand, make ammo pouches similar to the USGI Garand model which hold 50 rounds of clipped .303 with no problem.
I look forward to the day when I stroll past the multitude of ammoless plastic carbine owners toiling in my fields with a No4 rifle slung across my back, sipping a cool drink.
Contraire, I HAVE bought PPU on your recommendation. And, strangely, those blanks I bought are the same brand. Now that I've bought all those Commie spam cans for reloading, I'm going back to my old habit of 100 rounds modern Brit ( $77 after free shipping when I have a coupon from Sportsman ) PPU 174 grain, then alternate another spam can. I figure a hundred rounds brass, then reload components for near 500 rounds, so for $200 ( not including primers ) I get 600 rounds.
DeleteWhat is the deal with bayonets?
ReplyDeleteBoth the settlers and natives settled on the tomahawk for close in fighting, and the Ghurka's had their tomahawk-like short sword. The bayonet was developed for shoulder to shoulder defensive formations. Clearly the lighter handier weapons work better in small unit dispersed settings.
Hence when things got 360 degree ugly in the trenches out came the ol' trenching shovel with the sharpened edge. So they say, a good downward strike between neck and shoulder would end the matter close enough to instantly. The real kicker though was that the shovel had bugger all tendency to get stuck in the enemy's corpse, unlike the bayonet.
DeleteBut consider, when you're rousting off some wanker from your little piece of paradise a bayonet makes a nice "period" on the end of your rifle, while a sharpened shovel isn't really going to make sense to anyone but a war-history buff.
Perhaps only the Brown Bess or equivalent had a bayonet attachment, not the civilian rifles, and so it never caught on? I like the idea of its reach, plus the back-up butt stroke available.
DeleteHEY DAKIN, "Ebola laden monkey testicles" Nice one, thanks for the laugh. I have not viewed or commented on your blog in 2 years, your humor still rocks. I thought you would be living in a double wide in broke back battle mnt with some black cowboy by now. You never cease to amaze.
ReplyDeleteIf I amaze myself so, I can scarcely imagine how my minions feel.
Delete