Bayonets

Bayonets used in the Norwegian Army

Even if he is Swedish, Per Holmbäck is ever so much more knowledgeable than me on Norwegian bayonets.   I therefor choose to refer to his site Bayonets of Scandinavia for information on the different bayonet models.

1800talls

From my ego-national point of view, Norway had the nicest sword bayonets in the world. The picture above shows most of the post socket ones.

Fom the left there are the M1912/16 Krag bayonets, the ultra rare M1884 Jarman knife (navy) and the equally rare cruciform (army).

The next one (lying upside down) is for the naval Krag Peterson – Norway’s first repeating rifle from 1876. Differentlt from the M1860 and the M1867, the number is stamped on the crossguard and not on the blade.

The next bayonet is actually two identical models. Serialnumber up to 8744 are probably for the M1860 4”’ kammerlader – later the Lunds conversion – and higher numbers for the M1867 Remington.

Then comes the M1859 with the large barrel hole – 23 mm versus 17 mm on the M1860 etc..

The very long M1851 replaced the equaly long M1821 (M1801 but probably introduced to Norway in 1810) after the jeger rifles had been refurbished.

This last one was originally a Danish/Norwegian broadsword from 1750 or a Hirschfenger from 1788 or 1793.

Scarce bayonets? Most Norwegian sword bayonets are really not all that scarce. The problem is that they all look more or less the same and that it takes a rather trained eye to see the difference. On this picture there are 5-6 M1851 (no brass), the rest look the same. In reality they are M1859, M1860 and M1876. The M1859 might be a bit tricky getting hold of, the M1876 (Krag Petersson) is very difficult.
Scarce bayonets? Most Norwegian sword bayonets are really not all that scarce. The problem is that they all look more or less the same and that it takes a rather trained eye to see the difference. On this picture there are 5-6 M1851 (no brass), the rest look the same. In reality they are M1859, M1860 and M1876. The M1859 might be a bit tricky getting hold of, the M1876 (Krag Petersson) is very difficult.