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No. 7 Bayonet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
No. 7 Bayonet
TypeBayonet
Place of originUnited Kingdom
Service history
Used byUnited Kingdom
WarsWorld War II
Production history
No. built176,000
Specifications
Length311 mm (12.2 in)
Blade length200 mm (7.9 in)[1]

The No. 7 Bayonet was a bayonet primarily used with the Sten Mk V submachine gun.[2] However, it could be used on the No. 4 Lee-Enfield, but only for ceremonial purposes as the bayonet obstructed the path of the .303 round fired from the gun.[3]

Design

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The No. 7 bayonet was an advanced design that could be configured as either a blade or socket type bayonet, and could also be used as a fighting knife.[2] It was intended to replace the No. 4 Bayonet in service and used the blade of the No. 5 Bayonet.[2]

Production

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The design was finalized by Wilkinson Sword, who made 1,000 in 1944.[3] The No. 7 bayonet went into mass production in 1945 and stayed in production for a short time post-war.[2] As a majority of production of this design was post-war, it was mainly produced by government weapons factories due to spare capacity at the end of the war.[2] The majority were made by the Royal Ordnance Factory, Newport who made 100,000.[2] The Royal Ordanance Factory Poole made 30,000. Birmingham Small Arms Company, the famous weapons company who manufactured the Besa machine gun and Welrod Silenced pistol, made 25,000.[2] One producer, which was not a weapons company, was Elkington & Co., traditionally a maker of silver products, made 20,000.[2] Overall, 176,000 No. 7 bayonets were produced.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Bayonets listed by overall length. Bayonets Listed by Overall Length Less Than 15.75 in. (400 mm.). (n.d.). https://worldbayonets.com/Misc__Pages/bayonets_by_length/index_by_oal.html
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "British Bayonets World War II and Post-War". worldbayonets.com. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  3. ^ a b "British WW2 No.7 Mk1 Land Service Bayonet | Bygone Blades". www.bygoneblades.com. Retrieved 2021-08-18.