British L1A3 Bayonet, Dated 1967 by Enfield
Straight single fullered blade with clipped Bowie point. Black painted steel hilt, black painted sheet steel slab grips secured by two rivets around concealed tang. Steel pommel with locking button, black painted steel scabbard with frog stud, khaki canvas frog.
The pommel is stamped with ‘C’ and ‘D’ within circles on one side. The grips are both stamped with ‘L1A3 9600257 D66’, the other identical but with ‘D67’. L1A3 is the model, 9600257 is its NATO stores number, the ‘D’ with a stroke extending from the vertical is a mark of the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield, while 67 is the date of manufacture.
The blade is stamped at the ricasso on one side with ‘67’. The hilt is stamped with a broad arrow Ministry of Defence ownership stamp, another ‘D’ with a stroke Enfield stamp, and the letter ‘C’. The pommel is also stamped with another ‘D’ with a stroke Enfield stamp, and the letter ‘C’.
The L1A3 bayonet for the SLR rifle was sealed as a pattern in 1958, some made by converting the earlier L1A1 and some newly manufactured. This new example has a notably long ricasso, a feature introduced in the mid-1960s intended to strengthen the blade.
The blade retains its black parkerised finish with only tiny bright spots of wear on raised edges. Likewise some spots of wear to the paint on raised edges of the hilt, grips and pommel, a few very small chips to the scabbard’s paint with rubbing at its chape end exposing some bright steel.
