Dating a Trapdoor Angular Bayonet?

[Hammer]

Is there anyway to date roughly when a trapdoor Bayonet was made? The bayonet that came with my January to February made 1889 has what looks to me to be a second larger US stamp just above the small US. Is this normal, or unusual and does this dual US stamps help to date it in any way?

[Hammer]

Large and small US stamps. I zoomed in, and if you look at the very top of the photo about 1/4 inch above the smaller dark US, you can see another larger US faintly.
Yes, is not difficult to make out, and if you look to the left of it, you can see what I think is the right hand top side of a U.

[Dick Hosmer]

How about adding an arrow, pointing to what you believe is a second US? The stamp occurs in slightly different fonts, and vary wildly in how hard they were struck, but, all-in-all they pretty much appear JUST like the (obvious) one. Many (most) .45-70 bayonets were altered from CW-era M1855/1870 items, by "cold-pressing" the sockets, then polishing off the fins extruded by the squeezing process and bluing/browning them. Of course the blades were already stamped US, and were not touched in the reduction operation.

[Hammer]

Dick- I zoomed in and circled the larger faint US.
It's about 1/4 inch above the dark US

[Hammer]

I’m assuming the larger very faint US stamp was an earlier stamping possibly from the Civil War era as Dick mentions above, and I assume the smaller black US stamp was done later. Were these stamps put on at Springfield armory? Or could these also have been put on by the military units they were used at?

[Dick Hosmer]

Done at SA, so far as I know. That said, they were very thrifty in those days (many accountings done to the mill) so I'm not sure they would have bothered to mark something again, if it already had the US. It may be there, it may not be, but is probably a distinction without much difference.

Reilly lists three possibilities for the 1873 bayonet: (1) bushed 1855/70 (2) Made brand new from scratch to current spec. (3) 1855/70 cold-pressed. The VAST majority are (3). The emergence of the rod-bayonet in 1888 was largely a result of the exhaustion of serviceable CW bayonets for pressing.

I love minutiae but I think we might be approaching angels and pinheads on this one.

[Hammer]

Thank you Sir!

I take no shame in learning even small details about these amazing American military weapons. Remember, this is my very first trapdoor, and I’m a sponge absorbing as much as I can about Trapdoor manufacturer, utilization, and its American history and legacy.

What’s minutia for long time enthusiasts with years of time and knowledge on these amazing rifles, are all gold nuggets for me as a Novice and I sincerely appreciate everybody’s patience and suffrage with me as such

My intention is to pass my US military war used weapons collection to my two grandsons and I want to be able to tell them as much history about their use as possible. That way I hope they don’t end up in pawnshops or sold on eBay

I want to personally give a big shout out to Dick Hosmer who has helped me both on this forum, by email, and by phone. Dick you’re a great American and I really appreciate you

[John S.]

My guess is that possibly the faint US was an excuse for rejection by an inspector when initially made, so restamped at that time to pass inspection.

I agree not likely that SA would have bothered to restamp US at time of alteration. Beyond that, who knows, and a cynic might add, who cares?
But, I think it is a neat oddity, providing an excuse to add something new to a collection, and spark a discussion amongst friends with similar obsessive interests.

[Hammer]

With 40+ years of MilSurp collecting Mausers, Mosins, and M1 Carbines, and also being a Marine Distinguished Shooter, I’ve lived and learned the differences of the various “interests” between Collectors and Shooters (like Vampires vs Werewolves).

This thread is definitely from a Collectors line of interest so if your primarily more Shooter oriented than Collector I offer that you could do some Reloading for therapy after having to suffer thru reading this first-timers near obsessive interest in all things new to me about my new Collection piece

[carlsr]

Since I am both a shooter, but not as much as I'd like along with a collector I enjoy learning just about anything to do with TD's.
Here is another rarity with US 1855 bayonets. I found this one a couple years ago at the Baltimore show and was told it's another rarity, think I have seen 2 more.
This one has a double stamped US, side by side and is mounted on my 1865 1st Allin.
Don't know much about how it was done but I rather enjoy having it
Well I cannot add a photo as the board quota has been met.