[Justin Pasternak]

I was curious about the history surrounding pistols with bayonets attached to them.

When were they first used and when were they last used for dueling, warfare, etc?

Was their any type of bayonet that slide back (like the ramrod bayonet used on a model of springfield rifle) on the pistol, instead of the usual folding back variety, when the bayonet was not in use?

[Jean Thibodeau]

I could be wrong but a lot of these pistols with folding bayonets were civilian selfdefence weapons carried as protection from
the period " muggers / cutpurse ": With one shot pistols used VERY close up a spring loaded bayonet would give one some important backup.

Before the pistol was fired an attacker would be concerned about getting shot and the blade might make him hesitate to rush in ? After the shot the blade is already in hand.

One shot pistol and multiple assailants situations also.

Larger weapons like blunderbuss might also have these spring loaded bayonets for home defence or for the guy riding
" shotgun duty " on a coach.

Other things like carrying multiple pistols or pistols with double or quadruple barrels ( Small boxlock flintlocks mostly for more than 2 barrels. )

Oh, from the books I have it would be mostly 18th early 19th century pistols. ( Maybe some earlier but I'm not certain. )

[Justin Pasternak]

I should probably start a new topic in the forum but , why not ask the question here. I know that the original topic was about integral bayonets fitted to pistols.

But, are there any more modern handguns (pistol/revolver types or even custom made) such as the 1915 Webley Mk VI Revolver that had the ability to attached a shortened French Gras bayonet to the barrel for use in hand-to-hand combat?

[Andrew Dines]

lots of 18th C and 19th C - although mainly civilian self defence as officer did buy their own weapons would have found their way into military service

the infantry museum has transitional revolvers, pepperboxs and singleshot flinter or percussion wth integral bayonets.

trouble is to make the blade big enough to cause enough damage it make the barrel of the gun too heavy and therefore you lose accuracy.

although for a real example look up apache pistols. their nothing to do with the native indians

[David Donovan]

I saw this topic and thought I might add a link to a video I made a little while back. This is a 19th century pistol with a spring bayonet on the side. It's from the collection of the founder of the museum I give tours at, and he allowed me to get a bit of footage of the bayonet in action so he could just show the video to people rather than wearing the thing out by flipping it for everyone who wants to see it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jnspBERoIbA
(audio is slightly delayed)

(EDIT: Added photo)

Looking at the video again, I feel like I probably should have been wearing gloves while holding the pistol, but he just kind of handed it to me that day and said "Go!"

I actually tried to do a little bit of research on the maker of the gun, "Dobson & Baker" (engraved on the side opposite the bayonet). I turned up bits of information from various sources which come together to suggest that the Dobson of the company (Thomas Dobson) was at one time apprenticed to a clockmaker (sort of makes sense, with the mechanical parts involved in both clocks and guns) and that the company also manufactured nautical instruments (again, sort of makes sense, since the brass barrel is something you'd tend to see on naval pistols, or so I understand). The last bit of information I have states that the company went out of the gun business and into the diamond business in the mid to late 1820s, and I'm kind of curious as to whether or not they're still around.

[Toni R.]

I think I´ve red somewhere that the U.S. Army ordered a set of these pistol-bayonets for an expedition to the Galapagos islands in the 19th century. As much as I know, these things were not very widely used. It may have got something to do with the fact that they might not have been the most practical solution for whatever you needed them for. Both pistol and bayonet makes it a bit difficult to use either of them properly. Please correct if I'm wrong.

[Toni R.]

More likely it was the U.S. navy than the army...sorry.

[Chad Arnow]

A pistol like this was shown in our Spotlight on Combination Weapons:



The caption reads:

[Toni R.]

Thanks Chad, that's exactly what I meant. I've also red the same information somewhere else, and I think Galapagos was mentioned.

[Cal Harling]

I believe the pistol from the Buffalo Bill center is an Elgin cutlass pistol. The ones used on the south seas expedition were 54 caliber and the first US military pistols to use a percussion lock. The correct date is 1837 or 1838 for the military pistols, which were larger than the gun pictured, and had a D guard. Elgin sold versions of his pistols commercially, often in .36 caliber. I think the gun pictured is one of these.

[David Donovan]