All About Pocket Knives

I picked up these 3, WW2 era bayonets, at a gun show in the early 1990's.
The vendor couldn't tell me anything about them. All 3 are marked No 4 MK II (roman
numeral, line top & bottom). All 3 have various other stamps/markings also. These were
for use on the British Enfield Rifles. What exact model of rifle(s), I do not know.

I believe those are all WW2. Spike bayonets. When I was little they had a barrel of them in the army-navy store for a quarter each. I never liked them back then because they had no real blade. I did buy an Enfield WW2 rifle there for six bucks and we used to get good ole American WW2 MK2 KA-BARs for $1.50 for used ones to $2.50 for new ones.

AFAIK they fit every British Enfield except the Jungle Carbine.

Those will fit British Number 4 Enfields from WW2 era. Like the one made by Maltby shown below. They will not fit the Number 1 from the WW1 era. It takes a blade type bayonet that actually mounts on the wood stock.

LEE Enfield rifles, in .303 British were the standard military rifle of British Commonwealth militaries (Britain, Canada, Australia etc. for a very long time. The number 4 Lee Enfields were a WWII item, not WWI.

I bought my #4 in about 1962 for 25.00. I took it to high school (no swat team appeared!), and shortened the barrel a bit and smoothed out the machining marks on the barrel that were so rough that it was literally possible to file your fingernails on them, and later did some serious stock modifications. It is now my "bear repellent".

I live in BC, which does not actually stand for British Columbia. It is an abbreviation for "Bear Country." We have lots of these critters, both black (which come, incidentally in several colors other than just black), and grizzly. I have encountered bears while carrying this firearm, and on a couple of occasions when carrying only a fishing rod. I prefer the rifle, with which so far I have only had to shoot one bear. The fishing rod would not have worked at all. Thankfully, I did not have to try on the grizzly with cubs (!!) that I encountered without the gun one day. I came pretty close to some other grizzlies at other times when I did have my shootin' iron, and I was greatly comforted by its presence.

My Lee Enfield is pretty accurate with the issue peep sight, and is beyond bomb proof durable. Perfect for the job.

Those spike bayonets would have fit my rifle perfectly until I removed the attaching lugs when I shortened the barrel.

I amended my "Title" & description to show them as WW2 vintage,
based on the comments posted (so far). But I won't remove the props
in the first picture, they're pretty cool. Thank you guys for the info.

You may already know this, but the "broad arrow" stamp is a British military acceptance stamp.
The N57 is a manufacturer's code - in this instance M&H Products in Manchester.

rangerbluedog wrote:You may already know this, but the "broad arrow" stamp is a British military acceptance stamp.
The N57 is a manufacturer's code - in this instance M&H Products in Manchester.

No, I didn't know that. I couldn't make out a few of the marks. The N 57 is/was one of them.
I don't see the "broad arrow" stamp. I think I'm going to give them a good cleaning and see
what else is hidden. Thank you RBD.

As other have stated, your bayonets are No.4 bayonets for the Lee-Enfield No.4 rifle. Your top two are No.4 MkII models and the bottom one is a a MkII*, pronounced "Mark two star". The difference being that the body and spike of the MkII are machined from one piece of steel and the MkII* has a separate spike welded to the body.

There were four models of No.4 bayonet, MkI, MkII, MkII* and MkIII. The MkI has a cruciform bladelike the blade of a Mosin-Nagant or SKS rifle. The MkIII has a body welded from formed sheet metal then covered over with a filler material. It is obvious when you see it.

There were about a half dozen variations on scabbards for the No.4.

Thank you

The No. 4 Spike Bayonets are fun to study and the markings are vital. Two links that I found useful when learning about mine were:

World Bayonets - The No. 4 Spike Bayonet
http://worldbayonets.com/Bayonet_Identi ... kes_2.html

and
Markings on British and Commonwealth Bayonets
http://oldmilitarymarkings.com/brit_bayo.html#cypher-gb

I documented it in this way:
BRITISH No. 4 Mk. II BAYONET
British Enfield Bayonet No. 4 Mk. II, spike bayonet with socket fitting for use with the Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk. I Rifle, 8” blade (10” overall)
This example was produced by Singer in Clydebank, Scotland between 1942 and 1944
Multiple Proof Markings
Ricasso left side:
• “No4 MKII”
• “N67”— Singer’s Dispersal Code to use in lieu of their trademark
Ricasso right side:
• Broad Arrow— Government Acceptance mark
• ??
• ??
Catch:
• ??

New_Windsor_NY wrote:

rangerbluedog wrote:You may already know this, but the "broad arrow" stamp is a British military acceptance stamp.
The N57 is a manufacturer's code - in this instance M&H Products in Manchester.

No, I didn't know that. I couldn't make out a few of the marks. The N 57 is/was one of them.
I don't see the "broad arrow" stamp. I think I'm going to give them a good cleaning and see
what else is hidden. Thank you RBD.

These are the Broad Arrow— Government Acceptance marks

youngrik29 wrote:

New_Windsor_NY wrote:

rangerbluedog wrote:You may already know this, but the "broad arrow" stamp is a British military acceptance stamp.
The N57 is a manufacturer's code - in this instance M&H Products in Manchester.

No, I didn't know that. I couldn't make out a few of the marks. The N 57 is/was one of them.
I don't see the "broad arrow" stamp. I think I'm going to give them a good cleaning and see
what else is hidden. Thank you RBD.

These are the Broad Arrow— Government Acceptance marks
Inkedimage_LI.jpg

Thank you youngrik29, rangerbluedog, cottage hill bill & Mr. Chips for the overall information and the update.