| Mle. 1892 "Berthier"
Technical data : Total length : 514 mm Was used on : Mle. 1892 "Berthier" rifle and carbine
General information : When the French artillery was equipped with the Mle. 1892 carbine its bayonet, the French returned to the sword bayonet. The Mle. 1892’s blade has a typical fuller, with a small groove at the beginning near the handle, which continues into the blade’s point. The back of the blade is flat and ends in a special point.In 1912 a series of modifications were applied to the Mle. 1892 bayonet. This new model would be called the “Sabre-baïonnette modèle 1892 du deuxième type” (Sword bayonet model 1892 of the second type”. The most visible difference is the muzzle ring, which was made a few millimetres wider with a longer slot for the rifle’s front sight. This increased the bayonet’s stability and the strength of the muzzle ring. A last wartime modification occurred in September 1918 when Mle. 1892 bayonets were modified for use by cavalry units. It consisted of shortening the hooked quillon by about a third, mostly just in front of the serial number. No official documents are known that instruct factories to produce Mle. 1892 bayonets with a shorter quillon. The handle is made of a composite material. Some sources describe it as Bakelite but this was only invented in 1902 by the Belgian Doctor Leo Baekeland. The composite was expensive to produce and in 1917 production of bayonets with wooden grips started. Gunsmiths were instructed to replace the composite grips with wooden pieces when a bayonet was returned for maintenance or repair. Throughout the years the composite shrunk and sometimes cracked around the rivets. Many surplus dealers and military collectors have replaced those damaged grips by wooden grips. Sometimes these homemade “repairs” can be spotted due to the use of screws instead of the original rivets. Known makers : Manufacture Impériale de Chatelleraut Images.
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