Royal Navy Cutlass Bayonet

In the middle of the 19th century, Britain's Royal Navy decided that they needed to combine bayonets and cutlasses. The results are interesting!

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[jeffreyragsdale]

Lol, the slow-mo finger through the barrel ring.

BTW, Matt rocking The Prodigy shirt.

[soupordave]

Matt we have to see this cutlass bayonet in action! If you can't beg, borrow, or steal a Naval Enfield to mount it on, at least get a wooden pole of the correct length! I would love to see a demo of Victorian bayonet drill filmed with it lol!

[mishmashmedley]

"Playing a game of pokey-pokey."
By george, harrumph, war has been simplified!

[Lord.Kiltridge]

Can confirm, a longer weapon is an advantage when playing pokey-pokey.

[cadorna]

Another fact about rifle length: firing in lines of at least 2 ranks deep was still doctrinal until WW1 in some nations. The barrel had to be long enough to clear the head of the person in front, so you didn't accidentally shoot him in the back of the head, or excessively concuss him with muzzle flash. This barrel length requirement existed even in the French autoloading rifle trials prior to WW1.

[IeshiAke]

Reminds me of a video by forgotten weapons where Ian shows a French bayonet that was just a saber, when mounted it was two heads taller than him

[trapperscout]

"Playing a game of pokey pokey." Good job adding to the navy stereotypes.

[alistairsamson]

For referring to close quarter combat as a game of “pokey pokey” you should receive double likes

[pluemas]

There seems to be no photos of this bayonet actually affixed anywhere online, which is a shame because I'd like to see how goofy it looks...

[CarnalKid]

I love that Matt's attention to detail absolutely will not let him call it a rifle. He MUST refer to it as "a rifled musket--a rifle, basically".

[MarcusVance]

You have an episode about how seldom bayonets were used unmounted as melee weapons, so it's interesting that they decided to keep the extra weight from the guard.

[minarchist]

The last time I was this early fire had just been discovered. :-)

[chrisball]

We NEED a dedicated video about the Sword Scandal- especially from somebody level-headed, experienced, practical, well-read and not prone to cultural bias or prejudice... I.e. Matt Easton. I've not heard about this before, and I wouldn't trust many others to provide a good account of it. German Sword Scandal vid, please!

[KlausBeckEwerhardy]

Wow, 11 minutes ago I didn't even know I was interested in this. But this has been quite interesting indeed. Thanks for that.

[EnkiduCivilized]

"Playing a game of pokey-pokey" - Official naval combat terminology...

[pantagruel]

Lol! "A game of pokey pokey" 😂

[kenanacampora]

I attached a bamboo bayonet to my Winchester rifle cap gun as a kid. Chased the babysitters boyfriend away. Needless to say I joined the army years later. And have a bayonet on my AR15. Sweet.

[antivalidisme]

Encountered that monster time to time during sales- quite rare for sure-, so many thanks Matt to confirm it's not only a Solingen conspiracy, grabbing my 1845/58 cutlass in my left hand and its 1833 French counterpart in the other one while trying to grab my mouse and my keyboard- quite a journey- 'cause you never know! :D
Take care sir <3

[blaxson]

"Pokey pokey" is done thusly
You put your weapon thrust in
You pull your weapon thrust out
And you shake it all about.

[lachy]

Hand sanding knives and watching scholagladiatoria, this is the way