Michael W.
First Sergeant
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2015
- Location
- The Hoosier State
A well known CW antiques dealer has listed on his site for sale a Merrill "Navy" rifle sword bayonet. I'm confused. There were approx. 800+ Merrill rifles manufactured. The majority were issued to the 21st Indiana Infantry. The remaining were issued to individual sharpshooters in various other infantry regiments. I can't find anywhere that Merrill rifles were issued to the Navy. The only thing I found was that between 1858-1860, some 300 Jenks carbines were converted to the Merrill breechloading system and issued to the Navy, which were fairly quickly discarded. Is it possible that Merrill Carbines were issued with a bayonet lug attachment? And of the surviving Merrill rifles that I have seen, none have a sword bayonet lug attachment. Anyone have an answer for me?