Merrill "Navy" Rifle???

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?
 
I have seen a fair number of original Merrill Rifles in my lifetime, everyone of them had a bayonet lug for a saber bayonet.
J.
You are correct, @Jobe Holiday . I don't know what I am saying, I think early dementia must be kicking in, so excuse my ramblings. Still not sure if any were issued to the Navy, but since they all apparently were designed to accept the saber bayonet, it is a moot point with me now. My apologies.
 
Michael W. - No problem, I'm lucky I can still remember my own name! It took me many years to acquire a Merrill Rifle, and the bayonets are even more difficult to find. Many people over the years have told me they had a Merrill bayonet. All but one turned out to be something else.
J.
 
Michael W. - No problem, I'm lucky I can still remember my own name! It took me many years to acquire a Merrill Rifle, and the bayonets are even more difficult to find. Many people over the years have told me they had a Merrill bayonet. All but one turned out to be something else.
J.
Researching a bit more I read that the term "Navy" was incorrectly associated to the bayonet because one was on display at a Navy museum somewhere. That doesn't mean much, but whatever. Out of curiosity, is your rifle ID'd in any way to the 21st Indiana? Most of the Merrills went to them, and an unknown number of members of the 21st, who purchased them with their own money, had their names engraved on the brass trigger guard. An amazing story happened here in Indiana several years ago. U.S. 40 here in Indiana runs a weekend long yard sale that spans across the state. A CW re-enactor who dabbles in collecting saw a long gun at one of the yard sales, knew it was very old, but had no idea what the weapon was. He took a chance a bought it for a couple hundred bucks, turned out it was a Merrill Rifle. On examining it, he saw a name engraved on the brass trigger guard, which turned out to be a member of the 21st. The gun was in poor condition, the mechanics were non-functional, so he sent it off to The Horse Soldier in Gettysburg to have one of their gunsmiths bring it back to functioning condition, for seven hundred dollars. So for an investment of around 1,000 dollars, he now has an identified 21st Indiana Infy. Merrill.
 
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