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For your consideration, you are viewing a piece of Military History, this is a Nepalese Gahendra Socket Bayonet and Scabbard, designed for use with the calibre .577/450 Francotte and Gahendra rifles. The scabbard is a British-manufactured Pattern 1876 bayonet, as it has the British War Department acceptance mark stamp on both the locket and the drag. These resemble the British Pattern 1876 bayonet, with a larger diameter socket. Both the Francotte and Gahendra rifle barrels had thicker walls than the Martini-Henry, making the outer muzzle ring diameter too large to accept the British Pattern 1876 bayonet. The Nepalese “Francotte” rifles are a copy of an improved Martini-Henry design by Belgian maker August Francotte dating to 1877, Francotte’s detachable trigger and firing mechanism was applied, but it was missing Francotte’s patented cocking indicator. The Nepalese Francotte rifles were a crude, poor-quality metal and manufacture and as such they suffered from many flaws. The Gahendra rifle design was based on the Westley Richards 1869 patented design but incorporated its own detachable trigger and firing mechanism. The Gahendra’s had a distinctive underlever that had a downward-curving loop attached to the action in front of the trigger. The “Gahendra” was named after its developer, General Gahendra Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana, a noted Nepalese Military Engineer. Gahendra also developed the Bira gun, a contemporary of the rapid-fire Gatling and Gardner guns. The quality of Gaherndra's manufacture was vastly improved from its predecessor the "Francotte" # The makers and inspection marks are:

• RICASSO: "B" over "War Arrow over WD" British War Department Acceptance mark. Over "? -R" over 2/83? - LEFT & RIGHT SIDE "markings are in Devanagari script"
• SCABBARD: LOCKET: "Markings are in Devanagari script" over "War Arrow over WD" British War Department Acceptance mark. Over Enfield Inspection Mark. DRAG: "War Arrow over WD" British War Department Acceptance mark

CONDITION: This bayonet is from circa 1883 and is in good condition for its age and use in warfare, the locking ring is in smooth working order. The 55.5 cm blade has a polished finish with scattered spot stains, some pitting and an aged grey patina. The edges are not sharp and have some fleabite dings here and there. The remaining metal has a deep-blued finish, that is mostly worn around the edges, but also has some faint scuff and an aged patina. The brass and leather scabbard is in good condition, The Brass fittings, have some dents with scratch and scuff marks which are fixed firmly, the end mount/drag is missing a screw, and the leather is supple, but has a hole next to the seam, and the stitching is missing and fits tightly together with the bayonet. # Please note that the photographs form part of the description; Super-sized photos are available for viewing in the eBay gallery, to show the finer details and conditions.

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