Whats a riflemans knife?

[Galloway]

I've seen several large blade replicas refferd to as riflemans knives and was wondering if anyone could tell me a little about them. Thanks

[St. George]

Close - but no cigar...

This is a pre-Civil War military knife - used during the Mexican War era and apparently not afterwards.

Here's some background...

In 1848, the Ordnance Department contracted for the first Rifleman's Knife made to a specific Government pattern.

The contract was let to Ames Manufacturing Company - Cabotville, Massachusetts, for 1000 knives.

The blade was 11 3/4" long and 1 5/8" wide, with a spear point and a short false edge.

The guard was of brass - the handle scales of walnut, with a hole for a thong.

They feature both manufacturer and Inspector's marks on the blade's ricasso and guard - 'AMES MFG CO./CABOTVILLE/1849'  - and on the obverse - 'U.S.'  and 'WD' - the guard bore 'W.D.' and 'J.W.R.'.

The sheath was of black leather, with a brass throat and tip - featuring a stud button for a frog - the stud stamped with a small 'D'.

All in all - an attractive piece with little actual history beyond what's written here.

These knives were intended for issue to the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen - organized at Fort McHenry in Baltimore in 1846.

This Regiment also had the distinction of being the first Regular unit issued with the Colt's revolver - the Walkers.

You'll find this information in several sources - here are but two:

'American Knives'- Peterson

'A Collection of U.S. Military Knives' - Cole

Vaya,

Scouts Out

[The Elderly Kid]

This can be a confusing term because it is also used for the longish, single-edged knives carried by hunters in the 18th-early 19th centuries. As long as it's around 8" - 12" in length, single-edged and has none of the giveaways of the Bowie like a coffin hilt or extra-wide blade with a deep clip point, it can be called a rifleman's knife. I have a beautiful Bowie made by Jerry Fisk, but with its relatively narrow blade, short, almost straight clip and stick-stag handle, it will do perfectly as an 18th century rifleman's knife or, for that matter, an Anglo-Saxon seax.

[Professor Marvel]

As Elderly Kid has pointed out there is a much earlier longhunter's knife goiing by the same monicker, two excellent examples are the mid- 1700's  primitive knife, often little more than a "carving knife" blade stuck into a stag or horn handle as seen here
http://tinyurl.com/CrazyCrowKentuckyRiflemanKnife

and the  Bevin ~ 1830 ish "Rifleman's Knife"
http://tinyurl.com/ychmzux

The Bevin replica seems to have elements similar to transitional Bowie styles, St George could it  have been inspirational for the Government model ?

yhs
Prof Marvel