Ak bayonet

[NICO56]

Here is my last acquisition. This bayonet East German that we can see represented in this book. Can someone give me more details? I know the 3 commonly seen models but not this one with a different scabbard.

[ilian]

it's the way that the rings are welded on the scabbard certainly reused russian scabbard

[NICO56]

Perhaps. It cannot be seen very well in the photo but the color of the scabbard is bluish black like on the other three models

[ilian]

i have few AK DDR bayonets with russian Izhevsk mark and russian number completly refurbished with shiny rust blued finition

[Mr. B.]

The numbered bayonet appears to be an original East German, (DDR) AK47. The scabbard body does not appear to be East German. The E.G. scabbards used two flat stamped hanger brackets that almost meet in the front. Yours has two separate hanger round loop bars. It also has a two tone brushed finish body not used by E.G., they were plain blued steel. I believe the scabbard body may be early Bulgarian as there is no drain hole in front. It is possible that E.G. used imported scabbard bodies when first starting AK47 production. However this scabbard does appear to have been reworked and the original spring rivet drilled out and replaced similar to the E.G. scabbards and the nylon hanger is the E.G. type used during replacement/rework. Mike

[NICO56]

In this group photo, we can see that the scabbard is entirely bluish black and not bi-color.

[ilian]

It was certainly refishnished, so polished and rust blued

[Mr. B.]

Yes, the scabbard is East German issue and has been reworked. There are several references and and collectors that document the usage of Russian AK47 scabbard bodies during the early E.G. AK47 production. Yes, a new blued finish has been applied either during original assembly or rework or both. However in your first two pictures the lighting shows the original two-tone metal sanding under the bluing. I suspect that the original drag spring was permanently riveted to the body Russian style. It appears to have been drilled out and replaced by the E.G. style drag with a button during rework. This can be confirmed by the drill hole going through both front and rear sides of the body and the style of the drag.

Just curious, is there a drain hole on the scabbard tip? If so, front or back side? The Russians usually had a drain hole in front. The Russian scabbard usually had a smooth finish. However some Russian made Finnish scabbards did have the Two-Tone sanding and were without a drain hole. So Russia could have supplied similar scabbards to E.G.

Overall a nice find! I like it. Documented in Zbigniew's book and several others. I need a similar one in my collection. Mike

InkedEast German AK47 2 band scabbard 1_LI.jpg (37.64 KiB) Viewed 12897 times

InkedEast German AK47 2 band scabbard 2_LI.jpg (40.23 KiB) Viewed 12897 times

[ilian]

I do agree with Mike, it's a great find! I don't have it in my collection and never saw one

[NICO56]

No drain hole on the front or back

[NICO56]

I bought it last week on a French site (naturabuy). A similar model was on sale on the todocolleciones site last month.