Unknown markings on AKM-bayo..

[Bruno]

Hi collegues.
Got some interesting AKM bayo - interesting because of markings on crossguard (not because of barrel ring removed).. Has anybody seen such kind of markings in this type of AKM?
For me those markings seems pretty similar to markings on SVT40-type soviet bayos - but I´ve not seen them on soviet AKM-bayos before.. Is this AKM bayo sovietrussian at all? If not - to which country it may belong?

[MilitariaOne]

Greetings Bruno,

Agreed, odd location for markings, but they are in fact of Polish origin. "11" in a circle is the FB Radom arsenal's marking.

V/r Lance

[Bruno]

Thank you, Lance - good point.
Compared it again with my "russians" and "poles" - could be both..

Just if polish, the new Q-n arises - all polish AKM-bayos I´ve seen are without sawback but this example has..

Forget to mention that this bayo has correct sharpening and is damn sharp - I even didn´t know before that there is possible to sharpening AKM-bayo up to this degree..

[AndyB]

There is certainly that 11 is a postwar polish maker code, mostly for Radom, question is here this is a castrate as barell ring was removed. b.r.Andy

[Bruno]

Can´t be agree with you, Andy..
Removed barrel ring is not a main Q-n here because it could be removed by whoever..
Question is why polish AKM-bayo has sawback which they never had..

[AndyB]

When its Radom production, it could be that it went to export, so it shouldnt a polish army piece, but AKM bayonet for export. b.r.Andy

[Anderson]

I could throw in here that the blade design is a shameless rip off of the ingenious Eickhorn KCB-70 bayonet, that's where your sawback comes from. Eickhorn also held a patent for the wire cutter design that fits into the slot in the blade. As Andy said, probably export production by Poland. More recently turned into a handy fishing knife.

[Bruno]

The only "evidence" about possible polish origin of this bayo is so nr "11" in circle..

I compared this bayo marking with real RADOM "11" (look at the photo) and found that markings are rather different - polish marking has very oval ring but on the bayo is quadrangular ring.. also the number "11" seems me pretty different..

Got some indication that very early soviet AKM bayos may had such kind of markings as acceptance marks..

My conclusion so far - it is an early soviet AKM-bayo and unusual markings are just soviet acceptance marks (similar to those on soviet SVT40-bayos). And similarity with polish RADOM "11"marking is just occasional..

Thanks to everybody contributing.

[Bruno]

Last but not least - because this bayo came without scabbard and I dislike single bayos I completed it with a proper scabbard (as I usually do):
- scabbard itselt is EastGerman
- rubber goes from Roumania
- and hanger from somewhere postsoviet republics

So now this bayo set looks like this - hope you like it

[MilitariaOne]

Greetings Bruno,

After your last post, I decided to crack open Martin Ivie’s AK Book Kalashnikov Bayonets the Collector's Guide to Bayonets for the Ak and Its Variations: Martin D. Ivie: 9780972120937: Amazon.com: Books And here’s what I found. While the 11 in a circle is the FB Radom’s Arsenal marking (as I first mentioned), what I had forgotten was the 11 in a rounded off rectangle was a Russian Inspector’s mark (see red rectangle's text). So, this means the bayonet is Russian and not Polish.

Bruno, I do apologize for my earlier misidentification, but I’m happy to have assisted you in (finally) figuring out the bayo’s true origin.

Best,

Lance

P.S. The 11's orientation is flipped between yours and the one in the book, but it is in the same location and has the diamond marking too.