Thanks, I know the difference between the stamped and machined receivers but Gunny spoke of AK47 with stamped receivers and my question is how to tell the difference between a stamped AK47 and a AK47M (or AKM)
Regards
Mark
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
The original Ak47 had a downward sloping stock and no bayonet lug, the AKM has quite a straight stock and a bayonet lug. i think a few of the rivets were in different places too.
YouTube
Here's an early stamped AK.
Sorry Watchdog for my wrong answer.
Gunny is wright.
Luc
Thanks for the clarification. I don't specialise to that degree and my knowledge of the AK family is based on my army service when for our purposes they were all AK47 anyway and if it was neccessary to differentiate (only really where terrorism and therefore potential origin of supply was concerned) the machined receivers were AK47 proper and stamped receivers were known as AKM. Clearly we were not collectors in that regard!
Every day is a school day here and I learned something today!
Regards
Mark
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
Not being a specific bayonet collector I never had one of these until the "empty space" in an early NVA field gear set-up started to rankle every time I looked at the later set with the later AKM type.
So, I began to look and to my annoyance wasn't able to find a good one easily and at a sensible price.
Then with patience came this one at a sensible £50;
This one is in very nice lightly used condition and I notice that the build quality within the context of DDR/NVA gear in general is very high, much better than late manufacture or Soviet items.
The blued rather than phosphated or painted finish is remarkable, on the muzzle ring, handle and pommel areas it is not far from that on upper mid-range sporting firearms (accepting it's age and that it has not lived inside a cloth bag for the last half century!). The blade is very well formed for a military item and the slightly off point central ridge would seem to suggest hand finishing.
The serial number on the bayonet (none on the scabbard) is done with an electric rotating tool.
The blade is phosphated and this example appears to show no wear/damage to the finish. The brown spots are "contact marks" from the scabbard and seemed to be stains from cosmoline or simmilar.
A quick wipe with GT85 (similar to WD40 and made by the same company it contains PTFE) removed them as can be seen in the last two pics.
Before anyone wonders whether GT85 is OK to use on blades etc let me just say that I use it as a water disperant on my beloved Yamaha MT900 after washing it and as my wife says;
"if he uses it on that bloody bike it is probably OK to wash your face with it"
As always, any comments / opinions are most welcome.
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
Looks pretty nice. I have one of these as well. Just need to get a later AKM one then
Haha,
Watch your step there old son, it's not that simple (as if anything in this hobby is!)
I wanted this type as a compliment to my other DDR/NVA stuff so if it is the same with you then you need to be sure to get a DDR made one rather than the many others (just about all the main AK using countries had variations), I am sure you know that but it worth a mention.
The various types were once very prolific in the market and very many Brit and US squaddies came home with one or the other from places like Berlin, The Gulf, Balkans et al (Guilty Your Honour!) and although there are not as many as there were of the more unusual types out there and prices are naturally rising they can be found at reasonable prices.
To illustrate what I mean have a look here;
Ak47 bayonets
and be careful you don't get infected with another collecting bug
Regards
Mark
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
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