Alexander Yuschenko at m9130.info has posted a great article on the Russian SKS trials evolutions. The article is posted in his Patreon section, and hopefully the link will work:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/36996477
If you've not been to his new website, it's well worth your time. His book on wartime production of Mosin Nagant rifles is really good, too.
Thanks, Jm. Very interesting article. Cheers, Bruce.
Thanks from me as well!
Interesting article.
Thanks for posting the link.
Very interesting article to say the least. Thanks from me too! The last pic is a bit baffling, both bayonets are shown with later angled bayonet collars....but it is cool to see that the initial blades were blued....provided that it is truly an early one. Very odd to see the spike with the angle.
It seems as if the spikes would have made it into the first month or so into 1950, which explains at least one 50 spiker seen recently. I am curious if the three months given to use up remaining supplies of spike bayonets was shortened by the completely different stock design and stock ferrules....if those supplies dried up before the spikes, they might have not made it long into 1950.
Excellent article thumb1 Thanks for posting the link. I'd received the notification that he was adding articles about the Mosin Nagant but hadn't checked in to see this article on the SKS.
JH, we're only seeing photos of trials carbines in this article so it's not surprising that they don't look like the initial spike bayonet equipped SKS-45s that were accepted for production. His comment that the configuration accepted in June 1949 had a blade bayonet is interesting. The spike equipped SKS-45s must have been very limited in production until the production line for the blade bayonet could be fully implemented.
When reading the last paragraph, it states that the blade bayonet was accepted on November 2, 1949. Remaining spikes to be used in production within in 3 months.
Quote from: jstin2 on May 13, 2020, 01:32:35 PM
When reading the last paragraph, it states that the blade bayonet was accepted on November 2, 1949. Remaining spikes to be used in production within in 3 months.
Indeed, I missed those last couple of sentences thumb1
Quote from: Phosphorus32 on May 13, 2020, 12:47:21 PM
Excellent article thumb1 Thanks for posting the link. I'd received the notification that he was adding articles about the Mosin Nagant but hadn't checked in to see this article on the SKS.
JH, we're only seeing photos of trials carbines in this article so it's not surprising that they don't look like the initial spike bayonet equipped SKS-45s that were accepted for production. His comment that the configuration accepted in June 1949 had a blade bayonet is interesting. The spike equipped SKS-45s must have been very limited in production until the production line for the blade bayonet could be fully implemented.
I was referring to the last photo showing both versions of the final SKS-45 bayonets, which both look proper....except the handles are wrong...at least for the first two years. It would be very interesting to see the June 49 blade SKS, I wonder if it was detachable or folding by that point. The AKesque ones are not very attractive on an SKS imo.
Coolest article i've read in a very long time.
Thank you for sharing this.
-STR
Quote from: Justin Hell on May 13, 2020, 09:53:30 PM
Quote from: Phosphorus32 on May 13, 2020, 12:47:21 PM
Excellent article thumb1 Thanks for posting the link. I'd received the notification that he was adding articles about the Mosin Nagant but hadn't checked in to see this article on the SKS.
JH, we're only seeing photos of trials carbines in this article so it's not surprising that they don't look like the initial spike bayonet equipped SKS-45s that were accepted for production. His comment that the configuration accepted in June 1949 had a blade bayonet is interesting. The spike equipped SKS-45s must have been very limited in production until the production line for the blade bayonet could be fully implemented.
I was referring to the last photo showing both versions of the final SKS-45 bayonets, which both look proper....except the handles are wrong...at least for the first two years. It would be very interesting to see the June 49 blade SKS, I wonder if it was detachable or folding by that point. The AKesque ones are not very attractive on an SKS imo.
I see what you’re saying, mostly ;) Apparently, there was no blade when it was accepted.
“It's widely known that early SKS-45 carbines had spike bayonets. But interestingly, the SKS was accepted into service on June 18th, 1949 with a knife blade bayonet...However, at that moment there was no adopted knife blade bayonet for the SKS. Production started according to existing drawings which contained a spike bayonet. Four days after the adoption of the SKS, the Simonov design bureau (OKB-19) and factory No. 536 design bureau submitted their knife blade bayonet designs for adoption, but neither of them were accepted. A new bayonet design was created according to the advice of the group of Marshal of the Soviet Union veterans, it was accepted on November 2nd, 1949. Leftover spike blade bayonets were supposed to be used in production within the next 3 months, afterwards, production was supposed to be switched to the knife-blade bayonet.“
It seems from this timeline that a January 1950 SKS with a spike bayonet would be the rarest of all Russian variations, post-acceptance.