1. Soviet-made AKM rifle was improved by Kallasch Nico on the basis of AK-47 rifle, and was equipped with Soviet troops in 1958. However, if China later introduced the imitation Type 56 assault rifle after the Soviet army was equipped with AKM in 1958, the domestic firearms might reach a higher level. Unfortunately, history cannot be assumed.
On the basis of AK47, in order to reduce the production cost and further improve the reliability, the Soviet Union first replaced the original shell and cover milled by machine tools with a large number of stamping parts, and replaced the wooden materials of the wooden guard plate, gun butt and grip with FRP, and added finger grooves on the wooden guard plate to facilitate the soldiers to hold when shooting in bursts, and installed a beveled muzzle cap at the muzzle to reduce the muzzle jump when shooting in bursts. These improvements not only enhance the comfort of AK rifles, but also greatly reduce the production cost, laying a good foundation for the large-scale production of AK.
What we are going to talk about today is not the AKM automatic rifle itself, but the multifunctional bayonet distributed to soldiers with it. In the picture, the muzzle of AKM is hung with a folding butt with a multifunctional bayonet.
Bayonets, also known as bayonets, can be divided into dagger type, sword type and puncture type according to their shapes. During World War I, they were mostly sword-shaped bayonets, which were long and matched with old rifles of the same length for close hand-to-hand combat. During World War II, the sword was still the main form, but most countries shortened the length of the bayonet, and only Japan still adopted the very long type 38 bayonet. After World War II, bayonets evolved into daggers due to the large number of automatic rifles. The 56-type automatic rifle and 56-type semi-automatic rifle equipped by our army use fixed folding triangular spikes. Although hand-to-hand combat has certain advantages, it obviously does not conform to the trend of historical progress.
3. The Soviet Union began to distribute dagger-shaped first-generation bayonets, called I-type bayonets, after AKM officially served. The most obvious feature is the round handle tail. There is a rubber insulator on the scabbard, so soldiers can directly hold the oval positioning hole on the scabbard and press it with the metal positioning pin on the back of the scabbard, and then they can directly cut the wires and barbed wire. The production year of type I bayonet is about 1959 to 1968. Soviet AKM bayonets are mainly produced by Tula Arsenal and Izhevsk Arsenal. The bayonet scabbard produced by Tula factory is marked with a five-pointed star, which is exquisite in workmanship, while the bayonet scabbard produced by Izhevsk factory is marked with an arrow in the middle of a triangle, which is slightly rough in workmanship.
4. Around1969, the Soviet Union began to equip a new type of bayonet, called Type II bayonet, which is the second generation bayonet of the Soviet Union. Its biggest feature is to change the spherical end of the handle of I-type bayonet into a square metal end, which makes the bayonet more firmly fixed on the AKM bayonet bamboo shoot, and at the same time, the sawtooth and blade shape of the back of the knife have also changed slightly. In addition, the metal sheath with insulator of I-type bayonet is replaced by bakelite resin sheath, and there is no need to wrap the insulator. The one marked with a triangle above is produced by Izhevsk Factory, and the one marked with a five-pointed star below is produced by Tula Factory. It can be seen that the color of the scabbard in Izhevsk is indeed darker than that in Tula.
5. About 1984, the Soviet Union introduced the last bayonet, namely the type III bayonet, which was distributed to users of AK-74 and SVD as an accessory of firearms. This bayonet is made of embossed handles made of nylon and engineering plastics. The handle, blade and gun ring are formed by hot pressing, which is very firm and reliable. The scabbard is made of all-black engineering plastic. In particular, the streamlined false-blade blood groove on the knife body is pulled from the tip of the knife to the position of the handle, which maximizes the puncture performance of the bayonet and enhances the lethality.
6.AKM bayonet series is the first series of products in the world to make bayonets develop in the direction of multi-function. Its biggest feature is that the blade is upward after hanging on the AK rifle. Therefore, when the bayonet pierces the human body, Soviet soldiers usually make an upward stabbing action to maximize the enemy's wound in an instant, which is necessary for deterrence and lethality. Accompanied by a large number of AK rifles, these cold and shiny bayonets also spread to various battlefields all over the world, and influenced M9 multifunctional bayonets in the United States.