When I went back with the copy, the vendor nodded and clearly grasped what I had failed to communicate earlier. Clearly my ability to communicate what I wanted was lost due to the language barrier.įortunately, I had a copy of Martin Ivie’s Kalashnikov Bayonets along with me (I was much better prepared this deployment!) and I made a color copy of the page referencing Iraqi bayonets. All I received in response were blank stares. Initially, I attempted to ask him about other AK Bayonets he might have to offer for sale. Of course the ubiquitous Romanian AK Type I Bayonets were much in evidence and in varying conditions (usually, about five of them on a shelf). He had a lot of touristy baubles and no shortage of small wooden faux antiques. I was able to make friends with one particular Iraqi vendor who would visit our base with various curios to sell from a small shop (really more of a glorified shack). Two years later, my second deployment to Iraq was much more sedate. At that time, 2004-2005 operations were quite frenetic and there was no time or opportunity to build any relationships with locals who may have had access to the Iraqi made variants I was after. Not one to turn my nose up, I collected/liberated what was available. Unfortunately, all I seemed to ever encounter were the Romanian made variants.
#Authentic ak 47 bayonet serial numbers#
There’s too a similar font used where the scabbard’s and bayonet’s matching serial numbers were impressed into the phenol-plastic.ĭuring my first deployment to Iraq, I was aware of the Iraqi produced bayonets. The bayonets appear for all purposes to look like the standard Yugoslavian made AK Type II bayonets, but made in various shades of reddish orange instead of the standard black colored Yugoslavian made variants. The Iraqis actually did at one time in the 1980s manufacture their own bayonets on equipment they purchased from Yugoslavia. This post refers to the second Iraqi made variation. There are two variations of Iraqi domestically produced Type II AK bayonets I’ve never observed the first variation. A quick survey of “Iraqi Bayonets” on a certain internet auction’s site will usually turn up one (or more) of the Romanian variants (perhaps with original Iraqi military rack numbers painted on them). Most are originally of Romanian, Soviet, or even of Polish origin.
![authentic ak 47 bayonet authentic ak 47 bayonet](https://assets.catawiki.nl/assets/2016/11/10/f/b/1/fb1a2a8c-a78f-11e6-8b4b-d0d51001bbde.jpg)
There are a lot (and I do mean a lot) of “Iraqi” AK Bayonets that have since departed Iraq as GIs' souvenirs.