104-C-107 AK 47 Bayonet

The AK47 assault rifle was introduced during a period in history when the bayonet’s future was in debate. In the decade following the outbreak of the Second World War, most of the major powers produced an infantry rifle without the ability to mount a bayonet. Without a single exception, every one was redesigned to accept a bayonet or replaced with a rifle that did within a few years of its introduction. The AK47 was Russia’s entry in this debate, being designed without the intent that it mount a bayonet. Having a change of mind, in 1955, the Russians opted for a bayonet. The AK47 bayonet hilt borrows heavily from the Swedish M1914 bayonet, another example where the bayonet was added as an afterthought. Both the AK47 bayonet and scabbard were patterned after Russia’s first knife bayonet, the M1940 bayonet used with the 7.62 mm Tokarev SVT–40 self–loading rifle.