7.62 Milimetr’ya Karabina

Obrasca 1944 Goda Bayonets

WHEN THE Russian designer F V Tokarev improved the Mosin Nagant rifle in 1927, he produced an experimental folding bayonet¹. Like the earlier design by Colonel N Gulkevits, the bayonet was only used in limited quantities.

However, Soviet interest in the use of permanently attached bayonets led to a revival of the folding model during 1943. The major problem of the cruciform bladed socket bayonet, mounted on the rifle muzzle all the time, was its unhandiness. The introduction of the 7.62 milimetr’ya vintovka obrasca 1891/30. goda began the trend to shorten firearms which was continued in 1938. In this year the 7.62 milimetr’ya vintovka karabin 1938 goda was created for mounted troops. This was simply the reduced infantry rifle cut down to a 20.45 inches (520mm) barrel². The carbine did not carry a bayonet.

As mechanisation increased during the Second World War troops from most armies required shorter weapons for use in military vehicles. The 1938 carbine was found to be suitable as the basis for an improved weapon bearing a bayonet. Experimental bayonets were used with the 1930 infantry rifle during 1943³.

A trials bayonet, depicted in Russian & Soviet Bayonets, retained the quadrangular blade of the earlier socket model design but had a needle point instead of the typical screwdriver tip⁴ The shank was replaced by a tang which passed through a cross-guard bearing a muzzle ring connected to a steel cylinder. The tang was slotted at the rear end and was covered by the steel sleeve which compressed an internal coil spring.

The folding bayonet was attached to a cylindrical adaptor which passed over the hooded foresight of the 1930 rifle. Probably the removable sight hood locked the bayonet fixture in place on the gun muzzle. Placed on the bolt handle side of the fitment were two brackets pierced with a hole for the bayonet retaining bolt and with rounded extensions on the butt sides.

When the bayonet was not required, the blade was fitted into a groove on the right of the wooden stock. Two small notches in the rear of the bayonet sleeve mated with the projections on the brackets, to lock it firmly into place, and the muzzle ring was projected away from the weapon.

If the bayonet was required, rearwards pressure on the crossguard slid the cylinder backward enough for the notches to disengage with the bracket extensions. The blade was then pivoted sideways and forward until the muzzle ring was positioned by the opening of the rifle barrel. Forward pressure, against the coil spring, forced the crossguard in front of the barrel which then engaged the ring. The blade was then locked in a frontal position to the right of the gun barrel by the inherent tension of the coil spring. The total length of the trials folding bayonet was 20.1 inches (510mm)⁵.

Side View of Chinese Type 53 carbine with bayonet in folded position. Priest collection & photo.
Top View of Chinese Type 53 carbine with bayonet in folded position. Priest collection & photo.

The new folding bayonet adopted in 1944 worked on a very similar principle. The designer, Semin, who may have produced the experimental model described above, shortened the blade, which retained a screwdriver point, and improved the barrel attachment. The rifle was basically the 1938 carbine with a folding bayonet. The new carbine was issued from February 1944 and was termed the 762 milimetr’ya karabina obrasca 1944. goda. It saw a great deal of service throughout the world.

The barrel brackets were made as a fixed component of the carbine. The locking device and operating system was identical to the 1943 prototype. Issue bayonets were only 15.1 inches (383mm) overall. They were normally heavily blued overall. The heavy rectangular crossguard was slightly chamfered and grooved between the blade and muzzle ring to improve finger grip.

Russian markings were placed on the crossguard. The normal Cyrillic inspection letters were often supplemented by an arsenal marking such as the Sestrojevsk or Tula triangular or star Stampings described in Part 3 of this article. Serial numbers were placed on the carbine rather than the bayonet.

An alternative locking system was introduced to the M 1944 Mosin-Nagant carbine bayonet during the late 1940s or early 1950s. This may have been a variation to simplify production or an improvement caused by active service experience.

The barrel brackets were altered so that they had extensions on both sides of their tips. The integral crossguard and sleeve was also altered so that two triangular projections replaced the previously used notches. The improved sleeve was a more positive lock on the brackets than with the previous model. In addition the system used for retaining the closed bayonet had more strength to hold the bayonet in the open position so it was duplicated. Possibly bayonets that had only been secured with the muzzle ring folded backwards under some strenuous circumstances.

Top view of Russian karabina ob. 1944g bayonets in folded postition. Note different brackets. Courtesy Enfield Building Royal Ordance PLC.
Top view of Russian karabina ob. 1944g bayonet in open position. Note bracket. Courtesy Enfield Building Royal Ordance PLC.

The carbine was standard issue in the Soviet Army from 1944 until the early 1950s when it was replaced by an assault rifle. The weapon was also issued to Warsaw Pact countries, where it remained as second line item for many years. Examples of bayonets & carbines with Polish markings were known, perhaps indicating that Warsaw Pact arsenals copied the model⁶.

When the carbine was obsolete, large numbers were shipped to Communist countries as "military aid". The Foreign Material Number (FOM) for the weapon was 1005-2-2-7.62-15 indicating:-

Ordnance Smaller than 31mm. Country designator-Soviet Union. Rifle. Calibre 7.62mm. Specific item identifier-Karabina obrazets 1944g.⁷

Many of the weapons were used by guerrilla forces in Africa, Asia, South & Central America. For instance United States forces captured 2,432 when they occupied Grenada in October 1983⁸. These rifles may have been provided by Cuba.

The People's Republic of China also imitated the Mosin-Nagant design from 1953 onwards. The carbine was issued as the Type 53. It was a direct copy of the Russian model except for its receiver markings and the shape of the bayonet blade and crossguard. The Chinese weapon used the later form of barrel brackets and improved bayonet sleeve. However the blade tip was a needle type and the chamfered grips on each side of the crossguard were abandoned. Chinese characters, appropriate to State Factories and inspection codes, were stamped on most of the metalwork of the carbines but not the bayonets.

China supplied Asian guerrilla organisations with weapons when they became obsolete for her own armed forces. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was also provided with the carbine during the Korean War 1950-60.

When China replaced the Mosin-Nagant with a copy of the Soviet 7.62 milimetr’ya samozaryadnyi karabin Simonova (SKS) in 1956 some versions of the assault rifle carried another variation of the 1944 folding bayonet⁹. The main alteration to the design was. the introduction of a rounded triangular sectioned blade, normally given a phosphated surface. The crossguard was also waisted unlike the earlier Soviet and Type 53 bayonets. The Type 56 bayonets were also issued in knife bladed form.

Even after the demise of the Mosin-Nagant system the folding blade arrangement remained as an appendage for many Warsaw Pact designed firearms, which indicated that this "cheap & cheerful" solution to bayonet design was a highly successful one!

Rear view of Polish karabina ob. 1944g & Chinese Type 56 bayonets. Note waisted Chinese crossguard. Courtesy ´Tony´ Foster

References

Archer, D H R (Editor), Jane's Infantry Weapons 1977, Paulton House, London, 1977.
Barker, A J, & Walter, J, Russian Infantry Weapons of World War 2, Arms & Armour Press, London, 1971
Ezell, E C, Small Arms Today, Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, USA, 1984.
Hogg, I V, The Encyclopedia of Infantry Weapons of World War II, Arms & Armour Press, London, 1977.
Hyytinen, T, Suuri Puukkokirja, Private Pub, Finland, 1988.
Gazette Des Armes, Huon, J, Le Mosin-Nagant, No 224, July/August 1992, pp.42-46.
Kärhä, R, Russian & Soviet Bayonets, Helsinki, Finland, 1975.
Kiesling, P, Bayonets of the World, (4 Vols), Military Collectors' Service, Holland, 1973-76.
Mayer, S L (Editor), The Russian War Machine, 1917-1945, Arms & Armour Press, London, 1977.
Owen, J I H (Editor), Brassey's Infantry Weapons of the Armies of Aftica, The Orient and Latin America, Brassey's Publishers Ltd, London,1980.
Target Gun, West, G & L A R, The Mosin-Nagant 91 30 Sniper Rifle and 1944 Carbine, February 1990.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

Grateful appreciation to Herb Woodend & Carl Woods of the Enfield Building, Royal Ordnance PLC, Nottingham and 'Tony' Foster for a chance to examine artefacts. Also staff at World Wide Arms for permission to reproduce the photograph from their catalogue.

Article from "Guns Review" Volume 34 No. 3 March 1994.

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