Finnish Bayonets

Having acquired an M39, I'm now in search of a bayonet to match.

As it is not a Civil Guards rifle, I am not going for the more expensive although "cooler" M39 bayonet. I am aware that this bayonet is also both faked and available in reproduction form.

What I'm not sure of is if the M28 series/style of bayonet which would be appropriate for the Army version of the M39 has been faked as well.

Considering the prices of these, while more reasonable than the M39, they remain pretty pricy to risk having something not legitimate.

For instance, there is one currently on ebay which has a blued blade. My available sources tell me that only the scabbards and the locking buttons were blued on these bayonets. I know the M39 reproductions have blued blades and this was done deliberately to differentiate them from the real ones.

If they are fake, how do we recognize them?

I have bid on a few of the M39 bayonets only to watch the price soar far exceeding my small budget. Almost scored a chrome one I believe to have been an original mounted as a trophy with some Finnish officers name on the display. It went cheaply,relitavely speeking.

I'm not going to bother with an M39 bayonet unless I find one at a yard sale. Not that that can't happen. They weren't issued to the army so it wouldn't be correct from what I understand.

I don't much like the prices of either but none of them seem to be selling at those prices so perhaps they will come down.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

perhaps they will come down.

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Add me to the list of those hoping for that.

To the best of my knowledge there are not reproductions of the Model 1928 bayonet.

Back in the late 1970s a small number of these bayonets were imported. I remember the gun shop that I frequented back then had the 27's and 28's for $9 and the 35's for $12. Now if you can find a decent one with scabbard in the $150-200 range you're lucky.

The only good source on the internet for Finnish bayonet:

Finnish Bayonets

I don't think that the M39 rifle will take the earlier Finnish bayonets but I may be wrong. As porterkids said, the earlier bayonets are quite expensive these days but they are slightly lower in price than a good M39 bayo.

The M39 will take the earlier bayonets. The M39 was only for the Civil Guard and their rifles and wasn't developed until 1942. The Army was going to use the M39 bayonet but the company making them could not produce them fast enough so they cancelled the order and used the earlier bayonets.

Nice site, thanks.

Of course I spoke too soon, thanks for the reminder, I have never owned a M39 bayonet but had numerous M39 rifles and just never tried any of the earlier bayonets on them, they were all sitting on the M27 and M28 rifles. Wish I had kept the collection together, especially since I bought them all from Roses Department store for $35 each back in the early '90s. Even then, when you could find them the bayonets sold for $50 to $75 each - more than the rifles! :beerchug:

BTW, the M39 Rifle was designed as an upgrade for the Finnish Army. The Sk.Y also used it as a replacement for the M28/30, the successor to their M28. The Sk.Y M39s were built under separate contract from those of the army.

Might as well read up some more, tons of information here:

The Finnish Area