Woah another SKS post.. but a gold bayonet?

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ScottFra

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I bought a SKS a while back, and It has a gold bayonet.
1950 Tula model

Does anyone know why it's gold? Some answers say it's because of the cosmoline,
but the finish on the bayonet is too perfect and spread out to be a mistake.

Could It be a drill rifle?
Does this add anything to the value of it?

Pictures: https://imgur.com/a/jbwPcgR
 
ScottFra said:
I bought a SKS a while back, and It has a gold bayonet.
1950 Tula model
Does anyone know why it's gold? Some answers say it's because of the cosmoline,
but the finish on the bayonet is too perfect and spread out to be a mistake.
Could It be a drill rifle?
Does this add anything to the value of it?
Pictures: https://imgur.com/a/jbwPcgR
Click to expand...


Excerpts from https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=17575

Golden bayo.
"The mystery of the golden bayo. Some people believe its the residue left by the cosmoline after it being imbedded in it for decades while I don’t necessarily disagree with the cosmo, I disagree on the application, I don’t see how the bayo being coated in cosmo for decades it would result in a coating of a thin film, maybe some small patches but certainly not consistently though out the blade like I see on most Russian bayo, if the rifles were wrapped or handled after greasing you would expect some of the cosmo to be rub off the blade but I don’t see that, its always fairly even film, also you have to wonder why the other parts are not in gold like the carrier?
This film is not easily removed, I tried solvent and it wouldn’t come off so I can't see it being applied to the whole rifle, especially internally where a soldier would have a hard time removing it before usage.
What I believe its some sort of a protective coating , exactly what ? I don't know but i suspect there is a special process of how its applied. Take a look at the pic below, left side, you will see a the gold stopped in a straight line indicating the blade was dipped by itself, now whether the bayo was heated first or the protective oil was boiled, I could only speculate, I just don’t know at this time. Research still ongoing.
I have done some testing whereby I heated a steel and coated it with cosmo, I haven’t quite got the exact temperature, too low and the coating could be removed by solvent and too high the coating turned dark brown, however the solvent would not remove the dark brown coating, just like the golden bayo, it needs something stronger like acetone and fair amount of elbow grease to remove it".
 
Westrifle was selling 1951 with a golden bayo a few years back. It looked like gold plated, not a straw coloured like you see on 1954 and latter. What 05RAV describes is not the same bayo.
 
05RAV said:
Excerpts from https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=17575

Golden bayo.
"The mystery of the golden bayo. Some people believe its the residue left by the cosmoline after it being imbedded in it for decades while I don’t necessarily disagree with the cosmo, I disagree on the application, I don’t see how the bayo being coated in cosmo for decades it would result in a coating of a thin film, maybe some small patches but certainly not consistently though out the blade like I see on most Russian bayo, if the rifles were wrapped or handled after greasing you would expect some of the cosmo to be rub off the blade but I don’t see that, its always fairly even film, also you have to wonder why the other parts are not in gold like the carrier?
This film is not easily removed, I tried solvent and it wouldn’t come off so I can't see it being applied to the whole rifle, especially internally where a soldier would have a hard time removing it before usage.
What I believe its some sort of a protective coating , exactly what ? I don't know but i suspect there is a special process of how its applied. Take a look at the pic below, left side, you will see a the gold stopped in a straight line indicating the blade was dipped by itself, now whether the bayo was heated first or the protective oil was boiled, I could only speculate, I just don’t know at this time. Research still ongoing.
I have done some testing whereby I heated a steel and coated it with cosmo, I haven’t quite got the exact temperature, too low and the coating could be removed by solvent and too high the coating turned dark brown, however the solvent would not remove the dark brown coating, just like the golden bayo, it needs something stronger like acetone and fair amount of elbow grease to remove it".
Click to expand...

A SKS I had, the bayo was coated in a thin film it was flaking the last I saw it
 
A lot of these came out of crates back in the 2014 and 15 flood of SKS'. They aren't as rare as you would think.
There haven't been nearly as many in the later and recent shipments though.
As for value today, all I can say is...people like to charge more for them because they are somewhat unique.
 
Best explanation for the golden bayo is that it is a protective coating added post production for the purposes of long term storage. Many US collectors mistakenly claim that the golden bayonet is an original trait, despite the facts that there is no evidence to prove this claim and substantial evidence to the contrary.

On a heavy refurb-- even one as remarkable a the OP rifle -- the golden bayonet doesn't add much if any value for resale.

Nice catch.
 
jaroslav said:
Westrifle was selling 1951 with a golden bayo a few years back. It looked like gold plated, not a straw coloured like you see on 1954 and latter. What 05RAV describes is not the same bayo.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm not so sure that the OP's bayonet is much different than those in the description I provided. Judging by the OP's Imgur picture his SKS is a freshly refurbished Molot SKS which was imported to Canada somewhere within the period of 2012-2015, until the sanctions on Russia were declared in the late 2014. The receiver cover on the OP's SKS is dated "1950" but the laminate stock reveals that it was refurbished much later by Molot. It looks like the bayonet on his SKS is still kind of a "straw colored" like you call it but the color is very intense since it's quite fresh. A few years back I bought a 1957 letter series SKS from Westrifle with a quite intensely colored gold bayonet which after a few years of shooting faded away quite a bit so it's gold color is not so intense anymore. I bet that the OP's bayonet will behave in the same way, say, after a few years in service.
No added value with that bayonet.
 
05RAV said:
Well, I'm not so sure that the OP's bayonet is much different than those in the description I provided. Judging by the OP's Imgur picture his SKS is a freshly refurbished Molot SKS which was imported to Canada somewhere within the period of 2012-2015, until the sanctions on Russia were declared in the late 2014. The receiver cover on the OP's SKS is dated "1950" but the laminate stock reveals that it was refurbished much later by Molot. It looks like the bayonet on his SKS is still kind of a "straw colored" like you call it but the color is very intense since it's quite fresh. A few years back I bought a 1957 letter series SKS from Westrifle with a quite intensely colored gold bayonet which after a few years of shooting faded away quite a bit so it's gold color is not so intense anymore. I bet that the OP's bayonet will behave in the same way, say, after a few years in service.
No added value with that bayonet.
Click to expand...

In 2017 Westrifle was selling a dozen 1951s with golden bayo.The colour was very dark yellow,not that faded yellow you see on 1954. The price was $50 more than 1951 with shinny steel bayo.
 
Boris Badinov said:
The explanation for differences in luster and color of golden bayos could be as simple as how recently or how long ago the finish was added.
Click to expand...

Makes sense. The Molot SKS's found in Canada were refurbished around 2012-2015 so the bayo finish is quite fresh. My letter series SKS is a 1957 light refurb and like I said above its quite faded yellow nowadays.
 
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jaroslav said:
In 2017 Westrifle was selling a dozen 1951s with golden bayo.The colour was very dark yellow,not that faded yellow you see on 1954. The price was $50 more than 1951 with shinny steel bayo.
Click to expand...

The year on the receiver cover like 1951 or whatever is in essence irrelevant for refurbs. If those sold by Westrifle with intensely yellow bayos were, for example, the Molots refurbished a few years ago,they could still have unfaded gold color as suggested by BB above. Simply, what's important is how long ago the SKS was refurbished not necessarily the date on the receiver cover. The OP's SKS with dark gold bayonet is most likely a Molot refurbished just a few years ago.
 
05RAV said:
The year on the receiver cover like 1951 or whatever is in essence irrelevant for refurbs.
Click to expand...



With the cover being the only date-stamped part on a refurbed rifle, there's a good chance that the 1950 dated cover could be a replacement part on a 1951 or 1952 carbine.
 
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I bought the gun off OP...
Hope the bayo is as nice looking in real life as in the pictures. I wonder if it does +1 Damage against spookies.
 
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