Polish Refurb SVT-40 Bayonet - lots of pics.

grelmar

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
9   0   0
So, I get back from the airport this afternoon from picking up my wife and daughter from their down-east vacation, and as a bonus for now having my gals back in town to keep an eye on me, there was a package in my front porch. Great timing! Because unlike me, my wife actually knows how to use a camera.

This is one of the Polish Refurb bayonets from Corwin-Arms. As usual, Martin has gone out of his way to get something nice in for us Red Rifle surplus nuts. SVT-40 Bayonets can be hard to come by most of the time, so it's hard not to jump on the chance to pick one up when they're available. I paid $250 this spring for a Tula made bayo, refurbed at some unidentifiable time and place, because at the time, that was pretty much all I could find anywhere.

Not to give Martin too much free advertising, but if you've been hunting around for an SVT bayonet, you might want to jump. Sometimes, they just aren't available at any price, and these ones are pretty nice - especially at $178.

This is a standard length Bayo, fully refurbished. I had my wife do the photography because, well, she has a nicer camera and I suck at taking pics. You'll notice the lighting is yellower in some pics than others. For every shot, she did one with, and one without the flash, and then I went through them and picked the shot that was the clearest depending on angle/reflection/clarity of the details.

But enough talk... you wanna see pics. Click on any of the shots below to see the high res (3072x2048) version.

As it arrived, still in the waxed paper:



Detail of the refurb label on the package, notice the refurb date - 1957:


Straight out of the wrapper. Lightly oiled with no goopy cosmoline... Nice!


View of the back... Notice the riveted leather, as opposed to the stitched leather from standard Russian refurb :


Close up of the back of the leather, WP under Polish Eagle Crest stamped into the leather:


Back of the blade near the handle. "ZMPT" - Seems likely the name of the refurb factory that did the work (was also prominent on the wax paper label):


Original serial number (noticeably shallower stamping than the ZMPT, different letter size and font), Izhevsk Arsenal stamp on the metal work. "WP" under Polish Eagle Crest on the wood:


Comparison to Russian (maybe? Not sure about the other one) Refurb, back:


Comparison, Front:


Comparison, handle, while sheathed:


Hope you guys find this interesting/potentially useful. To be honest, I don't know as much about the history of the "Russian" refurb one as I would like, so if anyone has any info, it would be appreciated.
 
Last edited:
I just ordered one of these as well. I try and accumulate the accessories for each of my milsurps as it adds a depth to the collection.
 
Got my long one today. Looks as good as the ones I saw during 1966 1000 years of Polish Statehood military parade. Soldiers walking with SVT 40 with long bayonets looked impressive. At least to 7 year old boy
 
Anyone care to comment on the grip finish? I like the color that matches the stock of the svt, anyone tried to stain or shellac the blond grips on the refurbs to match the svt?
 
Got my 9.5" version today. Looks pretty much like grelmar's above in the photos, nice fit and finish on the wood handle and really dark, blackish blueing of the steel, with no scratches in the metal finish, pretty spotless, and fairly sharp blade, no nicks. Nice.
Grelmar seems to have got the pick of the litter though. (btw, my serial# is just 7 after that one)
My Izevsk stamp is not as perfect or centered on the hilt as that. Nor is there any stamp at all, not even faint, on the leather on my scabbard. Luck of the draw. Got about the same quality of stamp in the wood handle, except mine is aligned nearly vertically in the handle between the screws, if you were to view it pointing the blade tip down. I'm just pointing these details out because I'm not set up yet to post photos here, and I think you've seen all you need to know in grelmar's excellent pics anyway.
Overall, pretty satisfied.

To Cb750k,
I think there is a thin clear coat, maybe a lacquer or clear shellac, already on these new handles. Mine have a sort of smooth feel to them, not like bare wood. I think you'd have to strip off or (worse) sand off the original refurb finish on these handles before you could re-stain them or hand rub an oil finish on them to match the SVT-40 stock. For me, it's not worth the effort as my SVT-40's wood is not exactly pretty anyway, not worth matching. If I get another SVT, with a much nicer looking stock, maybe I'd consider it.
 
Saw few long ones in east German storage during summer of 1990. They were exactly the same as the short one on the photo just longer. No Polish eagle of course. ZMPT used to make blades and metal wear like shovels and axes for half of eastern block. From my research they were closed during early 1990s. Some of the models in east German service had SFA stamped on the blade instead of ZMPT
 
Anyone care to comment on the grip finish? I like the color that matches the stock of the svt, anyone tried to stain or shellac the blond grips on the refurbs to match the svt?

I'm going to leave mine as is, but from general woodworking I would suggest the following.

#1 DO NOT SAND IT, or the Gods of Milsurp will punish you and banish you to eternal torment.
#2 Strip it with mineral spirits. Moisten a rag with some mineral spirits, give it a rub, let it sit for a couple minutes, rub it with a dry rag. Repeat until the (fairly light) lacquer has been removed.
#3 Stain: A bit on your own here. You're going to have to spend some time at the paint department looking at different stains to find one with the right hue. Apply lightly with a rag and rub it in evenly, wiping off excess. Repeat until you achieve the desired darkness. Don't slop it on with a paintbrush or it will end up looking too thick and crappy and you'll lose all the grain (mind you, that would probably more closely resemble the "In Soviet Russia" way of doing it).
#4 Seal it with a very thin coat of marine varnish - it'll last f'in near forever. Or you can seal it with a Tung Oil rub, which is equally appropriate for any East Block wood.

looks like a reproduction ,dosent look like military surplus.

Yes and no. ZMPT did a lot of metal work, knives, etc. back in the day. As far as I can tell, they took battered Tula and Izhevsk SVT-40 Bayonets and cleaned them up, re-blued them, put new handle scales on them. The sheathes are very definitely post war ZMPT production, but would be contemporary to the refurb.

As far as I can tell, the SVT's remained in service in Poland at officer and NCO academies in Poland into the 60s. Not wholly unlike the Enfields remaining in reserve arsenals well into the 80s in Canada. Sure, everyone knew they were obsolete, but they were fine for marksmanship training and drill rifles. The original bayonets were hard to come by in quantity, at least in good condition, so ZMPT did what they could with the surplus they got off the Soviet surplus.
 
#4 Or you can seal it with a Tung Oil rub, which is equally appropriate for any East Block wood.

Agreed. That's what I'd do too, if I was to have a go at it. Tung oil is a very age appropriate type finish for any old milsurp (also bolied linseed oil). If I decide to strip down and pretty up my crappy looking SVT-40 stock's fnish, I'll be using a Tung oil mixture (lots of formuals on the web). That's also what I'm gonna use to refinish an old Garand stock.
 
Last edited:
Agreed. That's what I'd do too, if I was to have a go at it. Tung oil is a very age appropriate type finish for any old milsurp (also bolied linseed oil). If I decide to strip down and pretty up my crappy looking SVT-40 stock's fnish, I'll be using a Tung oil mixture (lots of formuals on the web). That's also what I'm gonna use to refinish an old Garand stock.

The Garand would have been Boiled Linseed Oil. Tung Oil was (is) more of an East Block finish. BLO was (is) favoured by most West European and North American manufacturers.

As a hobby woodworker, I prefer Tung Oil. Really nice stuff to work with, if you have the patience for it. I'm in the middle of an Enfield de-sporterising, and am going to need to finish/re-finish a lot of the wood on that. For the Enfield, I'm going with BLO as period appropriate.
 
I received my "long" Tokarev bayonet this morning and was very pleased. They look very good and will display very well on my SVT-38.

I will never be able to get an original SVT-38 bayonet in my lifetime, so this is a very acceptable substitute for display purposes.

Thank you very much Corwin Arms!

B
 
@grelmar, thanks. I just ordered one, will see once it gets here if I refinish it. The shellac is starting to flake on my svt so it might be time to strip and refinish it as well ;)
 
Picked up my svt bayonet and x54r stripper clips this morning, very pleased to say the least. Overall condition was excellent, Russian and polish stampings on the bayonet were all nice and clear, great bluing all around. Thanks Corwin, shipping was quick too.

I will stain and finish the handles to match when I decide to refinish the stock on my svt.
 
Back
Top Bottom