Budapest Arsenal bayonets for the 48.M infantry rifle
Hungary produced a very high quality Mosin Nagant M91/30 clone, known as the 48.M infantry rifle. To properly equipe these rifles, Femaru-Fegyver es Gepgyar (FEG) State Factory of Budapest produced M91/30 style socket bayonets.
All the Hungarian bayonets for the a 48.M rifle are recognizable by the classic “02” marking (above) and the serial number that was usually matching a specific rifle. Below there is a clear example: the serial (DF2680) is matching a 48.M rifle, with a known prefix (DF) that is indicating a 1952 produced rifle.
Postwar production Mosin Nagant bayonets
The overall characteristics are basically the same of a standard Russian bayonets for the Mosin Nagant M91/30, except for the specific markings and the overall machining.
Another famous marking that is highlighting Hungarian production is the “B in circle”. This is the marking of the Budapest Arsenal and can be alone or together with the country code for Hungary, “02”. On 48.M bayonets one side is usually marked with the “02” (see previous pictures) and the other side has a “B in circle” stamped in a very small font, difficult to see even in the detailed picture above (left of the pin).
Above and below some details of the rear part. The release button is marked “02”. This marking used by the Budapest Arsenal should be linked to the country code number of Hungary inside the Warsaw Pact. However, i did not find any official statment of reference about this “country code” classification.
Confronting the lenght with a standard Izhevsk produced M91/30 bayonet we can clearly see that the dimensions are basically the same.
However, considering the postwar production, the general quality is obviously superior compared to wartime soviet produced bayonets.
