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AKM Bakelite Green Border Guard set! The unicorn arrives on US soil!

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#25 ·
The set in all likelihood was never used on one of the Border Guard presentation rifles presented by MTK. More likely a stored set or a set removed from a rifle that had the green furniture but never had a placard and the rest of the green set, thus never a Border Guard presentation rifle that MTK presented to one of the outstanding Border Guards, who won the prestigious award.

This set is missing key pieces -- the engraved placard, green bayonet and green magazine. The magazine is by far the rarest and hardest piece of the set to acquire. Only a very small, limited number of 7,62 green magazines, in a few different variations, were developed and produced. Far less than the furniture sets.

Sure someone could replicate the placard, but it would be fake, so why replicate anything if you are going to spend thousands of dollars on a original furniture set. If that were the case, might as well replicate the entire weapon as this guy did. A pretty good replication for a fraction of the price. The point is -- if one cannot acquire a complete original set, all the pieces, why buy at all, if some pieces will be fake or replicas of the original.

https://www.theakforum.net/forums/2.../298697-border-guard-green-furniture-set-nice-replica-original.html#post2821863
 
#26 · (Edited)
Bunker9939 said:
The set in all likelihood was never used on one of the Border Guard presentation rifles presented by MTK. More likely a stored set or a set removed from a rifle that had the green furniture
Click to expand...
No shit
but never had a placard and the rest of the green set, thus never a Border Guard presentation rifle that MTK presented to one of the outstanding Border Guards, who won the prestigious award.

This set is missing key pieces -- the engraved placard, green bayonet and green magazine. The magazine is by far the rarest and hardest piece of the set to acquire. Only a very small, limited number of 7,62 green magazines, in a few different variations, were developed and produced. Far less than the furniture sets.
Click to expand...
Thats a pretty big assumption considering that that furniture can be taken off in seconds and a riveted plaque would be much more difficult. As seen by the photo above, not every rifle had a green magazine.
Here's a green furn deact, probably bought in Russia for a few hundred bucks, Id buy these all day and sell the furniture off them for thousands and not give two fucks about the plaque.
Image


Sure someone could replicate the placard, but it would be fake, so why replicate anything if you are going to spend thousands of dollars on a original furniture set. If that were the case, might as well replicate the entire weapon as this guy did. A pretty good replication for a fraction of the price. The point is -- if one cannot acquire a complete original set, all the pieces, why buy at all, if some pieces will be fake or replicas of the original.

https://www.theakforum.net/forums/2.../298697-border-guard-green-furniture-set-nice-replica-original.html#post2821863
Click to expand...
LOL, why do any of us replicate anything? We all just ought to sell all of our kit builds with US receivers for scrap.
 
#28 ·
Probably an employee plundering stores lost to time just like experimental mags coming out of the wood work, but I wouldnt put it past Izzy selling it either. They've been cleaning out their closets for years, we've seen all kinds of Type I,II, III rifles turned into Saigas, and scarce 103-2 models turned into mmg's too. Izzy been into financial trouble for years, we know that even limited production on a soviet scale doesnt exactly translate to what we would call limited. They probably have pallets of that shit and Ivan doesnt care for its significance, just the $$ it could bring whether its his own pockets or Izhmash looking to sell a few more rifles.
 
#29 ·
I believe it, certain things we consider rare here, they are tripping over in Russia (not these ultra rare things)
 
#30 ·
In 2011 there were 2 of these rifles for sale in Russia. One was $700 and the other was $3,000. One had a black tag and the other a silver tag. Neither had a green mag with them.
 
#31 · (Edited)
My comments in red.

wingnut308 said:
No shit
I don't know if you are being sarcastic or you don't believe my comment. Ay any rate, only presentation rifles had the personalized placard.

Thats a pretty big assumption considering that that furniture can be taken off in seconds and a riveted plaque would be much more difficult. As seen by the photo above, not every rifle had a green magazine.
Every green presentation rifle had a green magazine when presented by MTK. Show me one picture of a green AKM or AK74 that he presented to a contest winner that did not have one. Rifles presented prior to the development of the green furniture used a steel ribbed magazines, but all rifles with the green furniture that he presented had a green magazine. The photo you reference is from a excellent, and very scarce Russian book published by Parade. The context is a series of pages highlighting new experimental plastics developed, depicting various different styles, technologies, and colors.

The green plastic of this type was specifically developed for the border guard presentation rifle. The photo from the book is a stock photo, obviously not a presentation rifle at the time of photograph, thus no green magazine. There are a few of these AKM's with the green furniture stored in storehouses of various museums and possibly some warehouses associated with what was Izhmash. The ones I have seen all have the placard but it's "very possible" there are some that may not have the placard, and "possibly" some spare sets. That is pure speculation on my part but I can say with certainty that some presentation rifles are still in storage, as indicated by their inventory number, accompanied by stock photos. Rifles such as the one depicted in the book, could have eventually ended up with a placard and presented to a border guard who won the award, or possibly stored as is, without the placard. Again, that is speculation on my part but clearly at least one rifle without the placard was photographed and published in this book, with no placard, no green magazine, and no green bayonet. I've also seen the same photo published in other Russian books.

Here's a green furn deact, probably bought in Russia for a few hundred bucks, Id buy these all day and sell the furniture off them for thousands and not give two fucks about the plaque.
I have this deact well documented and photographed and it has the engraved placard on the reverse side. The green Border Guard AKM's that were deactivated during this period were presentation rifles and had the placard, at least the three that I have documented, which I have well documented with photos, passports and prices. I personally know the Russian owners of two of these rifles I have info on, and know another collector who has a third from these deacts. There was more deactivated green AKM's during this same period and I'll just leave it at that. The two collectors I'm friends with still own their rifles, as well as the third collector I know but not closely, but I can't speak for the other remaining AKM's. These deact presentation rifles from this specific batch during this period have the placard riveted on but did not include the green magazine or green bayonet.

You would buy them all day long if you could. Ok..these are very scarce and very few sets were produced. If you could actually buy a presentation rifle and wanted to part it out, are you saying you wouldn't go through the extra trouble to remove the personalized placard with the set? Including it would yield significantly more money and would allow the buyer to own the complete set, minus bayonet and magazine. That seems like an odd approach from a business perspective but each to their own. Plus it may reduce the number of potential buyers because it does not have the placard. Anyone willing to spend a great deal of money on a original set would really appreciate having the original placard from the seller.
Image


LOL, why do any of us replicate anything? We all just ought to sell all of our kit builds with US receivers for scrap.

Again, I think you are being sarcastic but now sure. Each to their own! The real serious collectors do everything possible to clone original Soviet and Russian weapons, spending thousands of dollars on single parts in some cases. We can't get around the receiver, except rewelding deacts in some cases -- gray area, barrels are a challenge, but something as rare as a border guard presentation rifle, I think the real serious diehard collector, will do everything possible to have all the original parts of the presentation rifle.

Now if someone doesn't want to or have the money to have the original green furniture, the one I called out seems like an inexpensive alternative and pretty good job. This original set still lacks three pieces, like I mentioned, so anyone who was real serious about getting this set, would probably also be very interested, if not obsessed, with getting the remaining original pieces, which will be very hard to find and then very expensive to buy once located.

Everyone has their different interests in collecting and desired expectation of their weapons. Just my two cents....
Click to expand...
 
#33 ·
Regarding the two Russian 6x4 bayonets pictured in my first reply, wish they were mine but are not ! As for the green magazines, I was informed these were given out as a "retirement" mementos only to specially honored individuals. Since a complete bayonet is not allowed to be owned under the current regime, they must go into storage or to a replacement frontiersman.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Its not like complete sets aren't available anywhere (note the metal tag). This set is in a location outside of the RF. Just disregard the trivial non-green items.
 
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#38 · (Edited)
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#40 · (Edited)
Bayonet is also here. The set is with a buddy in Colorado and yes was sold in 2016 along with a couple mags. There are two other 74 GB bayonets here along with the one pictured above. Matter of fact everything in that picture came over in 2016.
 
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