Shashka

[3] The blades of non-regulation shashkas were of diverse origins; some were locally made in the Caucasus, others in Russia, some were manufactured in Germany, mostly in Solingen, and displayed imitations of the 'running wolf' mark of Passau.

[6] The Cossack hosts (not full-time regiments) used non-regulation shashkas until 1904, when they received their own regulation pattern.

The hilt had no guard (except for Russian Dragoon 'shashka' patterns, which had a brass knuckle-bow and quillon, and a conventional sabre pommel).

This is a feature found in many weapons of the Western Asian highlands, from the Turkish yataghan to the Afghan pesh-kabz.

The Caucasian form of the shashka had a scabbard which enclosed most of the hilt, with little more than the hooked pommel protruding.

Shashkas manufactured under the Soviet regime (Pattern 1927) had Communist symbols in place of the imperial ones.

Later trooper models often had modified brass scabbard furniture to hold a bayonet for the Mosin–Nagant carbine.

In particular, Russian soldiers were not taught to cut in one movement from unsheathing, whatever Caucasus traditions suggest.