I have seen several romanian buttstocks painted like the one in the picture. Does anyone know why? Did these come off of training rifles or some other special use.

they're from the romanian patriotic guard, which is like a cross between the national guard and the minutemen (the originals, not the guys on the mexican border)
the patriotic guard consisted of regular citizens, both men and women
they were issued akm's with a black band on the buttstock and a "G" engraved on the rear sight block. these are the "g-kits" that have been going around.

Well said 44rdv4rk

p712k,

I posted this awhile back but I'll go ahead and post it again since you asked...

The orange "G" stands for "Garda" which is Romanian for guard. This past October, I went to the Romanian National Military Museum in Bucharest.  The rifles were for the Patriotic Guard and not the regular army.  The display for the black banded Patriotic Guard rifles said that they were semi-auto only.  All the full auto parts were in the rifle except that the full auto disconnector had the tail ground off which made it fire semi auto only.  The Patriotic Guard was mandatory service for all highschool aged kids... young men and women.  Think of it as a combination of the Young Pioneers and the National Guard.  Here is a picture of the black banded Patriotic Guard rifle I took at the museum...

^ even more well said hippie.gif

I actually have a friend in Romania that was in the Patriotic Guard.  When we came across the exhibit for the PG at the museum, it brought back bad memories for her having to wear her blue PG uniform once a week to highschool.  She said they would have to attend political parades and rallies making sure people behaved themselves and didn't get too drunk.  Anyway, she's anti-military and hates guns so that might explain why she hated it so much.  Maybe the boys had a better time playing weekend soldier than the girls.

This is cool!
One of my co-workers was Romanian Army Paratroopers, but he didn't know what the "G" was for.

BTW, he carried a side-folder, the single curved loop style, with the front pointing forward grip. They carried them in a leg holster that he would cross draw from and fire while hanging from the chute. They used 30rd mags and 75rd drums

Quoted: This is cool! One of my co-workers was Romanian Army Paratroopers, but he didn't know what the "G" was for. BTW, he carried a side-folder, the single curved loop style, with the front pointing forward grip. They carried them in a leg holster that he would cross draw from and fire while hanging from the chute. They used 30rd mags and 75rd drums

How old is your friend?  Was he in the army during or after the Ceausescu era?  

I just ordered a romy parts kit that has the painted stock, good to know the history behind it.