Tim,
Regarding your question of the direction of the sawteeth of this particular bayonet, this is something I don't believe I've ever taken notice of. I checked the 6 sawbacks I have. They are 3 Eickhorns (of differing vintages), a Henckels, an Alcoso & a Carl August Meis, all had teeth pointing in the other direction. This doesn't surprise me since both the Henckels & Meis have Eickhorn hilts so essentially 5 of my 6 sawbacks were made by Eickhorn.
I don't believe this indicates the Puma is incorrect or in some way wrong. The teeth seem well formed & symetrical with the only difference being the direction. There definitely are period bayonets out there that have been "converted" to sawbacks in modern times but I don't think that's the case here. I have bought at least 2 in recent years, both with rare maker marks & it broke my heart that the blades were redone. Those bayonets had smaller teeth which were poorly formed, you would be able to tell if ever you had seen a real one in hand.
On this Puma, I think it's original & period. Can't say with certainty about the teeth direction but would be inclined to believe it's just a manufacturer's variation.
Thanks Billy.
It's a first for me in my admittedly limited experience. I didn't want to go off memory alone so I looked through the fireman bayonet thread here on the forum, "German Sidearms and Bayonets" by Klaus L�bbe, Carter's book "German Bayonets, The Models 98/02 and 98/05", George Wheeler's Sietengewehr book, and Roy Williams "The Collectors Book of German Bayonets, Part One". I couldn't find a single example of
anything with teeth running this direction - issued pieces or private purchase. It would be nice to see other Puma sawbacks for comparison, maybe someone has a picture they'd be willing to post. I didn't have any luck searching the internet for one. If original, these teeth are an extremely rare, if not unique feature, IMO.