Finland - Forgotten Weapons

M44 Submachine Gun: Finland Copies the Soviet PPS-43

November 17, 2021 Ian McCollum 31

The kp/31 Suomi submachine gun in Finnish service was an outstanding weapon, but it was slow and expensive to manufacture. When Finnish forces began capturing Soviet PPS-42 and PPS-43 submachine guns form the Soviets in […]

RK95: Finland’s Ultimate AK

October 13, 2021 Ian McCollum 14

Finland adopted the AK in 7.62x39mm after World War Two, and continues to use the AK to this day. The standard pattern RK62 was starting to fall a bit short, and so in the late […]

Finnish m/27rv Cavalry Carbine

October 6, 2021 Ian McCollum 5

When the Finnish Army adopted the m/27 improved pattern of the Mosin Nagant rifle, there was one group of soldiers who were not really satisfied with it. Finland had a cavalry brigade – one of […]

Full Auto Suomi in the 2021 AZ PCC Championship

October 2, 2021 Ian McCollum 15

The Arizona PCC (Pistol-Caliber Carbine) Championship is a 10-stage competition held every year at the Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club in Mesa, AZ. It is normally only open to semiauto carbines, but I was able to […]

M43 Salakari: A Dynamic Assault Mount for the Finnish Maxim

October 1, 2021 Ian McCollum 20

The Finnish military depended heavily on Maxim machine guns until the 1960s, first using ones captured from the Russians and later starting production at Tikkakoski in the 1930s. One of the difficulties of the Maxim, […]

Suomi vs Stemple-Suomi: How Close Are They?

September 25, 2021 Ian McCollum 5

Yesterday we took a look at the Stemple-Suomi on the bench – today it’s time to find how similar it is in handling to the real thing! I have a Danish M41 Suomi, a Stemple-Suomi, […]

BRP Recreates a Classic: the Stemple-Suomi

September 24, 2021 Ian McCollum 5

When the Stemple STG-76 was designed, it used internal parts from the Finnish kp/31 Suomi submachine gun. Since the whole point of the Stemple was to have a modular and interchangeable gun, it would make […]

Qatari Royal Guard m/71-76 Valmet

July 12, 2021 Ian McCollum 7

The Valmet company in Finland made excellent AK-type rifles for the Finnish Defense Forces, but also offered a variety of designs on the international commercial market. The Valmet was a very expensive rifle for a […]

L-34 Sampo: Aimo Lahti’s Rejected Masterpiece

June 30, 2021 Ian McCollum 39

Finland’s standard light machine gun going into the Winter War was the LS-26, a gun which did not succeed in field use. It was complex and cumbersome, and Finnish troops quickly replaced it with captured […]

Captain Carl Pelo’s Model 1954 Prototype Semiauto Rifle

June 21, 2021 Ian McCollum 37

Carl Pelo was a an engineer with Sako in the 1930s, and developed a series of self-loading rifles. He used a short recoil mechanism with a pair of locking flaps on the bolt, much like […]