Suomi m/31 - Finland's Excellent Submachine Gun
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Designed by Aimo Lahti, the Suomi m/31 submachine gun is in my opinion one of the standout submachine guns of the World War Two era. Despite its hefty weight (10.4lb / 4.7kg) and lack of a good pistol grip stock, it still manages to be tremendously controllable and accurate, with a very high rate of fire (about 900 rpm).
For a detailed written description of the history and development of the weapon, I would refer you to the excellent article by Jaeger Platoon: www.jaegerplatoon.net/MACHINEPISTOLS1.htm
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It shoots 900 Perkeles per minute.
is that perkeles with an r
Sum good perkele patruunas xdd
900 ryssän perkelettä minuutissa (RPM)
TULTA MUNILLE
only takes one Perkele to scare the bear: kzhead.info/sun/rZuYoLqqgKWeq3k/bejne.html Pretty much how the red army reacted when they decided to invade their neighbor in the north.
Just a fun fact, Tikka means wood pecker in Finnish. 900 rpm, that's one mean woodpecker.
Well said.
After war Tikkakoski made Tikka branded sewing machines, mine still works
Does it sew at 900 stitches per minute?
The Rogue Wolf No, only 694.4 stitches per minute. But keep in mind this is peace time machine, so it could be electronically limited :)
That would be a really slow wood pecker since the can to 1200 pecks per minute.
Everyone else: but it's a smg Finnish snipers: GUN IS GUN
Underrated comment
Sounds legit 😂
Isnt it true that MANY of "white deaths" (Simo H.) kills were achieved with a Suomi? Rest with a Moisin with irons? THE MAN COULD SHOOT!!!! ;)
@@patparker4280 I’m not the most knowledgeable on this but I always thought he had a iron sighted mauser
@@patparker4280 He has about 500 confirmed kills with the Finnish Mosin, and by his words another 500 with the Suomikp31. And yes, he preferred iron sights because a scope would freeze in winter and the scope could reflect sunlight so being spotted would have been easier.
"Being short of funds as the Finnish Military often is..." lmao, so true.
Looking at those tanks
WolfBlade0001 What's wrong with our Leos?
I mean Finnish tanks during the war were some things out of Frankenstien's dream
WolfBlade0001 Oh ok. Most of Finnish tanks im WW2 were either captured Soviet tanks, or later tanks bought from Germany. At the start of the Winter War Finland had a few old tanks, but those proved to be worthless.
To use, and twist, the famous quote of Sir Winston Churchill: Never before have so many done so much, costing so little!
I did my conscript service in the Finnish Defence Forces in 1999 and I received basic handling and shooting training for this gun. So even if it wasn't officially in the inventory anymore, they still trained for it. At the same time, we were trained to shoot the "Military Rifle" as it's called, the Finnish version of the M/91 Mosin-Nagant rifle. The gun I disassembled and shot with, had an extremely strong recoil spring, and was in excellent condition. I doubt it was used much or issued to any conscript ever when it was still in the official inventory. Can't remember the serial number anymore, but it was very high, maybe somewhere in the 50000s? I remember the drum it came with, was in comparison very worn, a bad spring and much lower number. I tried to shoot with it, but it had so many malfunctions (the drum that is) that I got to switch mine to a 36-round box at the shooting range. The original select-fire version is actually pretty nice on semi-auto as well. Easy to hit targets at a range you wouldn't imagine possible with a pistol cartridge and with the amount of training we had with it (one afternoon basically). One thing I also remember, is the lack of "awesomeness" it had. And I mean, with the legend that gun has in Finland, shooting it wasn't hard or had any real "bang" to it. So I was a bit let down by it. I was more impressed with the Mosin. But then again, looking back, it was all about the "balls" of the gun back then, not the fact that it was accurate and well made. So I'll just put that to being too young to know any better :D I was 20 and filled with saucy tales of war written by bad authors :D
These are my favorite types of comments to find on Ian's videos.
My dad also carried the M/31 in guard duty in 1969. So it was "fun" to try that gun out on the range in that perspective :)
2002 they still give some training to it (NCO school), but 2003 no more(at least in our brigade).
It would probably explain a lot if you mentioned which/what branch of unit you were at. Sincerely, Jaeger from Kymi Jaeger Battalion.
Did someone say awesomeness?
You finnish word pronunciation is really, really impressively good for a foreigner.
Rauhaas probably because he’s been hanging with a bunch of Finns on and off for like the past year or two lol
His pronounciation of non-US words is very good, even down to cities like Birmingham, England pronounced the way Brits would.
Yes it is. Still wondering why "Lahti" is so hard. It always comes out as "Laddie"
samik83 it's the HT -combo
really? I thought he pronounced our Suomi names poorly. I guess Kooskinen, Koskinen, was a good idea when he first said his name. By saying it several times in so many variations he was bound to get close eventually. Tuppurainen.
The KP/31 the "Perkele blaster" when you absolutely positively got to kill every soviet in the wood; accept no substitutes.
Łukasz pokoju Second best Tarantino movie.
I thought the soviets were the ruling councils. Soviet soldiers or soviet conscripts might be better terms. But I agree with your idea.
MP-Fin which Tarantino is that? And which is the best? Pulp?
Jackie Brown ; )
kzhead.info/sun/ocepeLyup5-Xa6c/bejne.html
"They offered it with all extra cool features. I'm sure you can get bayonet mounted to it if you want" OwO _certain imperial sun rises with interest_
Reichshund OwO? Oral Without Condom?
Reichshu
It's the Japanese version of an emoji. Look at the "O" as the eyes and you'll see a kind of a surprised face (for me at least). Hence probably too the reference to the imperial sun.
Reichshund s
Who tf initiates oral with a condom?
*Stalin sweats furiously*
USA sweat furiously almost all time because of Russia... Even when Russia has nothing to do with it...
M30B35 Bimmerman, thats so true...
I am glad to see Ian's fans are so enlightened, but I am not surprised.
THIS MACHINE
M30B35 You've been watching too much CNN. Almost no one believes and most that do don't care. No one's sweating, we're just sick of hearing about it. Our politicians broke laws and needed a scapegoat, hence Russia Russia Russia.
One brave Finnish soldier called Viljam Pylkäs ambushed and killed a whole 83 man platoon in one battle with his Suomi submachinegun by himself. He had other guy reloading magazines and some soldiers bringed him more ammo and new barrel because original one got too hot during the firefight and it had to be changed. He shot 17 magazines of ammo (680 bullets) during the firefight. He got mannerheim cross and iron cross from german brothers in arms for this hero work Later when war was over Väinö Linna wrote a book called "tuntematon sotilas" (eng. uknown soldier) and this battle is in that book. Also three movies is made based to this book and there it is in the movie. You can find that bad ass scene by searching "Antero Rokka slaughters a russian platoon" here in KZhead
that's a great book.
PERKELE!
No mention Simo
680 round / 83 bodies = 8 round per kill. That is a stupidly good round per kill rate, especially while under fire from a whole platoon. I can see why Russia gave up on Finland. For context, the WW2 average rate was somewhere around 25,000 rounds per kill, and the current average rate is around 300,000 rounds per kill.
@Michael Srite Still they didn't achieve their goal..
Suomi SMG:s were removed from wartime reserves only in the 90:s. I bet well have PKM:s in storage still in 2060:s.
PKM entered the arsenal somewhat backdoor. The army bought tanks from Soviets and Soviets did not sell just tanks, they sold entire arsenals of the troops so there came PKMs. The people in Parola just took them in use and those who were responsible for small arms did not even know they had them.
@Led Cactus They lack penetration against power armor.
@Led Cactus Whatever we are going to face in the next 40 years.
@Led Cactus That would be a prototype calibre based on tank rounds but brought into a smaller scale, it doesn't have a official designation yet.
Machine PISTOLS. Do not use some marketing BS "submachine guns".
One thing you didn't mention was the rate reducer in the receiver end cap. At 18:48 you can see a spring through the vent holes. This spring holds a disk against the holes on the inside of the cap. When the bolt comes back, air pushes the disk back and goes out the vent holes. When the bolt moves forward, the disk blocks air flow, so the bolt has a vacuum behind it. This slows it just enough to keep the firing rate manageable.
I did my 11 months in the finnish army in 1987-88. We got to shoot that (and some other WW2 era finnish guns) during a training day on the range, more than 40 years after the wars ended. I remember it being quite heavy, but the accuracy was spot on at 50 and 100 meters, and the barrell didn't rise too much even during longer bursts (I seem to recall I had the version with the muzzle brake). The round mag was however not much fun to reload in november coldness and with numb fingers. Thanks for a great video, and for taking me back on memory lane :-)
When I was talking with my grandfather in his late years about the war. He was part of the far-scouts or "kaukopartiomiehet" In one of his stories, the farthest trip had seen the Murmansk railroad. One of my friends had real m/31 but the barrel was decommissioned. We asked if wanted to see it. He said yes. My grandfather still could take it apart at the age of 93 while half-blind. Handled with one arm like it was nothing. He Had m/31 as his personal weapon as was a good shot. He said that his gun needed to change 3 barrels for his weapon. So quite a few bullets were needed to be shot to damage the barrel. Something interesting was that when he opened fire he needed to take cover and switch positions many times as Russian knew the sound and knew that they need to silence the one shooting. So you got a good gun but was target painted too on you.
That stock is absolutely gorgeous. That's $5,000, rich-mans showoff gun level of wood grain, and it's on a military issues gun!
if you can find a full auto one of these that costs less than a 5 bedroom house let me know
Someone cut up a real nice coffee table to make that bad boy
finnish birch is pretty, but the waviness/fiddleback/tiger-striping is coming from a turpentine treatment that was done. Not much demand for it anymore, but you can do it yourself quite easily. The ferric acid treatments in early America are also beautiful.
yeah I have heard of prices like that, and as a violin maker with an interest in guitar making (both of which use expensive woods, especially guitars), it seems to me that gun people are getting ripped off BIG TIME with wood prices. nicely coloured walnut is one of the most expensive temperate climate woods, but it is NOT one of the most expensive woods, and even the most expensive woods (maybe nonsense crazy stuff like pink ivory, australian buloke, mauritius ebony, exceptionally large trunks of african blackwood, snakewood) has no reason to cost $5000 for a rifle stock blank. a reasonable price for a straight-grown flawless dark rifle stock of walnut should be in the $50-200 range. even that are specialty wood prices for individual sale, not how a factory would buy wood. curly grain is not that rare and not universally more desirable, it should not cost more than a 100-200% premium. truly exceptional pieces that combine straight or clean curly growth for structural strength in the relevant parts with burl figure or such at the base of the stock might in principle be reasonable to sell for $1000, but really only when those are also seasoned for 10 years to make them ready to use despite their inherently higher tendency to warp and crack. $5000 makes no sense, walnut is just nowhere near rare enough for that due to its extremely widespread commercial cultivation (as opposed to many more expensive tropical hardwoods that have no use other than timber and are a finite resource coming only from primary forests). walnut is a popular wood for many applications due to its colours, and perhaps the best choice for guns due to its favourable combination of extremely low shrinkage/warpage, moderate density, and high toughness, but there is a really strong supply of it that's certainly keeping prices much lower than that outside of gun circles. walnut is somewhat common on guitars, and I know that it's a low to mid price wood on those.
@@f15strikeeagle10 Actually there was plenty of flame/curly birch around tikkakoski, so the stocks were made of material as possible to obtain fast. Lot of these stocks have gorgeus looking because of this.
wow, you actually can pronounce the word "suomi" and some other finnish words too. That is cool! Greetings from Finland. :)
Elegance in simplicity.
Man, that being 4 digit gun is insane. My deactivated is over 50 000 on serial number.
You gonna reactivate it?
@@cbtillery135 Made nearly impossible in finland as I'd need real special permits (even more special than FFL in the US), find gunsmith that will reactivate it, register it to police database etc. Easily going over 10k € in cost.
@@ReijoRitari since it's deactivated just move to the US and reactivate it, it'd be more expensive but worth it just for the above-water whale watching you could do.
@@cbtillery135 Ah yes, I'm spending over 100k just to be able to reactivate it again? Please grow some brains and thinking ability.
@@ReijoRitari I was joking didn't you read my full comment? I said it's a lot more expensive but you get to do above-water whale watching.
What a beautiful piece of kit. Great review. Thank you FW!
Switzerland introduced about 5200 Suomi in 1942. Later, over 22,000 Mp.43 / 44 were built under license at Hispano-Suiza. Standard magazine was with 50 shots. The last soldiers who were still trained at the Suomi were the paramedics in the 80s. The Waffenpabrik Bern produced the Mp41 / 44. but of this weapon only 9800 pieces were built. It was built like the LMG 25, it was expensive, complicated and vulnerable to protection, so the Suomi also asserts itself with us.
Interesting. I never knew it was used in Switzerland at all.
Wow. Thanks
A fun story from my history teatcher: Finns brought some guns home after the war as souvenirs. My history teatcher's neighbour was a vet and had one. Decided to show it off in the backyard while a bit tipsy. Next day police came to his front door due to some jealous/scared neighbours.
"neighbors" in Finland....: 'yeah, I heard some shooting coming from the next house over, only a couple hundred yards down the road!'
'Souvenirs' - they were more like an insurance, in case of an attack.
@@dimapez Which is why I said 'more like insurance' - the weapons cache operation was the more common way civilians had them than souvenirs (bringbacks). You could have just added that info straight to Valtteri's comment, no need to address it to me. It didn't change what I said, didn't give me new info - whereas my comment corrected that they were mostly weapons cache guns not bringbacks, the Suomi smgs in civilian possession.
@@dimapez Oh so you read minds? I said 'more like': so as in more likely they are usually cache weapons - not that they are definitely. OK? The other option included, so less possible. Though it of course says also I see. Don't continue this anymore, tired of someone putting words in my mouth - don't read between the lines. f you keep coming to this, I'll just refer to this comment
@@dimapez He said X - I said more likely Y... which doesn't exclude X. Just emphasizes Y. And that's why... Maybe this is, enough. Let's meet at another video, with new topics :)
"I can't imaging being combat-effective with 900RPM and a 20 round box magazine" *sweats profusely before unlocking 50-round mags in Battlefield V*
Yea I feel that 😔
I’m in love with this piece of history. If only I could afford one. Great video as usual sir. If you’ve ever made a bad video, I haven’t seen it. Thank you.
Ian, thanks for another great, and educational video. Please do not stop. We want to see more.
Fire selector easy memorization in Finnish: "edestä antaa, takaa pihtaa".
Brings me back to my military training in Sweden, aka Lumpen. Got to handle these old machine guns quite a bit, never with the drum mag unfortunately.
Finally! I love the way it sounds
Thank you for making this video. Kiitos!
it would really cool Ian if you could find and do video on a KP-26, Lahti's initial design submitted for trials and rejected for being too complicated. The receiver I.D. and bolt were airtight fit like the 31, but the KP-26's receiver end cap had integrated vents that could be adjusted for changing cyclic rate, also accommodating various types of ammo. this vent alignment system changed how fast air would be permitted to escape when the bolt cycled, thus creating an adjustable compression buffer. Lahti was freaking brilliant
Thank you for titled this clip in Finnish! Great video.
Nice, informative vid, really good work on digging the history, and even pronouncing those finnish names nicely =) cheers from finland.
Your well learned, measured posts are so viewable. Thanks.
An interesting breakdown considering Simo Hayha (most confirmed sniper kills) used this as his second gun and is credited with >200-250 kills with it.
No Its 400-500
@@jushtrap5186 He didn’t kill 500 people with the smg lmao, the 505 is his overall kill count.
@@piiro64 505 is the Mosin alone actually
@@thezig2078 so 750 kills...
I was trained on the Suomi with the "coffin" 50 box mag, it was quite reliable and there was no need to use special tools to load it up, you just had to be careful and the last few cartridges needed some force. The recoil is very modes and compared to the H&K G3 super easy - aiming full auto from the hip is like aiming a garden hose. The charging handle was different on the version the Norwegian Navy used until replaced by the H&K MP5 and eventually the H&K 416. it was more like a finger hook.
Great video. The information you have is always on point. Also, what a coincidence, I was just searching for "suomi konepistooli m31 forgotten weapons" and you guys added this video 3 hours ago. I think it's time for me to subscribe to your channel.
That's a beautiful piece of work.
I visit the same shooting range in Iittala occasionally. Great channel, I've been a fan for a couple of years now. Although a Finn, I like the variety of nations featured and expecially the more "weird" weapons you explore. Keep it up and thanks for keeping Finland on the map. We still exist.
I have a semiauto build, but waiting until there is snow on the ground before I film a review. Do you have any good leads on coffin mags (I have a stick and two drums... Would like a coffin mag that I don't have to pay to have shipped from Germany which is the only thing I ever see on GunBroker).
I have one, and don’t have the “speed” loader for it. I bought my coffin mag at a gun show for too much money.
I have a speed loader.... I hope it works.
The 36 round mags work best with mine. Didn't have much luck with the drum even after increasing the spring tension.
An excellent video, thanks for creating it.
Good job Ian... Congratulations !!!
Actually, USSR ended up copying the Suomi M/31, but it was actually just small-scale production in leningrad. Karelo-finskij 42 was what they called it.
Wee have ours PPD 31/38.Wee didnt need copy Suomi.7kg and very expensive.2 men to carry one.
@@user-yf9ky3ji5b the suomi kp beats the russian copies easily
@@user-yf9ky3ji5b you must be very weak
Thank you for a great video. I am finnish, havent shoot by that but now I really want! I was in army 1998-1999, I served in military police forces. I had in my personal locker three different guns; FN 9mm pistol, Remington Shotgun and Sako 7.62(1962 model). And in camp we used many many more, like RPG, heavy machinegun, Sniper rifle and many more. You should watch the film named "Tuntematon sotilas" (Unknown soldier). In Finland, we have made them three. First(B&W) 1955, second one 1985 and last one 2017.
Nicest gun yet, love this channel and never had any interest in guns but you have to respect and admire the knowledge and mechanical beauty that went into these things. keep them coming plz. Very interesting!
Love your videos, very informative.
This weapon is one of the stars of "The Unknown Soldier"(2017). Devastating in the right hands, which many of the Finns seemed to possess.
the classic finnish 1955 version of the unknown soldier is surprisingly funny. has a lot of dark humor, but also sentimental realism, for a war movie about a war that just ended 15 years ago. you can also hear all sorts of different finnish dialects. foreigners should really watch it with english subtitles and enjoy it. its about continuation war, from beginning to the end. 181 minutes and a budget of 46 million finnish marks at the time it was made. 8.0 on imdb out of 6900 voters. ( i think its a good movie, but also a bit of finnish bias voters ) To this day, this is still the most successful Finnish film ever made, and Finnish TV has been airing it every Independence day for decades, kind of a historical monument.
It was so easy to fire for its heaviness, loved it, I imagined few Russians at the receiving end and let it rip
When I joined the danish army reserves I was issued this sub. very accurate, but with a coffin mag. 50 rounds. easy to use, and clean! good weapon.
lol I hope it wasn't just last year
1980 or something
Another well done vid Ian, thx.
Love the control on that!
11:06 you can see the swedish origin of the 50 rounder coffin in that patent drawing. it's angled forward to back to stack the semi-rims of the 9x20 browning long cartridges in front of each other.
Tikkakoski separately patented their 9mm para version in Finland (no. 19529)
There was also a experimental underbarrel flamethrower attachment, but it never went into production. IIRC one example is in a museum somewhere.
R Kvist It is in Tikkakoski airplane museum.
Thanks for the great content Man!
Had a chance to shoot with one during conscript service. Army still had those in storage at 1990's. When they got more than enough assault rifles later, these were phased out. It was a one-off, our training was with the Sako assault rifle, we only had some short courses on m/27 rifle and m/31 submachinegun.
Thank you for this blessing father
I bought one of the torch cut parts kits. I haven't done anything with it. But, the barrel is new, and the machining that went into this, is phenomenal. It's sad that it was demilled. Stock looks about the same. Sn.19133. With the compensator. Great to see what one in working condition would be like.
Love the built in deflector!
In 60's when these were still in military service, soldiers left barrels to barracks when they went to long marches. Of course this was forbidden, but ~1kg lighter gun was worth risk...
Still used somewhat today. In 2014 when I did my service, people tried to get away with not packing all their gear for outdoor exercises (usually lasting 5 days), obviously some of them were useless but orders are orders. When the NCOs and COs checked the equipment in the last day and found out that people didn't have all the gear (some lost, some they didn't bring with them) they took a number of the missing items. The next march (or yomp if you're british) the ammount of missing items within the platoon equaled the number of landmines the platoon had to carry with them (each being 10kg or something over 20 pounds). It was almost one landmine for every conscript (around 40 guys). They didn't need to repeat this practice, in the next exercise everyone had the gear that was orderd.
foleymaj And may I ask, is finish soldier still Bring Back their issue knife?
Finnish Defence Force does not really issue any knife. People bring their own and also reserve officer and NCO school courses (and maybe some other specialized training courses too) typically order a knife (with their own money) for the whole course with a special engraving. AFAIK FDF did issue Rk 62 bayonet (which is remotely puukko style) in the past but they got stolen so often by the conscripts that they haven't done that for a long time. I served in -03/-04 and we were issued with bayonet only for a one day (independence day parade) and they were collected back immediately to prevent any sudden loss. :)
Basillicus 😹thank you, that Rk62 bayonet must be good knife, caused everybody want to LOSE one. (I mean stolen)
Chu McCurry It's not. The blade is thin, but at least it's pointy.
Finnish gun designers, the John Browning of -the Scandinavians- Northeastern Europe
Finns are nordic tho no scandinavian
And not Northeast, just North
@Hena pena Or "Fenno-Scandinavian" if we want to be precise ;)
Yayo' Ariowibowo North-Eastern Europe: The Baltics North Europe: Well, the Nordics obviously.
"Culturally scandinavian" to be exact.
I've had the opportunity to reload the drum magazine and shoot this weapon. It almost literally has no recoil on full auto. I would have this over the modern standard issue 7.62 RK 62.
Thank you Ian! I have been waiting for this. Maybe you could have mentioned the "korsu" and "psv" versions too?
I see why you like it, me too! :) Thanks for showing it to us!
Btw, "Suomi" is the name of the country in Finnish language whereas "Finland" is the name in Swedish language. For historical reasons, the Swedish version of the name of our country is used in international contexts. In some official contexts the name is said also in the form "Suomi-Finland". I have met tourists here in Finland who asked me what on earth the word "Suomi" means!
suomi-> suo maa -> swamp land :) my theory on the name
@@jussiturpeinen2509 I'd bet you're right, but those tourists had no idea that the word "suomi" is the name of the country!
Suomi -> suo maa theory is complete fabrication. The suomi-word comes from an much more archaic (older) word from the age when Finnish language was developing. For the life of me, I can not remember that word or it's correct linguistic spelling. I know this because I got throughly scolded by my wife (MA in the Finnish language) when I uttered that theory out loud few years back. A very good lesson about linguistical etymology is that you simply don't and never should intreprent the words etymology on how the word looks (spelled/vocalized) today. Words are very often older or have changed meaning or have had doublemeanings even in resent (1800-1930 history). For example the word "pohtia" which today mainly means the act of thinking or pondering was used to discribe the act of separating grains from trash (literally jyvät akanoista) with a special tool called pohdin. The word pohtia is much older than we think. - scolded hubby and a (not yet published) historian
And also SF means -Suomi-Filmi Oy- a Film corporation, that was founded 1920`s controlled film industy/ publishing. records are now controlled by National Audiovisual Institute.
The most probable origin for the words Suomi (Finland), Saame/Sabme (Lapland) and Häme (Tavastia province) is Proto-Baltic loan word *zeme, which means land, people. It's pretty much concensus that's the origin for the word. In the Novgorod chronicles the Russians call southern coast Finns as "Sum" and the Tavastians as "Jem." The name "Finn" and "Finland" has a Gemanic origin. Its root is with the meaning of "wanderer," which Germans used the peoples living east of them (now known as Slavs, Balts and Finnic peoples), as these people practised still slash-and-burn agricuture and hunter-gathering and were more mobile than Germans and Norse who were field agriculture practising. Tacitus, the Roman historian used the name "Fenni" in 98AD of people in North-Eastern Europe that by description could have been saamelaiset (in English Laplanders, the Sami) people. One Viking Age (about 800AD - 1050AD) runestone in Sweden has the word "Finlont" and one in Gothland has "Finlandi," both different forms of Finland. In Old High German language (spoken 750 - 1050AD) by the continental Germans the word for the wanderer is "fendo" and "vende," and the eastern people were called Wenden/Winden (in English Wends) and their homeland as Wendland/Windland. The Romans called these people as Veneti and Venedi. In Finnish Russia is called "Venäjä" which is a loan word for the Germanic word, Proto-Germanic possibly. Editing to be sure the comment actually was acceoted by YT. So many comments today disappear right after you post them.
During WW2 and for a couple of decades afterwards, the Vatican City's Swiss Guard used Swiss-made versions of this SMG!
Awesome video man, keep them coming. :)
I really like Ian's style. He just loads, takes the safety off and gets it on.
Re. the holes in the receiver end cap (as may have been pointed out): Compressed air gets very hot. I would think that without venting the receiver would get quite warm. Try it with an old-fashioned bicycle pump and you'll feel what I mean.
I've been thinking of moving from the US to Finland for a while now, and I've been interested in their culture for years. I'm learning more and more everyday about finnish culture, and I think this definitely helped. Thank you Ian for the info on these amazing classics 😊
This deserves some kind of follow-up.
@@AshleyPomeroy Welp, all I can say is that I didn't move, and that I was pretty dumb then to say the least lol. Ngl I forgot this comment even existed and I'm lowkey embarrassed
@@deanster3435 the best part is look how many people upvoted it, dumb people everywhere no need to be embarassed
@@krebgurfson5732 True but still. I was a dumb young adult at the time and wasn't grateful for what I have here tbh.
@@deanster3435Why "lowkey"? Why not just say you're embarrassed?
I recently had the pleasure of firing a full auto one of these (and a rather ornery suppressed sten) and I can say without a doubt. It lives up to the hype
I sure love your deep knowledge on these historic pieces of warfare. Also your dedication to actually pronounce the foreign names correctly is insane. First you mispronounced Koskinen but immediately just dropped the correct pronounciation in there. I am impressed. Keep up the good work! Favourite gun/history channel on youtube!
"kosKInen..sorry: KOskinen..." Yes! Yesyesyes! Finally someone!
Didn’t Simo Hayha “The white Death” used one? (And yes I know he used a Finnish type mosin nagant)
Yes he used one, but mainly he used m/39 rifle.
Simo Häyhä primarily used a rifle although he is also credited with large number of kills with a submachinegun too.
He used M28-30.
yes, over 200 kills with this SMG. well, the m28 model.
Andrew Dalton Ray Simo Häyhä used the M/28-30 "Pystykorva" (the Spitz)
hey man you are so great and professional please keep on
I have a Tikka T3 Lite in 30-06 and yes has a bit of recoil for the caliber and it is one the best guns I have ever had
I believe the reason why Lahti made a quickly changeable barrel was that during long fire fights the barrel could often get overly heated making the gun less accurate. One way of recognizing a true hard boiled war veteran was the burn scar he had in his palm from changing barrels 😎
The Swedish mag was loaded with a tool called a "rasp" and you could load 36 cartridges in about 3 seconds. The Swedes used the Suomi until the 80th.
Just love that sound...
For what I've read from Arma Fennica Lahti designed the chamber of the weapon a bit oversized to ensure reliable feeding and timed the cycle as such that it would actually fire the round slightly before it was completely in battery thus sealing the chamber almost "hermetically" as the case sort of fireformed itself in the chamber. Also not known outside FDF is that the M31 was designed to fire a specific 9mm cartridge that was only to be used in handguns (Lahti pistol, Luger..) in emergency. Nowadays it would be rated as +P+. 124gr ball at about 1350fps @the muzzle out of an M31. The extra punch was to cycle the massive bolt properly and fas enough and as a bonus it gave the weapon a bit more reach and penetration on the field.
And so it was that again they gathered around to hear Gun Jesus speak seriously though great Video keep up the amazing work
The "Tikka Koski Iron and Wood Company Limited" must be one of few statements ever that is longer in English than in Finnish. When buying home electronics where I live, the manual usually come in all Nordic languages. The Finnish part is always substantially thicker than the Swedish, Danish or Norwegian parts.
That is because Finnish is more precise
I have a select fire John Stemple STG-76W (KP-31 copy) and is one of my favorite sub guns in my collection. I attest to its superb build quality and reliability.
Very cool. Interesting SMG and historical content.
I lived in Finland for two years decades ago, and since then have had a great interest in Finnish firearms. When the semi auto guns became available, there was a large gun distributor about a two hour drive away that was selling them. They even had both drum and stick magazines available as well. I actually made the trip three times, determined to buy one, but each time talked myself out of it. Along with my basic concerns about how the gun would function having been altered to semi auto, it just did not look or feel "right". It felt muzzle heavy and unbalanced, although I don't know if that was actually true or just a psychological reaction to the extra length barrel. I think I just felt like I wouldn't be getting a "real" suomi gun, but some pieced together Frankenstein version. I made a fourth trip back, and by that time they were sold out. Having now watched this video, and having my concerns about the semi auto versions built up from parts confirmed by an expert, I'm glad I didn't buy one.
3:30 Now that's a banana magazine if I've ever seen one. :D
I'm amazed! Ian is probably the first historical youtuber to correctly pronounce finnish words :O
Super fun gun. My buddy has a post sample. Very accurate and magdumps can be controlled like a laser pointer.
You cannot use 36rnd stick-mag with original m/31. It wont fit unless the magwel is opened up - a job which was done in armories during the 50`s.
My uncle who spent his four years in the army and was good enough for one of those guns used to have some (limited) amount of whisky at Christmas time used to tell us guys a story or two from the war. One story went like this - "remember guys, when you move in close combat you keep the gun tilted 90 degrees above your waist and just let it play". An other story I remember and dear to repeat is this - "it's amazing how flat towards the ground you are able to become when somebody is shooting at you". As a kid, up to about 17, I adored guns, and we had a lot of them, but I resent this topic because war is not fun unless it's a movie. And as I am here I am apparently not fully recovered.
Saw that curvy clip one in museom here in finland sometime ago and I have to say it looks intresting
I love how much finnish stuff you have on the channel :D
1 Soviet disliked this video
I think lots of Soviets disliked this weapon.
anthonyonan93 its up to 9 now lol them Ruskies
The rest were killed by this
Despite the fact that the PPSH 40/41 was practically a ripoff of this..
No it was not. The PPsh is a TOTALLY different gun!
9mm subbie? Used in WW2? Finnish design? This is gun porn at its finest... What’s crazy is I was reloading D166 rounds for my M39 this morning and this video popped up....had to stop and drink some coffee and have a peek...
yeah man D166 for M39 is the best ammo :) or if you want cheap commercial loadings buy 203grain softpoint Brown Bear steel cased ammo :) works too
Does that ammo have a 53 mm case ?
Perfect weapon for trench warfare. Small, agile, rapid fire, big magazine, very easy to maintain operational.
The wood look amazing , love the tiger like pattern
love this channel
Just heard that my uncle (continuation war veteran) said that they taped two box mags together. Drum was too slow to reload. And Suomi was used mainly in semi auto, because no one could carry ammo that it ate in full auto.
I've shot 2000-4000 rounds with Suomi, and it's beast.
Holy Jesus, thats one fast firing gun and surprised that it didn't kick more.
very good informative video. i saw this gun at a gun show about 5 years ago. it is crude but it works real good.
I was issued this gun in The Norwegian version of BUDS in the 80's. However, we had a 45 round box mag. Just like most well trained units, we fired single shots quickly rather than full auto. Accuracy for an open bolt gun, is amazing. Well ahead of its time!
- respect finland ... u did good at the time !!!
What a nicely built gun... I think its a cool gun and will probably be worth a pretty penny
Love that gun! I like the Thompson for its nostalgia, the M3 for its utility, but if I had the choice, I’d either go for one of these, or an MP-38/40. I don’t mind the weight.