Ian: Today we're taking a look on a gun made in Finla.. Finns: You have summoned us

I have been waiting for this... Aimo Lahti was our Browning. A story tells that he got a written permission from Marshal Mannerheim to drink while working. Have to check that out...

Having lived in Finland for a couple of years, and having an interest in Finnish firearms, I always wanted to get a Lahti pistol. Years ago I ran across a dealer at a gun show who had one. I recognized it immediately from it's distinctive shape. It was an original wartime VKT pistol. Just my luck, this was one of those times I was low on cash, and couldn't get it. The same dealer also had an early 1944 marked wartime German P-38, still in it's original holster, undoubtedly brought back to the U.S. back a returning U.S. soldier; another pistol I had been looking for. So not having the money available to buy both these guns was a double whammy of disappointment, and I've never seen another Lahti, or a good wartime P-38 ever again. It may be for the best. Although I had read about Lahti pistol and of their breakdown if fired with hot ammo, I hadn't stopped to check that particular pistol for cracks. It really would have been disappointing to have bought it, gotten it home, and then find a crack in the frame or barrel. Sometime later, when the holster for the swedish gun came on the market, I bought one. It was in good condition, and came with the two extra magazines. I thought I could use these if I ever found another Lahti, since the one I'd seen came with neither holster or spare magazines. Speaking of which, I didn't see this covered for certain in the video, but I am wondering if anyone has definitive knowledge of whether or not swedish magazines will fit and function in the Finnish Lahti.

Full auto problem? That sounds like a premium feature...

I had a Swedish L-35. It quickly developed a crack in the frame where the locking block engaged the barrel extention (under the rear sight), I didn't know about the under powered ammo, but it also looked like a design mistake, in that the recesses had sharp internal corners rather than rounded. This was in 1953.

Looks like a luger crossed with a nambu. A lugbu

By the way, in Swedish service the m/40 was affectionally known as the “Kamrat 40”, translating to “Comrade 40”, at least by us at my artillery regiment, but also by some coastal artillery men I knew

The hump on the slide was intended to contain a coupling stabilizer, a spring-loaded plunger. The slide assist spring was under the barrel in front part of the frame. Those parts were dropped after the 0-series. The 1. series still had the spaces milled.

9:00 This is what Apple does these days. "It's slightly different, and it won't fit. So you'll have to buy our new accessories instead of using the old ones."

I owned one of these for a few days... bought it from a company in Quebec online and when it arrived I noticed the slide looked odd. Took it to my gunsmith and he proceeded to show me that there was a hairline crack in the slide running along almost its whole length and ended up splitting the feed-ramp in half. Totally unsafe to fire and not able to be repaired. Thankfully the company/shop gave me a full refund when I returned it. Sadly I haven't seen one since.... they're certainly rare to find in Canada.

Yep..If the Luger doesn't work, take a Lahti, it's "cheaper"..

Another Finnish firearm in Forgotten Weapons! Keep them coming, Ian. :D

Well that was interesting, not least because it disproves the claims in two 'authoritative' reference books I've got which both say: 1. The Lahti is very reliable and well-sealed to keep out dirt (no mention of breakages with hot loads), 2. The Lahti is very difficult to disassemble and you shouldn't attempt it without a full tool kit I wonder whether a lot of these reference books just copy each other, i.e. one guy said "Lahtis are hard to dismantle" back in the '60s and everybody's just copied it since without actually checking it by looking at an actual gun? There's certainly evidence of this phenomenon in aircraft reference books...

Thanks so much for doing this video. I’ve wanted one of these for quite a long time

Always interesting to see these kinda collections presented. Comparing variants and their associated history makes for great content.

I have hefted a Lahti L-35 before--These pistols really are Heavy.

The wartime FDF 9mm service load packed a punch.. 124gr @ 1300fps.. Actually the rumour says that particular load was one of the reasons why alloy frame FN service pistols of late decades were quickly shot out of tolerance for using that SMG-ammo meant for Suomi KP-31..

Clicked the like button the second I opened the video. Cant go wrong with Ian and Lahti. One of my favourite handguns, very pleasant to shoot!

This is a great example of what I love most about Forgotten Weapons. Ian it just was great. Thank you.

One of my favorite military pistols. Love the video, very informative!

Great video! You commented on the quite impressive weight of the gun. In Sweden a common nickname for the gun was "Jarnspisen" which means "The Iron Stove". I guess partly because of the weight, and partly because Husqvarna also manufactured iron stoves. Maybe they still do. They used to make pretty much everything, chain saws, hot dog vending machines, motorcycles, guns, you name it. I know they still make chain saws!

I'm a sucker for anything Finnish, so thanks very much Ian! I've heard a lot about this gun but never got to see it as in depth as you went. Keep up the amazing content, KZfaq be damned!

Yay, I've been waiting for this one. Thanks Ian!

Just saw you on vice news. Your interview was pretty interesting and it was cool to hear your take on all this after watching your videos for so long. I think your videos are great and very educational. Keep up the good work.

Thanks so much for doing this video! I have always wanted to know more about these pistols.

This was great. True about the structural weakens when using hot ammunition. I used the m/40 occasionally when I did my military service, and since I was also issued with a m/45 SMG, I fired it using the same m/39B 9mm cartridges we loaded in our Carl Gustavs, but that cartridge really was to hot for the pistol.

Ian, I had a Jane's book on pistols that specifically said about the L-35, "Warning, do not attempt to disassemble without guidance & a full toolkit!". Why would they have that warning given how simple & easy the disassembly is & why might they have got the idea that it was difficult?

Word of the day Finish. These Finnish guns have a nice finish, no pun intended.

The background reminds me of when I was at my Cousins house in Montreal, back in the 70's ... i was 12 years old and my parents sent me on the train, to stay withy them for a few weeks ... (They and they were rich "city kids" and I lived on a farm in a swamp, in Northern Ontario) They had a fireplace JUST like this, in their living room, (notice it's never been used) Of course growing up on the farm I awake smartly at 6:00 am (sorry i slept in) ... it was a bit chilly (you guessed it) and there was some Birch Logs beside the Fireplace ... I could;t find an axe, but there was a fancy clever in the knife drawer ... :) Well fortunately it was a REAL fireplace ... BUT one of my cousins still called the fire department! :) Legend has it they actually USED the fireplace occasionally after that! :)

Excellent!.. You Sir are the first and only I support on patreon..you are worth it..

Love watching your history lessons!!!

After the war, people would accidentaly shoot the 9mm rounds ment for KP-31 with the L-35 and have them destroyed. There were two types of ammunition, one for the pistols and one for the smg. Ammo ment for pistols were loaded with lower charge and had a green label on front the box and the smg ammo box's had red label, that had much stronger powder charge (about 30-35% stronger than the ammo ment for pistols). You could shoot the pistol ammo with the KP-31, there were stoppages and malfunctions due to the lower load of the ammo.

The Swedish army used these until the 1980's when the rear of the guns started fracturing due to the Swedish army using m/39B as it's standard ammo.

Thank you, excellent video.

I could feel all the sisu coming out of this video. Very cool and good.

Whoever's house that is they certainly have an eclectic and complete collection of series' of guns.

When I saw them on the table, I was excited to see so many lugers in one place...

I have been waiting for years!

Ian. I wish to thank you for this particular review (and for correcting me at Varusteleka's Grand Opening that you indeed had already made a review about it). P.S: Thank you for signing my .30 cal. ammo box!

Honestly why are machining marks disliked so much by most people? i think they give the guns a really well-made look, no one ever bubba´d the gun up with a polishing wheel (breaking the sharp edges).

Very good episode. Thanks for sharing this. Best regards from Sweden.

Kiitos Mestari.

The most beautiful display of pistols.

Paul Scarlata wrote an excellent article on Lahti pistols, which was published in "Military Surplus 2014." Regarding the M/40 he states, "Type IV pistols had receivers made from high-quality steel by Carl Gustaf in the 1960s and were stronger than the earlier production. They also lacked 'Husqvarna' markings." Mention is also made of the 1955 adoption of a 9mm cartridge (sk ptr 39B), which featured a 106-grain bullet at 1,375 fps. When problems with cracked receivers developed from the use of this ammo, guns were recalled and rebuilt with Type IV Carl Gustaf receivers. A very interesting series of pistols.

We finnish really like your channel! GJ

The neighbour of my childhood home had one of these back in the day though I can't remember the model number. I only got to fondle it and not shoot, bah. They said 6 years is too young. Coincidentally he kept it atop his brick fireplace in a strongbox.

Another reason I kick myself, back in the 80's you could get the Swedish guns for a song, but I just figured they were a knock off of the Luger and passed on them. I have owned both the bolt gun and the semi-auto rifles from Sweden at one time or another, both were of the highest quality.

If I remember correctly the accelerator was to help with operation in cold weather where ammo supposedly would generate lower slide velocities.

Beautiful gun

Thanks Ian

In my youth I had one of the swedish ones which was marked p40. It had a thin ring trigger guard I was told it was a police issue. It had a bad habit of splitting brass on ejection. Scared me bad enough I sold the pistol. I probably put overpowered ammo in it. But other than that it was highly accurate and a joy to shoot. It fit my hand incredibly comfortably but so does a Luger. At the same time I had to mark one Ruger which 46 years later I still have and shoot it all I'm. I love anything with that grip angle.

I’ve only seen and fired one sample. I think it was made in Sweden and marked Husqvarna. It felt very much like a Luger and was a pleasure to use. It was my friends carry pistol during the Korean War.

Aimo Lahti was clearly a great engineer, to design and a produce a functional hand gun with so few iterations is impressive.

The main reason for slide failures was the heavy use of hot loaded submachine gun ammo during and after WW II. The accelerator axis pin created a weak spot on early slides, some slides show "stretch marks" on the sides of the coupling hump, softer material.

For anyone who's curious, the Lahti has a really great mod version in Fallout 4, including on Xbox. It includes quite period accurate sights, and a few different stock variants. It can also be finished - per section - in many combinations. The mod author really put a lot of effort in. I think the mod description mentions "forgotten weapons", albeit in lower case, so I strongly assume they watched this video for additional research.

Nice! Thanks Ian :)

At about minute 13 you accidentally said l39 instead of l35. Otherwise, awesome video: I always love looking at early automatic pistols, or at least relatively early in this case.

i do not know if you know him, but "The Mighty Jingles" mentioned Forgotten Weapons and Inrange TV in his 'Mingles with Jingles' episode today! Maybe that brings over some new subscribers for you guys! :D

never have i been happier than hearing more about Finland making weapons

The disassembly is very practical for a Jet Li maneuver. Fun fact: It was the Finns who taught the Shaolin monks so don't annoy them!!

Identical internally? I've heard Swedish M40 doesn't have bolt accelerator, which makes slider is more sturdy, but might also make gun less reliable with weaker ammo ir when dirty.

I wonder if they would function with the accelerator removed? Perhaps that way you could use typical commercial ammo in them?

I have a Husqvarna that I am going to take out in the near future. Thanks for the video.

you mentioned the weakness in the Finnish model requiring relatively mild loads. I have a very unique Huskvarna Lahti pistol which as it was one of several that were never assembled and were apparently found in the hardness testing lab unassembled. A friend recently purchased several of these and assembled them. The serial numbers had to be hand stamped on the frames and not all the markings were completed as these test weapons never went through the assembly process. I would hate to fire it with commercial ammunition with hotter loads and have a barrel weakend. Any thoughts? Thanks.

I think Norway also had some of these, as you can buy the blued magazines from surplus shops here, for around $9 each. Might be imported from Sweden, as surplus, though

Depending on which series of a Swedish Lahti you have- you may have the stepped front sight and the smooth barrel(without the lug)

Got a bit curious when you said the Swedes sold the Husqvarna to Norway and Denmark, but a quick Google search of the Norwegian police troops in Sweden during WWII came up with pictures of Police troops with local militia men at Falstad POW camp in 1945 were one of the officers is clearly wearing a holstered Husqvarna.

Cool! I have one of these that's half early commercial L-35 (frame and bolt, still matching, interestingly the serial number is very slightly _less_ than 6800) and half Swedish m/40 (barrel and upper). I'm guessing somebody blew up the original upper at some point and a Swedish one was easier to get hold of to replace it. Seems to work fine, although based on behavior I've seen in Swedes and Finns online, its hybrid nature presumably means it hates its own guts and spends a lot of time sniping at itself on social media. :)

Hey Ian ! I used to watch your channel all the time then I forgot about it . There is a reason to it because KZfaq want to make channels like yours invisibie... I was just watching a video of The Mighty Jingles and he was talking about you. I am sorry you lost monitization. Good luck on your journey.

Considering the Finn's mindset of 'The Soviets are our biggest threat so lets use weapons that use their ammo', I find it a bit surprising they didn't use a copy of the TT-33 as their service pistol.

great info

When I was a kid, I read about troops smuggling "lahti-pistols" back from the front. I always thought they meant "pistols for butchering", Finland still being very much an agrarian society, and "lahti" meaning butchering. (Also means "bay"...) It took surprisingly long for it to click, oh, Lahti-pistols...

Nice vid Gun Jesus!!!

So its one in the morning and I'm watching this video. I run upstairs and get my Swedish model 40 and take it apart to look for cracks. I had heard they could crack, and really didn't know where, not sure how the Swedish serial numbers ran, but mine is a D series s/n, so I suspect it is a later manufacture.I didn't get the 10x out but with a bright light, I do not see anything. I could not find a dedicated video on the Swedish models, if you did, please post a reply, I searched and looked and didn't find any.

How durable are those wooden stock/holsters? They dont seem very strong in videos.

The M40 was issued to Swedish reserve officers, and in the 80s they were all recalled because people used the 39B cartridge (for the M45 SMG) and cracked them. They were replaced by the Glock 17, that swallows 39B with ease :)

did the Husqvarna versions have the same durability issues that the VKTs had?

Turners in Salinas has a lahti with holster and accessories.

Make a video on the Bergmann MG15 NA (I know there are still bits)

I've wondered for a while now why the Luger grip angle is copied so rarely, and this video makes me question it again. I've always heard that it makes the gun uniquely pointable. Is it a magazine design or feeding issue?

I remember when these were a fairly common item at gun shows and regret never purchasing one.

More parallelepipedic than trapezoidal around 5:48 :)

Torilla on jo melko lämmintä.

Why does that locking lug remind me of Tron Recognizer?

If you pulled the accelerator out of the pistol, would that mitigate the potential frame cracking with hotter ammo?

I'd be curious to learn if the Swedish versions had the same issues with regard to cracks developing from using hotter loads.

Was the accelerator thicker/more robust on the swedish model, I only glimpsed it in the video, but it looked more like a halfmoon than a crescent, so to speak.

Thanks for doing the video...I don't know why or if it's a difference but the Luger artillery stock fits my Husqvarna but the Luger Navy doesn't.

is the stock curio and relic exempt?

Would the Lahti stocks fit on a Luger? I mean, if the adapters on the Lathi are ever so slightly bigger, then they should maybe rattle a bit on a Luger, but otherwise fit - or so I think. Does anyone have an idea?

I have the Swedish Husqvarna M40 pistol. What 9mm ammunition is considered safe to shoot in it? I generally use brass 115 grain FMJ.

Since you're left-handed and I'm left-handed as well I would love to see a video on the times and weapons that gave you the worst trouble and that you actually liked as being a left-hander

Wonder what a collaboration video between Forgotten Weapons or In Range and Beyond the Press channel or Hydraulic Press channel would like.

Do the latest finnish gun have Valmet or VKT written on their grip?

Do you think removing the accelerator would slow down the bolt enough to prevent cracking when using ammo that is slightly to hot for this design?

Sweden had already selected the Walter P38 as it's service pistol m/39 but then the war broke out and only limited numbers got into service as all of Walter's production where directed towards German needs. The plan was for Walter to have delivered 3000 guns in the first two years after witch Swedish license production would have gotten underway.

I have always regretted not buying one of those when the Swedish ones hit the market at a cheep price back in the late 70's Shotgun News was full of adds for them, but I always had something better to do with my gun money back then. Now the money is gone but the desire remains, thus is the story of my life I guess.

Have you made an episode on the FN Browning M1900? They're not rare or forgotten, but Eugen Schauman used one, linking it to Finland's history.

Cool pistol.

21:16 I wouldn't be BANGING AROUND THE SET while Ian is sitting behind that pile of pistols. Might be some 9x19 ammo rolling around his pockets.