Finland KP/-31L for Finnish firepower
It’s hard to be the little guy on the block, especially when the guy grabbing you looks like Drago Rocky IV. Finland experienced a similar scenario in 1939 when the Soviet Union – in collaboration with our favorite villains, the Nazis – faked an attack on one of their own villages to give them an excuse to attack their smaller neighbor to the west. The Soviet Union came against the Finns with an army of 19 divisions; the Finns could only set nine. But Finland also had something that the Soviet Union did not have: Finland KP/-31.
Where have you seen it:
Mind you, most movies featuring this chunky submachine gun are of Finnish origin, so they’re pretty obscure. Movie Winter War (right), shows Finland in use several times if you want to read the subtitles.
History:
The Finns had no odds in their favor. They had to defend an 800-mile border three times against infantry, 30 times against aircraft, and 100 times against armor. Fortunately, they had a few things the Russians didn’t. First, Stalin’s Great cleaning 1937 had eliminated more than 30,000 officers from the Red Army, leaving his forces under inexperienced and ineffective leadership. This also did not help the Soviet troops to feel special enthusiasm for the battle. Secondly, the Russian troops did not have a machine gun in their arsenal. The main forces were equipped Mosin’s Nagant rifle, and for those who might own one or two, you know how handy they would be in close combat: You’d better use them as a club. In contrast, the Finns had the automatic Suomi KP/-31, whose designer Aimo Lahti in 1925, gave two to each group. This proved to be an overwhelming firepower advantage, as Finland was able to drop 9mm Luger cartridges from the 71-round magazine. Although Finland eventually lost the war (Russian numbers were hard to beat), they blackened the eyes of the mighty Russian army and left a lasting mark on the Soviet Union. So much so, in fact, that the Red Army followed Finland’s design to develop its own “burp gun”, which was widely used in World War II.PPSh-41.
Design:
Finland operated directly backlash action, fires 900 rounds per minute. The parts were milled, making Suomi better quality and more expensive than its stamped steel shield, PPSh-41. A muzzle brake was added in the middle of the winter war to help raise the Finnish muzzle, but in Lahti’s opinion it weakened the weapon’s reliability and reduced muzzle velocity (the latter is obviously wrong). So worried that the army would adopt this addition to his plan, Lahti tried to have his planners court-martialed.
Cartridge:
Finland was chambered in the venerable 9mm Parabellum, which was placed in a 20-, 36-, or 50-round box magazine or a 40- or 71-round drum. Drums were generally less reliable, but if a soldier found one that behaved well with his weapon, he kept it.
Judgment:
Seventy-one rounds of 9mm in an automatic SMG is impressive even by today’s standards: Imagine the advantage that would have had in 1925! Shooting a semi-automatic variant (pictured to the beginning), a couple of things become apparent: One, it’s heavy: About 15 pounds loaded. This turns out to be useful for rapid shooting, because the recoil is completely absorbed (Finland’s recoil is at the level of the .22, I think) and the muzzle rise is very limited. This is intentional – the purpose is to make the automatic a little more manageable during the day. And two: This might be the funnest 60 seconds of footage you’ll spend wasting a box and a half of shells.