Finnish use of K98k
- Thread starter mrfarb
- Start date
What Mosin conversion are you talking about?
Finnish standard was the 7.62x54R cartridge. Non-54R weapons (such as the 7.35 M38s given to Finland by Italy in 1940), if they were even issued, were generally relegated to Civil Guard or other rear echelon units. The same would have been true for any 8mm rifles. Finland did have several thousand K98a purchased from France in 1919, but virtually all of them were sold to Poland in the '20s and '30s. They also apparently purchased 600 K98k along with German grenade launchers for testing in 1943, but that was it. I don't think Finland was terribly interested in any non-54R rifles or machine guns, so I don't think K98k were ever used by the Finnish Army outside of some limited testing. I am not aware of any SA marked examples either.
There is a three volume work on Finnish military small arms "Military Small Arms in Finland 1918-1988" by Markku Palokangus that discusses all of this in detail if you are interested.
Finnish standard was the 7.62x54R cartridge. Non-54R weapons (such as the 7.35 M38s given to Finland by Italy in 1940), if they were even issued, were generally relegated to Civil Guard or other rear echelon units. The same would have been true for any 8mm rifles. Finland did have several thousand K98a purchased from France in 1919, but virtually all of them were sold to Poland in the '20s and '30s. They also apparently purchased 600 K98k along with German grenade launchers for testing in 1943, but that was it. I don't think Finland was terribly interested in any non-54R rifles or machine guns, so I don't think K98k were ever used by the Finnish Army outside of some limited testing. I am not aware of any SA marked examples either.
There is a three volume work on Finnish military small arms "Military Small Arms in Finland 1918-1988" by Markku Palokangus that discusses all of this in detail if you are interested.
jhv 41
Well-known member
Finland Arms - WW II
Ryan, I think you are spot on.
Looks like very little use of k98 and I did find this site with some good info on small arms use by Finland:
http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/RIFLES6.htm
Ryan, I think you are spot on.
Looks like very little use of k98 and I did find this site with some good info on small arms use by Finland:
http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/RIFLES6.htm
The Fins did use a lot of Captured Russian 91/30 Sniper Rifles all Variants PEM , PE , and PU Snipers .
I would also think if they used Captured Russian Snipers same would hold true with Conventional 91/30`s
I have one such RUssian PEM Sniper that was Captured & SA Marked . If I misunderstood the original ? my apologizes . Best Regards
I would also think if they used Captured Russian Snipers same would hold true with Conventional 91/30`s
I have one such RUssian PEM Sniper that was Captured & SA Marked . If I misunderstood the original ? my apologizes . Best Regards
RazorBurn
Senior Member
I have an old New England Westinghouse Mosin Nagant that is a Finnish Capture and SA marked. I remember reading somewhere that Finland was buying German equipement during the Continuation War, and there were German troops in Finland at the time. Wouldn't surprise me if there were a few SA marked K98's, but I've never seen one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuation_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuation_War
The Finns used every kind of gun you can imagine. I have seen the following foreign guns SA or otherwise Finn marked:
MG-34
Svt 38 and Svt 40
Swede Mausers
Carcanos
Sten guns
Mosins of all flavors
Maxim (Soviet)
Boys Antitank Rifles
Japanese Arisaka Rifles
Nagant/TT-33 pistols
Mauser Broomhandle pistol
Luger Pistols
Beretta Pistols, 1930's models
I have never seen a Finnish marked K98. I would be suspect of any such gun, outside a Finnish or Soviet museum collection. If one was going to turn up, I would think that it would happen by now.
MG-34
Svt 38 and Svt 40
Swede Mausers
Carcanos
Sten guns
Mosins of all flavors
Maxim (Soviet)
Boys Antitank Rifles
Japanese Arisaka Rifles
Nagant/TT-33 pistols
Mauser Broomhandle pistol
Luger Pistols
Beretta Pistols, 1930's models
I have never seen a Finnish marked K98. I would be suspect of any such gun, outside a Finnish or Soviet museum collection. If one was going to turn up, I would think that it would happen by now.
