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 the elite elements of the force – who wanted something more like the German Kar98AZ carbines they had been using up to that point. Specifically, the wanted a side-mounted sling, a shorter barrel, and a bent bolt handle. So, in 1933/34, the Tikkakoski company produced 2,000 new barrels, 520mm in length (about 2 inches shorter than the standard m/27 barrel). These were then assembled into complete rifles using m/27 and existing Russian m/91 parts.
The guns were completed in 1934 and 1935, the bent bolts, German-style slings, and shortened barrels. The sights are standard m/27 pattern, as are the actions. They were serialized in the 72,000 – 75,000 range. The new carbines were issued to the Cavalry Brigade, which used them through both the Winter War and Continuation War. With the exception of 200 more barrels made by VKT in 1937, no further production took place – as the carbines were lost, destroyed, or worn out they were replaced with other weapons (most notably the m/31 Suomi submachine gun). At the end of the Continuation war, some 900 were worn to the point of being useless and were destroyed. This left just over 300 in Finnish inventory, and visually all of these (304, specifically) were sold to InterArms in the 1960s and exported to the United States. Today the m/27rv is one of the scarcest patterns of Finnish Mosin, and I am very happy to have been able to show this example to you. Thanks to the private collector who made it available to me!
Interesting in that it has a bayonet lug since the Cavalry would have sabres (beautiful ones, of course) on the saddle bow. I suppose it wsan’t worth the effort to remove it
https://www.jaegerplatoon.net/FORMATIONS5.htm
And, no, they didn’t ride reindeer, although they used them as pack and draught animals
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/finland-world-war-ii/
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/reindeer-battalion-wwii-braver-soviets-tougher_tanks.html
I think Ian should reenact being a member of the reindeer battalion
Bayonets were quite extensively issued (though I am not sure if used in combat) to cavalry forces in this part of Europe at that time. Mind the Polish cavalry (hanging on belts, like for infantry) or the Soviets (attached to shashka scabbards).
Funny. My older son used to serve in the British Army, and they still train them in the otherwise long-forgotten skill of Cold Steel.
Welcome to the reindeer battalion soldier. You’re being assigned to a rear element, here’s your shovel.
Finnish Infantry Weapons (Excellent!)
https://www.jaegerplatoon.net/MAIN.html
Kind of impressive for a country that doesn’t exist to have their own weapons!
https://www.reddit.com/r/finlandConspiracy/
Oh wait… All those weapons are of Russian origin, aren’t they?
Take a few thousand rifles, put some fake markings on them and presto: More people think that Finland is a real place. Ingenious!