Allow me to put on my Tikkakoski Company Sales Rep hat for a moment, and explain to you why as a modern military force (in 1933) the obvious choice in support machine guns is the Tikkakoski Model 1932 Maxim. I’ll try to put this in terms that will resonate with today’s tactical advertising…
Finnish Tikkakoski 1932 Maxim
It’s the most current and modern iteration of the Maxim machine gun, the choice of dozens of armies worldwide and the favorite of today’s most skilled operators!
It has independently-articulated tripod legs, allowing rapid and precise setup on any terrain!
Standard low-profile flip-up iron sights, with an optics mounting rail installed standard on every gun (optical sight sold separately)!
New all-metal continuous belt feed prevents 90% of feed-related problems! No more worries about those old cloth belts getting wet or frayed or stretched when you need them most!
Quick-change modular tactical tripod system can be converted into anti-aircraft mode in mere moments – and still retains horizontal ground-targeting capability!
Finnish Tikkakoski 1932 Maxim on AA mount
Factory testing shows the Model 1932 capable of 15,000 rounds endurance without cleaning or malfunctions! Guns are capable of more than 750,000 rounds fired with no parts breakages!
Multi-caliber capable! Standard model is chambered for 7.62x54R, with other calibers available on request – barrel change operation requires 30 seconds or less!
New patented firing rate selector allows operators to choose between 500rpm and 1000rpm rates of fire, ideal for all situations!
I hope that wasn’t too over the top…our friend Hrachya sent us a copy of a 1933 brochure on the Finnish Tikkakoski company’s 1932 model Maxim gun, and every claim in there comes straight from the document (although FWIW, Dolf Goldsmith suggests that the “fast” rate of fire was more like 800rpm, not 1000). The brochure was printed in English in 1933, and makes for some interesting reading – it is definitely an advertising pitch rather than technical manual and the different perspective is interesting to see. You can download the whole thing yourself here:
Heavy Machine Gun Model 1932 – Maxim (English, 1933)
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actually it can be made to shoot faster than that 800rpm. It has two mechanisms to upgrade the cycle of fire: one in the front-end and one in the back of the reciver. What would you expect? It is a another masterpiecework by Aimo Johannes Lahti.
Note that this is still a kk-32 variation, prior to another series of modifications creating the kk-32/33 – the tripod was once again changed, with AA mast being strapped under the rear leg, and the big “tractor cap” lid was added to the water jacket to allow loading rather than pouring water – with a winter so long and cold as it gets in Finland (like half a year in polar regions), small wonder something had to be made about it. You might also notice, that most of these improvements (save for the tripod) were later copied into the Soviet obr. 1910 g. Maxim in it’s last iteration, dated 1944 – a swan song of Soviet Maxim prior to the advent of the gas-operated Goryunov SG-43.These 1944 Soviet Maxims were fitted with the tractor cap and had feed blocks alternated to allow both cloth and metal belts. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
and the big “tractor cap” lid was added to the water jacket to allow loading rather than pouring water – with a winter so long and cold as it gets in Finland (like half a year in polar regions), small wonder something had to be made about it.
I’ve heard it said that yellow snow makes the best snowballs.
Correction – not the AA mast, but the replacement rear leg was strapped under the rear leg proper, as the AA mast was incorporated into the rear leg, and with this set vertcally, a replacement leg formed thrid point of support together with the front legs.
From what I can determine from the limited resources on the M1932 Finn made Maxims, the vintage designation of these guns was K.K.09/32. This is engraved on the topcover of these MGs, along with A.V.1, the arsenal that made the guns, the serial number, the date of manufacture and the SA in a square, the Finn acceptance mark. The 32 designating the first of the Finn tripods without the AA adaptor.
From pictures of many Finn made guns in the inventory of a parts kit retailer, there are a number of variations of the 09/32s between having or not having filler caps on the jacket, sideplates riveted to the trunnion compared to dovetailed to the trunnion, plunger operated fired case retainers compared to the earlier flat spring, etc. It seems that the earliest 1932 models were modified as time went by along with mixing of parts between the M09/32s and the M32/33s. The 09/32s were beautifully engraved on the topcovers, as mentioned avove, whereas the 32/33s had hand stamped serials and often nothing else except usually the SA stamp. The latest 32/33 was dated 1967 but it was not clear whether it was dated for a rebuild or date of manufacture, but I suspect rebuild.
Common to all the Finn made guns was the grip frame which was copied directly from the MG08, and is assembled identically to the receiver in the same fashion as the 08. Also common to all the Finn guns are the reinforcement plates around the closure slots and the feedblock cutouts. The construction of the M32/33s seem to be almost entirely by riveting the sideplates to the trunnions, whereas the 09/32s used the Russian style dovetails.
Currently I own an 09/32 marked Finn Maxim which is a favorite shooter. Pact timing of the slow and fast firing rates using Romanian light ball 54R generated about 570 and 925 rpm in moderate temperatures at the range. The rpm can vary significantly due to factors such as make and vintage of ammo, temperature, condition and tightness of recoil spring, etc, etc. All MGs show variations from stated rpm specs.
There seems to be little or no mention of the 09/32 designated Finn Maxims in the literature available to us and they seem to have been tossed into the general catagory of the M1932. However, the small sampling of these guns that I have observed has not revealed any 1932 guns engraved with just M32 or 1932 etc, but also no mention of the 09/32 designation. This is curious to me. One explanation of the 09/32s was that these were about 200 guns that were Finn made that were conversions of Russian guns, but the serial numbers of the 09/32s with 1935 dates are in the 5000 range with the highest serial observed in the 10,000 range dated 1937. The 200 gun anomaly can not be accurate.
Hope this is of interest.
Itis a fun gun to shoot. You can change firing rate weil shooting, and after 300 rounds, the water bouils, redy for tea. I will not recomend the wather for drinking because somtimes the soldiers ran out of wather, and used there own natural sorce. The gaskets in the gun , were somtimes greesed with animal greese and that tends to rot over time, so the wather is rarly wery tasty. I once fired 300 rounds in susesion, that is fun.
Thank you both for this excellent and informative article. The additional input from Robert E. Naess, Peter Rasmussen, Keith, Leszek Erenfeicht and Tvalups was most enlightening as well.
Oh, I like it. Does it come in beige? (That was a line an ex of mine used a lot… she thought the whole world should be beige, I thought the whole world should be Woodland Camo. This was the least of our issues.)
Since it was a Scandanavian thing, was it ever made in 6.5×55? I’ve shot Swedish Mausers and Ljungman 42s, and I think the 6.5 Swede is just about perfect. It will do 99% of what a .30-06 will, with half the punch and blast. My vote for a full-auto Forgotten Weapon range session would involve going to Sweden and find (reserve unit?) a 6.5 BAR. It was a major reason Hitler stopped at the Norwegian border.
actually it can be made to shoot faster than that 800rpm. It has two mechanisms to upgrade the cycle of fire: one in the front-end and one in the back of the reciver. What would you expect? It is a another masterpiecework by Aimo Johannes Lahti.
Note that this is still a kk-32 variation, prior to another series of modifications creating the kk-32/33 – the tripod was once again changed, with AA mast being strapped under the rear leg, and the big “tractor cap” lid was added to the water jacket to allow loading rather than pouring water – with a winter so long and cold as it gets in Finland (like half a year in polar regions), small wonder something had to be made about it. You might also notice, that most of these improvements (save for the tripod) were later copied into the Soviet obr. 1910 g. Maxim in it’s last iteration, dated 1944 – a swan song of Soviet Maxim prior to the advent of the gas-operated Goryunov SG-43.These 1944 Soviet Maxims were fitted with the tractor cap and had feed blocks alternated to allow both cloth and metal belts. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
I’ve heard it said that yellow snow makes the best snowballs.
Correction – not the AA mast, but the replacement rear leg was strapped under the rear leg proper, as the AA mast was incorporated into the rear leg, and with this set vertcally, a replacement leg formed thrid point of support together with the front legs.
Sold! Where do I sign?
Love to dig out something useful and interesting for you guys !
Many thanks to Ian for posting !
Maxim…A gun worth putting on your best Sunday suit to fire!
From what I can determine from the limited resources on the M1932 Finn made Maxims, the vintage designation of these guns was K.K.09/32. This is engraved on the topcover of these MGs, along with A.V.1, the arsenal that made the guns, the serial number, the date of manufacture and the SA in a square, the Finn acceptance mark. The 32 designating the first of the Finn tripods without the AA adaptor.
From pictures of many Finn made guns in the inventory of a parts kit retailer, there are a number of variations of the 09/32s between having or not having filler caps on the jacket, sideplates riveted to the trunnion compared to dovetailed to the trunnion, plunger operated fired case retainers compared to the earlier flat spring, etc. It seems that the earliest 1932 models were modified as time went by along with mixing of parts between the M09/32s and the M32/33s. The 09/32s were beautifully engraved on the topcovers, as mentioned avove, whereas the 32/33s had hand stamped serials and often nothing else except usually the SA stamp. The latest 32/33 was dated 1967 but it was not clear whether it was dated for a rebuild or date of manufacture, but I suspect rebuild.
Common to all the Finn made guns was the grip frame which was copied directly from the MG08, and is assembled identically to the receiver in the same fashion as the 08. Also common to all the Finn guns are the reinforcement plates around the closure slots and the feedblock cutouts. The construction of the M32/33s seem to be almost entirely by riveting the sideplates to the trunnions, whereas the 09/32s used the Russian style dovetails.
Currently I own an 09/32 marked Finn Maxim which is a favorite shooter. Pact timing of the slow and fast firing rates using Romanian light ball 54R generated about 570 and 925 rpm in moderate temperatures at the range. The rpm can vary significantly due to factors such as make and vintage of ammo, temperature, condition and tightness of recoil spring, etc, etc. All MGs show variations from stated rpm specs.
There seems to be little or no mention of the 09/32 designated Finn Maxims in the literature available to us and they seem to have been tossed into the general catagory of the M1932. However, the small sampling of these guns that I have observed has not revealed any 1932 guns engraved with just M32 or 1932 etc, but also no mention of the 09/32 designation. This is curious to me. One explanation of the 09/32s was that these were about 200 guns that were Finn made that were conversions of Russian guns, but the serial numbers of the 09/32s with 1935 dates are in the 5000 range with the highest serial observed in the 10,000 range dated 1937. The 200 gun anomaly can not be accurate.
Hope this is of interest.
Itis a fun gun to shoot. You can change firing rate weil shooting, and after 300 rounds, the water bouils, redy for tea. I will not recomend the wather for drinking because somtimes the soldiers ran out of wather, and used there own natural sorce. The gaskets in the gun , were somtimes greesed with animal greese and that tends to rot over time, so the wather is rarly wery tasty. I once fired 300 rounds in susesion, that is fun.
Hrachya & Ian :
Thank you both for this excellent and informative article. The additional input from Robert E. Naess, Peter Rasmussen, Keith, Leszek Erenfeicht and Tvalups was most enlightening as well.
Oh, I like it. Does it come in beige? (That was a line an ex of mine used a lot… she thought the whole world should be beige, I thought the whole world should be Woodland Camo. This was the least of our issues.)
Since it was a Scandanavian thing, was it ever made in 6.5×55? I’ve shot Swedish Mausers and Ljungman 42s, and I think the 6.5 Swede is just about perfect. It will do 99% of what a .30-06 will, with half the punch and blast. My vote for a full-auto Forgotten Weapon range session would involve going to Sweden and find (reserve unit?) a 6.5 BAR. It was a major reason Hitler stopped at the Norwegian border.
I think the brochure is perfect for the Finnish m09/32 for sale in this link. NO it does not come in beige, but it does have lots of pictures though.
09/32 Pictures
We just put a Finnish Maxim back together. I would love to find the AA parts to go on our tripod.