Need help with 2 pistols

[Michael Zeleny]

Husqvarna m/40 pistols have been banned by the Swedish Army as unsafe since 1991. While the original design of the Lahti L-35 is as ill suited to the use of submachine gun ammunition as the Luger that it replaced in the Finnish military service, the notorious fragility of its licensed Swedish derivative appears to be due to differences in metallurgy. When used with loads manufactured to the original DWM standard, the Finnish version is a great service sidearm, as accurate as a Luger, and much more reliable.

[Olle]

Originally Posted by Michael Zeleny

Husqvarna m/40 pistols have been banned by the Swedish Army as unsafe since 1991. While the original design of the Lahti L-35 is as ill suited to the use of submachine gun ammunition as the Luger that it replaced in the Finnish military service, the notorious fragility of its licensed Swedish derivative appears to be due to differences in metallurgy. When used with loads manufactured to the original DWM standard, the Finnish version is a great service sidearm, as accurate as a Luger, and much more reliable.

This was a logistic mistake made already when the M/40 was developed. The intention was to use a different 9mm round than the M/39B submachine gun round, the designation escapes me but it was pretty hard to come by. However, the M/39B is extremely plentiful, there was so much in stock that it was given away to the police, shooting clubs etc after the M/45B submachine gun was phased out. It's still out there, and one common question on Swedish forums is if the M/39B is safe to shoot in this or that weapon. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons why the Swedish authorities chose to adopt the Glock 17/Pistol 88 was that it could handle the M/39B ammo.

It seems to me like the "notorious fragility" you're talking about is an undeserved bad reputation, and it stems from the fact that so many of them have been used with the wrong ammo, i.e. the readily available M/39B. The M/40 is a heavy and stout pistol, more so than many other 9mm pistols, and I can't see that it would break if you just use the correct ammo. It's kind of the same thing as Lugers, P.38s and other old pistols, nobody would be surprised if they blew up after extended use of +P.