Lugers & Lahtis

[Thor]

They say that imitation is the best form of flattery or something like and it is obvious the Finnish LAHTI was designed with out beloved P.08 Parabellum in mind. From the similar barrels, angle of the grip and other features they are similar, but the LAHTI is much heavier and had an accelorator spring to open the action with authority even in cold climes. These were winter pistols par excellance from what I have read! Trigger guard is much bigger too. They use a locking block to lock the action similar to a Broomhandle or P.38 An interesting gun but a little tanklike when compared to our elegant Luger. They are also chambered in 9mm Parabellum or 9mm Luger. ~Thor~




http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/Lahti1.jpg

[Thor]

This is where you really see the beefyness of the receiver, WOW, that's a lot of metal and they tell me it is a ***** cat to shoot because of the weight! Luger weighs in at 31+- ounces and the Lahti around 44 comparable to a large frame magnum revolver, quite a difference. Neat gun, they were also made in Sweden by the Huskvarna plant. AXIS PISTOLS by Still shows the Finnish Army carrying this pistol in WWII as the L-35. ~Thor~




http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/Lahti2.jpg

Hey Thor- good to see that old Aimo gets a look in, even if he goes down as a copycat. Of course, all he copied was the general outline of the Luger, in service with Finland as the Pistooli m/23. Let's be frank, it doesn't work too well at minus 30, so the Lahti [called Pistooli L/35] was fitted with a device called an accelerator, to ensure positive functioning and extraction under the awful winter conditions. As you say, the Swedes adopted it as the M1940, and made it under licence in the Husqvarna plant along with motorbikes, rifles and sewing machines. Same as the one in the piccie, if the stamp 'MADE IN SWEDEN' is anything to go by.....just checkin, hey! The Finns will tell you that the quality was not the same, but I had one of each, and they both shot very well indeed, especially our British Army 2Z designator 9mm Para, intended to drive our submachine gun as well as the Browning pistol. When we lived in Cyprus in the 70's we used to compete with the local Swedecon and Finncon UN contingents, and get universally thrashed by them, until we changed guns and got to shoot theirs instead! Made like a tank they may have been, but the Finnish UN armourer still had his father's issue pistol, a Lahti, of course. It had been shot at least twice a week for the previous 39 years, at least. The bore had a beautiful bright polish, and still had all its original bits. Wish I had 'em now.....


Terry F

[Marvin]

Terry,


Thanks for the information on the Lahti. I have one made in Late 1944 for the Danish Governement. If the pistol has a "D" prefix, they were made in Sweden for the Free Danish Forces. As Thor stated they are built like a tank and shoot very well with the 9mmP. I have a complete rig and the pistol is on 98% condition, a real sweet pistol to hold and shoot like you said.


There has always been a small problem with these pistols of the receiver developing a crack at the front of the receiver where the barrel screws on. I have never seen this, but it has been written about for years. Has anyone ever seen this "crack" and what opinions are there on it?


Marvin

[HÃ?Â¥kan Spuhr]

Of natural reasons I have seen quite a few Lathis and Huskvarnas.

And the Lathis are almost always cracked from the pinhole for the accelerator.

THere is normaly a number of cracks also around the feedramp.


Huskvarnas does normally crack where the locking block is.

And there was later made a strengtend "competition" slide to get around this problem.

But the Swedish pistols can crack in much more places than the meantioned, but they does normallynot crack at the same place as the Lathis.


Personally I think those guns are junk.

9 out of 10 lathis i found here is cracked and the only ones not cracked are those in REALLY MINT condition.

The Huskvarnas are not cracked as often but deffinitely much more often than the Lugers are cracked.

So boys, please buy those guns for you'r collections and not for shooting, besides the Lugers are far nicer to shoot with.


Regards HÃ?Â¥kan



http://www.vapensmedjan.com

Dear All - guess I had two good ones, hey? I suppose you could say that they were 'cracking good guns', and yes, I had heard about the problems. Both of mine went back where they came from,one to Sweden and one to Finland, where I know they have good care taken of them.


Regards


TF

[Thor]

The one I am working on is a SWEDE and it has been stripped of its bluing and it is withOUT cracks. Feels like a magnum Luger! ~Thor~

Yo Thor - lots of luck with the LAHTI! Remember they had a finish [heh heh] like an old fire iron, don't go spoiling it with a glossy blue job - they just weren't like that. Even those from Husqvarna had only a mildly decent finish.

TF

[BILL]

Ha, yeah, they do kind of look like a pistol that has survived a house fire. Interesting. Before I knew rust blued from shinola I assumed that they just got a bad flat black paint job.

[Ad. Yeaman]

Is it bad steel or bad design, or both? I don't have one; but think they have an interesting history, particularly their reputation for reliability in cold weather.