More info on Finnish Lugers

Michael E Halbrook had posted some questions on a Finnish Luger, and I just wanted to follow up with some info.


The gun is a Tikkakoski re-barreled Luger. It originated as a DWM 1920 commercial model in .30 cal.


I do not think the date was â??ground offâ?�. I believe there were no dates on the guns when originally purchased. My gun, an original, non-import M23, does not have a chamber date, and there is no evidence that there ever was one or that it was ground off.


The black plastic grips were/are correct, as they were arsenal replacements from the Finns. The dull black finish, as well as the 9mm Tika barrel and mismatched parts indicates a very standard arsenal rework by the Finns.


Other posters (Tom) are correct in that these guns were imported directly from Finland in the mid 1980â??s.


Addording to Markku Palokangas, the noted Finnish firearms expert, the Finns purchased about 8,000 of these pistols for the army in the 1920â??s and some were imported for the Civil Guard and commercial sales. Importation ceased in the late 1930â??s with the introduction of the L-35 Lahti pistol. The M23 Luger was the most widely used pistol by the Finns in WWII. Their total number was reduced by about half during the wars (Winter War 39-40, Contention War 41-44, and Lapland War 1944). An army inventory in 1951 showed 3,724 pistols in service. The M23 was not withdrawn from service until the 1980â??s. A few remaining examples were selected for museum pieces and the rest sold for export.


In addition to the M23, the Finns also had the 9mm â??P-08â?� in service. These came along with the Finnish Jaegers trained in Germany in 1915-18 who returned to Finland during its fight for independence in the winter of 1918. It was these pistols that prompted the Finnish army to adopt the M23. In 1939, a small batch of the P-08â??s were purchased from Belgium.