Here's a neat one, Finnish L-35 "Lahti"

[Blind Hog]

Has the lines of the German Luger but operates on an entirely different principal. Heavy as all get out, but was designed to operate in extremely harsh conditions. This one bears Army acceptance mark SA.

http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL68/1624602/7112983/92001777.jpg

http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL68/1624602/7112983/92001791.jpg

http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL68/1624602/7112983/92002159.jpg

Blind Hog

[WmRoy]

WOW

I LIKE!!!
That is a sweet looking handgun! I'm not at all familiar with these? Please tell us more about them??? Do you know any links..... man I've gone link crazy....:D

[No4Mk1]

That is very cool!

[DOGolden]

Great pictures Francis. I know the story behind this one, do you care to share it? Sweet, very sweet!

[keithreid]

nice! i haven't found a vkt lahti i could afford yet.:devil-smiley-1: the best i've been able to do is a swedish one. iirc, sarco and numrich both have swedish holster/cleaning rod/loading tool/mag kits for sale pretty cheap. swedish mags should fit in a finn pistol shouldn't they? thanks for the pic! Keith

[pirate]

Thanks for sharing, very nice Lahti!

[Toney]

Cool pistol!!!

[vonmazur]

In 2004, I imported, thru a dealer in South Carolina, 60 of these pistols, but only 5 had the chamber indicator, the rest were late or post war rebuilds. Yours is a hard to find gun these days....The Finns are reluctant to sell anymore of what they consider historic weapons. Only 7000 or so of the Finn Lahtis were made, compared with over 100,000 Swedish pistols. Once in a while someone sells the Finn Holster, but since the dimensions are the same, you can use a Swedish one, as well as the magazines and lanyard...Somewhere in Finland there is a site with the whole story on this and other Finnish guns, but I cannot remember the name...Their English is strange, but easily understood.....When I find it, I will put up the name..

Dale

[Blind Hog]

Dale,

Thanks for the information. If you locate the site, we would very much appreciate your posting it

Had always wanted a Finn Lahti and when Bryan brought back a bunch of these from one of his trips North, I just had to get one. One was all I could afford.:) It was hard to decide which variation to get and this one seemed to want to come home with me more so than the others.

Blind Hog

[DOGolden]

Good to see you made the journey Vonmazer. No doubt you got your pistols from Bryan Dick. I forget where his place is {is it Edgefield SC?}. Anyway, there is a gunshow tomorrow here in Greenville SC. I have a table next to him again. Shall I tell him you said hi? :D

[vonmazur]

DOG; Sure, give him a hard time, and ask him where are all the French Guns he promised.....I stumbled on to this site by accident, I was looking for some Roth Steyr loading clips, and somehow the search engine found this place...I did find a guy in Italia who has them.....for less than the US outlandish price.

Dale

[vonmazur]

One more thing, I have heard that the Huqvarna pistols have a very weak upper receiver, and that they sometimes break when fired with really hot 9mm. Is this true??

Dale

[vonmazur]

nice! i haven't found a vkt lahti i could afford yet.:devil-smiley-1: the best i've been able to do is a swedish one. iirc, sarco and numrich both have swedish holster/cleaning rod/loading tool/mag kits for sale pretty cheap. swedish mags should fit in a finn pistol shouldn't they? thanks for the pic! Keith

Keith: Come to Birmingham, you can go thru the remaining pistols in the Finn Rocket Crates....

Dale

[vonmazur]

As I said, when I find it, I will post it, check out this site in Sumoi/Finland

http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/PISTOLS1.htm

Dale in Ala

[DOGolden]

Interesting article. If I owned a Lahti I would only use a mild 9mm round.

What is the going ballpark price of a Lahti anyway?

Brian sends his...love? I told him this morning that you found your way here. He said that he is going to see you at the next gunshow in Birmingham. He tells me that the Birmingham show is usually pretty good.

I don't think we have had any post(s) about French weapons. Feel free to make a post and/or put up some pictures. There is a pawn shop that has a French Colonial pistol for $189 nearby. A sweet looking gun, yet I know nothing about it. Care to enlighten me?

[vonmazur]

Enlighten me as to the exact type of pistol, so I can give you an idea of the actual value..But just about any French handgun in good shape is worth that.

I have been selling the 4th model Lahtis for 1000.00 to 1200.00 lately, and have just about sold out of them, of the Lugers we got, only 3 remain, and of the Lahtis only about 15 or so..

I will be at the B'ham show with Brian, so I will give him a hard time there about all the Limeys stuff...

I will put up some pix soon..

Dale

[DOGolden]

Exact type of pistol? Hell, I don't know, it's French {don't know anything about them, period}. What I can tell you about this one is that I think it is a 7.65 cal semi auto. All in all, a well designed and balance pistol. I have not bought any milsurps in quite some time. This particular pistol has been sitting on this guys showcase for at least a year. I have heard that they are hard to find bullets for. Is this so?

[vonmazur]

If it is chambered for the ".32 from Hell" then it is a Mle 1935 A or S pistol. This cartridge is called "Cal. 7,65 Longue" by the French. It is abpout the same as .30 Pedersen from WW 1...This is a hard to make cartridge, and the guns usually sell for about $150.00 and up....I have not found any source except the reformed .32 S&W Long case based ammo that used to be sold by OWS...for big bucks..

Dale

[keithreid]

vonmazur, the swede's actually took the lahti's out of service in the 1980's and reissued the 1907 browning until they could come up with a replacement. they had trouble with the lahti's being fired with 9mm submachine ammo that was loaded hotter and breaking slides. i'd take any husky lahti apart and check the slide for cracks before buying if possible. y'all have a good day, Keith

[vonmazur]

I have heard this too, that the Husqvarna 1940 pistol had problems with cracking slides....The Finns did not have the same problem, as they strengthened the slide during WW 2, and they did not overload their 9mm like the Swedes did.....

Dale

[tsmgguy]

The old canard about weak Swedish M40 slides lives on! They weren't weak at all, but some were damaged and cracked through excessive use with submachine gun ammo.

If you are concerned about this, just remember to do a through inspection of the receiver of any piece that you are considering buying, or better yet, purchase one with a "D" serial prefix. These were Danish police contract guns or were produced for the civilian market and most saw little use. You'll find many that are complete rigs, with holster, three mags, loading tool, and cleaning rod.

There's a gentleman over on gun broker right now that is selling new Swedish made M40 mags, new in the original cartons!

These are great guns; I love mine and can highly recommend one to you. It is the most accurate service 9mm that I have ever fired!

I just purchased a Finnish Lahti L-35 in the 6,000 serial range with a loaded cartridge indicator. I should see it next week. These differ from the Swedish guns in that they are more rare, and are better finished.

[DOGolden]

Welcome aboard & thanks for the headsup!