This Finnish M39 was built by SAKO and carries serial 2382xx on the receiver and again on the barrel. The receiver itself is dated 1905, an action close to forty years older than the rifle built around it. The barrel is dated 1943 and stamped with the boxed SA mark of the Finnish Army, SAKO's S within a cogwheel, and the letter D. The same S within a cogwheel appears twice on the left side of the butt. The bolt is numbered 6500 and the magazine floorplate 6197: M39s were assembled on receivers and bolt parts recycled from earlier Mosin Nagants, and those parts commonly carry their own older numbers rather than the rifle's. The stock is the heavy M39 pattern with its semi pistol grip, solid overall, with a few gouges near the wrist. The bore is bright with strong rifling, and the rifle comes with its original leather sling. The barrel is import marked M39 FINLAND 7.62X54R over CAI ST ALB VT.
Finland approved the M39 on 14 April 1939, the last and the best developed of its Mosin Nagant rifles. A committee that included A.E. Saloranta and Harry Mansner worked from the Civil Guard's M28-30 as a starting point and gave the new rifle a heavier stock with a semi pistol grip, a new nose cap and barrel band, sling loops taken from Swiss practice, a two stage trigger and Mansner's finely adjustable sights. It was chambered around the heavy D-166 bullet, the barrel runs 685 millimetres and the rifle weighs about 4.5 kilograms, feeding five rounds from a fixed magazine.
Production began at SAKO in the autumn of 1940 and ran through the war, with a second line assembled at Weapons Depot 3 using barrels from VKT; more than a hundred thousand were built in all, and 1943 was the heaviest year of delivery. Like every Finnish Mosin, the M39 was put together on a recycled receiver, which is why a rifle built in the 1940s so often sits on an action made decades earlier, as this one does. Finnish soldiers nicknamed it Ukko-Pekka, after President Per Evind Svinhufvud, who was himself a well known competition shot.
Specifications
Manufacturer: SAKO
Country of origin: Finland
Model: M39
Action: Bolt action
Caliber: 7.62x54R
Serial: 2382xx, on the receiver and on the barrel
Receiver: Dated 1905
Barrel: Dated 1943, stamped with the boxed SA, SAKO's S within a cogwheel, and the letter D
Butt markings: SAKO's S within a cogwheel, struck twice on the left side
Bolt: Numbered 6500
Floorplate: Numbered 6197
Stock: M39 pattern with semi pistol grip, solid, with a few gouges near the wrist
Bore: Bright with strong rifling
Magazine: Fixed five round
Included: Original leather sling
Import mark: CAI, St. Albans, Vermont
