Hovea M44: Husqvarna Makes a Submachine Gun
Forgotten Weapons
•
8m 22s
The Hovea M44 was tested by the Danish and Swedish militaries in 1945, competing agains the Carl Gustaf M45. It was designed and produced by Husqvarna (yes, the chainsaw company) and just 10 of them were made for testing. It was designed around the Suomi quad-stack magazine, which was also originally a Swedish design. Sweden chose the Carl Gustaf, but Denmark preferred the Hovea - but with a couple modifications. Specifically, they wanted the grip and stock from the Carl Gustaf, and that ended up becoming the Hovea M49 which was adopted into Danish service.
Hovea M49 video:https://forgottenweapons.vhx.tv/videos/denmark-s-post-ww2-smg-the-hovea-m-49
Many thanks to the Royal Armouries for allowing me to film and disassemble this rare prototype! The NFC collection there - perhaps the best military small arms collection in Western Europe - is available by appointment to researchers:
https://royalarmouries.org/research/national-firearms-centre/
You can browse the various Armouries collections online here:
https://royalarmouries.org/collection/
Up Next in Forgotten Weapons
-
Prototype vz.38 "Nutcracker" in 9x19mm
The Czechoslovakian military adopted the vz.38 pistol as a simple blowback action chambered for .380 ACP (well, the Czech military version of .380 ACP). Other countries were interested in other calibers though, and the factory looked at making the gun in 9x19mm Parabellum as well. They first trie...
-
French Marine Commando 2-Gun: CETME-B...
There is a well-documented incident of the French intercepting a couple hundred CETME-B rifles being smuggled to the FLN in Algeria, and putting them into service with the Marine Commandos. I managed to get a CETME-B parts kit and have it built into a complete rifle (thanks, Parabellum Combat Sys...
-
S.R.E.M.: Britain's Experimental WW2 ...
Want to know more about the S.R.E.M. and other British bullpup rifles? Check out Jonathan Ferguson's book on this subject, "Thorneycroft to SA80":
https://www.headstamppublishing.com/bullpup-rifle-bookThe Sniper Rifle Experimental Model (S.R.E.M.) was designed by the "Czech Section" of small ar...
