The Swiss Suomi: MP43/44 (With Bayonet)
Switzerland
•
6m 56s
During World War Two, the Swiss had adopted Adolf Furrer's toggle-locked MP41 submachine gun, and they found it too fragile, complex, and expensive. Looking for an alternative, one easy choice was the Finnish Suomi. Used and appreciated by the Finns, Danes, and Swedes it was reliable and available. It was adopted into service in the fastest set of trials in Swiss military history, and a batch was purchased from Tikkakoski along with a license to produce them at Hispano-Suiza in Geneva.
The initial Finnish-made guns were designated MP43, and the Swiss-made ones were the MP43/44. A total of 5200 MP43s were imported and MP43/44 production resulted in another 22,468 made between 1944 and 1951. The Swiss-made guns have a few distinctive features including an aluminum buttplate, two-position notch sights (100m/200m), and after the first few thousand, a bayonet lug to fit the standard Swiss K31 bayonet.
Up Next in Switzerland
-
A Beautiful Factory Semiauto SIG MKPO
During the 1930s, SIG Neuhausen made a series of really beautiful submachine guns. They were the MK series, offered in either 500mm / 19.7 inch barrels for military use or 300mm / 11.8 inch for police use. The first pattern was the MK-O, which had a rate-reducing system built into the action (whi...
-
Short Swiss Schmidt Rubins: M1900 Sho...
When the Swiss military went to make a short version of its M1896 rifle for cavalry, it realized that the early Schmidt-Rubin action had a problem: it was really, really long. With locking lugs all the way to the rear of the receiver, the system was just not an efficient use of space for a carbin...
-
B&T GL-06 Launcher: Reloadable Less-L...
The B&T GL06 (Grenade Launcher 2006) was developed in response to a French tender for a riot-control less-lethal weapon in 2006. B&T had actually already been working on a less-lethal projectile system, which they call SIR (Safe Impact Round). It is a rubber projectile with a hard plastic base an...
