Finnish use: Bought by Suojeluskunta (Civil Guard), used by Finnish Army during WW2.

For all practical purposes this rifle can be described as re-barreled and slightly improved version of M/91 infantry rifle made for Suojeluskunta (Finnish Civil Guard). In early 1920's Suojeluskunta made alarming observation that over large amount of about 70,000 M/91 rifles in its use had seriously worn barrels, which were in hardly in usable shape any more. At the time Finland had no industrial plants, which would have manufactured rifle barrels before. SAT (= Suomen ampumatarviketehdas = Finnish Ammunition Factory) had manufactured small experimental production series of M/91 rifle-barrels around 1919 - 1920, but with poor success. Also Tikkakoski factory did not start making rifle-barrels until 1925. Suojeluskunta ordered 3,000 rifle barrels from Swiss factory S.I.G. (Schweitzerische Industrie-Gesellschaft, Neuhausen) in April of 1923. Next year another 5,000 rifle barrels were ordered from S.I.G. Replacing the old barrels with new ones started as soon the new rifle barrels arrived.

The first 13,000 barrels Suojeluskunta acquired had the same (thickness) dimensions as Russian original ones (used in original M/91 infantry rifle). But then the idea of using thicker rifle barrels to improve accuracy gained popularity. June 1925 drawings for a new 1.5-mm thicker rifle barrel were finished. By March of 1927 Suojeluskunta bought another 13,000 of these thicker barrels from S.I.G. "Suojeluskuntien Asepaja" (= Gun smith shop of Suojeluskunta, it later developed to SAKO) did the work of installing these new barrels between August of 1925 and early 1928. During this time rifle barrels of almost 26,000 rifles were replaced with these new barrels. Starting from May 1926 rifles getting a barrel replacement started receiving also few other improvements done along replacing the barrel. These improvements included:

• Trigger mechanism was checked and new sensitivity spring installed into it, after this trigger pressure was adjusted.
• Sights were improved. Measurements in meters were marked to rear sight. New L-shaped part attached to rear sight gave sharper sight picture. Also a new front sight was installed.
• Rifle stock was modified to be suitable to new thicker barrel.

As part of the process each rifle was also totally cleaned and all broken parts repaired or replaced. The improvements introduced with M/91-24 were included also to later designed M/28 and M/28-30 rifles of Suojeluskunta. Sensitivity spring included to trigger mechanism remained unique characteristic of Civil Guard rifles. Barrels of later M/28 and M/28-30 were thicker then in original M/91 or M/27 of Finnish Armed Forces. Sights didn't however remain the same - further improvements to them were introduced with M/28 and M/28 rifles.

Finnish nation-wide voluntary defence auxiliary organisation "Lotta-Svärd" was a large financier for the purchases of rifle barrels for these rifles (at year 1923 Lotta-Svärd organisation had collected 545,337 marks in donations for this purpose). So the rifle got nick-named as "Lotta-rifle". Year 1928, just after M/91-24 rifle project had ended, Suojeluskunta had almost 25,000 M/91-24 rifles in use. Starting from year 1935 Suojeluskunta members could send M/91-24 rifle issued to them to be replaced with M/28-30 rifle if they paid most of the expenses. Because of this the number of M/91-24 rifles started slow but certain decline. The amount of M/91-24 rifles was bit under 22,000 in May of 1936 and decreased to 19,400 by May of 1939. To simplify repairs M/91-24 rifles got included into same spare part category with M/91 infantry rifles during WW2, because of this many of M/91-24 got replacement parts made for M/91 rifles and in this way they lost some of their own characteristics. When Suojeluskunta was disbanded after WWII remaining M/91-24 rifles were given to Finnish Armed Forces and they were sold (mostly abroad) simultaneously with M/91 infantry rifles. Only very few M/91-24 rifles remained warehoused until 1980's.

(*) Notice: This includes only the actual mass-production era: Smaller scale production continued between 1935 - 1938. For example 300 rifles were assembled from parts in 1937. Production was restarted again because of Winter War (bit less then 1,000 rifles were assembled between 1939-1940). These are included to total production number.

Finnish use: First domestic rifle for Finnish Army, most typical of front-line rifles during Winter War (1939 - 1940), even if it had its share of problems.

Infantry rifle M/27 was first really improved model of Mosin-Nagant made for Finnish Armed Forces. Basic plan behind these improvements was a plan of 10 improvements designed for improving Russian M/91 rifles February of 1927 by Defence Ministry Ordnance Department. First the committee assembled for making decision about this matter didn't get into agreement about what to do. Certain members of this Rifle-committee wanted to re-arm Finnish armed forces with new Mauser-type rifles that had been tested, but lack of money made that that idea unrealistic (there had also been some discussion about calibre of future service rifle). Finally the only sane decision about making the designed improvements was made - modifying 120,000 infantry rifles M/91 to infantry rifle M/27 while the old M/91 remained in service also.

Tikkakoski (whom had already made barrels for M/91 rifle) manufactured barrels for this rifle model. The first deal for 800 barrels was signed with Tikkakoski at December of 1927. Another batch of 8,000 barrels was ordered next year. Infantry rifles M/27, which had Tikkakoski barrels were assembled by Weapons Depot 1 (AV1) in Helsinki. AV1 also manufactured some new small parts for these rifles. Another barrel manufacturer was VKT (Valtion Kivääritehdas = State Rifle Factory) in Jyväskylä, which seems to have also assembled the M/27 rifles, which had barrels that it had manufactured. Besides these two companies and the Weapons Depot also several subcontractors took part in manufacturing of M/27 rifle by supplying hand guards, various metal parts and rifle stocks.

Infantry rifle M/27 barrel was 685-mm long, which was 115-mm less then old M/91 infantry rifle. Bolt frame was slightly modified and ammunition magazine had a new filling part, which improved its reliability. New improved trigger mechanism was domestic production. Also several other smaller modifications were made, most visible of them being the new front sight arrangement, which soon earned the rifle a nickname "Pystykorva" (Spitz). The reason for the nickname were the upwards pointing protective brackets located both side of the bead, which some Finnish soldier associated to upward pointing ears of Finnish spitz. The nickname soon spread to common use and was used also from Suojeluskunta rifles M/28 and M/28-30 rifle, which became known as "Suojeluskuntain Pystykorva" (Spitz of Civil Guard). Aimo Lahti was the main designer of the improvements, which appeared with M/27. New trigger mechanism, new sights and improved ammunition magazine were his designs. One not so good "improvement" was "wings", which were added to rifle bolts connection bar and grooves added for them to receiver of the rifle. This feature included to M/27 rifles manufactured between 1929 - 1933 succeeded only reducing reliability of the rifle and making using their bolts in any other Mosin-Nagant rifles impossible.

Production of M/27 rifles started little by little, the first rifles were finished in 1929 and mass-production grew from that on until problems surfaced and the production started to slow down in 1934. Smaller scale production continued 1935 - 1938. Year 1936 was probably the one with least M/27 manufactured. Production was restarted again during Winter War, but ended soon after it. Production numbers for each year of mass-production period were:

• 1929: 84
• 1930: about 1,500
• 1931: about 6,100
• 1932 - 1934: 9,000 - 12,000 rifles per year.

The total production of M/27 infantry rifle reached about 55,000 rifles by end of 1935.

When M/27 rifles were introduced to large-scale use their problems created by poor quality raw materials and some design flaws started to show. Front end of rifle stock and nosecap in it proved to be too weak (especially if bayonet was attached during shooting). Only few shots with bayonet attached were often enough to break the nosecap, which typically also split piece from rifles front stock. Also complaints about quality of rifle barrels started to surface (they were wearing down faster then the old M/91 rifle barrels). A new "Rifle M/27 committee" established recommended stopping the production of M/27 rifle as soon as the production runs that already were under work were finished. Weak parts of already made M/27 rifles needed to be replaced with better ones and whole Finnish Army rifle M/27 production plan had to be re-considered. More durable replacement parts for the nosecap were manufactured, but separate extensive program for replacing the nosecap with replacement parts didn't exist. Only those M/27 rifles, which suffered also other damage demanding repairs or actually broke because of the original nosecap structure got the new replacement parts installed. Those M/27 rifles, which didn't break usually didn't get the replacement parts and remained in original form. Autumn of 1937 another 300 M/27 were assembled from existing parts. The mass-production ended in year 1934. Year 1937 Finnish military for the last time tried fixing the problem: Replacing 50,000 nosecaps of M/27 rifles was ordered from Weapons Depot 1, but as Winter War break out the work was left unfinished. The war also led this rifle being introduced back to production for the one last time - at least in a way. While the actual manufacturing of parts did not start anymore, almost 1,000 infantry rifles M/27 were assembled from earlier manufactured existing parts during Winter War (1939-1940). Those rifles M/27 assembled during Winter War usually had new thicker rifle stock.

During World War 2 infantry rifles M/27 were issued to Finnish frontline troops. When Winter War started they were the newest rifles acquired for Finnish Army, so typically they were issued to frontline infantry. Large amounts of these rifles broke or wear down very fast in wartime use. By end of Continuation War most of them had broken - saving in materials had proved very expensive on the long run. Year 1951 less then 27,000 rifles of this model remained. After WWII rifle they remained in Finnish use a long time, they were even used for training soldiers still in 1950's and 1960's until finally being replaced by assault rifles in 1970's. After this they remained warehoused until being declared obsolete in January of 1986, later that year most of these rifles were sold abroad.

Finnish M/27 infantry rifle was unsuitable for cavalry use. Main problems were the sling its arrangement and length, which were not appropriate for cavalry use. Sling arrangement was modified (like earlier with some M/91 cavalry rifles) to be similar as in earlier Mauser M/98a. Because of this front parts of stock had to be redesigned and new barrel, which was only 520-mm was introduced to production. 2,000 rifle barrels needed for these cavalry rifles were included to order of 35,000 rifle barrels (for M/27 infantry rifle) barrels (which were ordered from Tikkakoski once again). Weapons Depot 1 (AV1) assembled these rifles with Tikkakoski barrels between 1934 - 1935 and soon all these rifles were given to Cavalry Brigade. Also VKT (Valtion Kivääritehdas = State Rifle Factory) manufactured bit over 200 barrels for M/27 cavalry rifles in year 1937. Weapons Depot 1 in Helsinki assembled also these rifles with VKT-barrels.

During World War 2 cavalry rifles M/27 were the main weaponry of Finnish cavalry and participated in heavy fighting in frontline. However wear down and getting replaced with submachineguns decreased number of these rifles in front-line all the time. In summer of 1944 Cavalry Brigade suffered heavy losses in battles fought in islands of Viipuri Gulf. Presumably a high large number of M/27 cavalry rifles were lost in these battles (the last method of getting off the islands was often swimming - and nobody could swim with rifle very long). During demobilisation of autumn 1944 most of these rifles wrecked, the last remaining were sold to United States in 1960 through Interarms. Nowadays Finnish cavalry rifles M/27 are very rare and highly valued by collectors.

This was second improved Mosin-Nagant rifle of Suojeluskunta (Finnish Civil Guard). By 1920's members of Suojeluskunta came to conclusion that infantry rifle M/91 needed some improvements to improve accuracy and suitability for combat. Biggest problem was found to be the thin barrel, which was strapped with metal rings into rifle stock - very poor solution for accuracy. A thicker freely vibrating rifle barrel was wanted to replace it. A committee established by Suojeluskunta General Staff researched the matter and left its decision in June of 1927. The committee had tested 10 rifles made for these tests and ended up suggesting rifle with 68,5-cm long freely vibrating thick (24-mm diameter) barrel. This became the barrel for M/28 infantry rifle, which Suojeluskunta approved the next year.

Nickname "Suojeluskuntain pystykorva" ("Spitz of Civil Guard") came from same origin as with infantry rifle M/27 of Finnish Armed Forces. Shape of upward pointing protective brackets in both sides of front sight blade reminded ears of popular Finnish dog breed. The same nickname was also used from M/28-30 rifle. Unlike in M/27 infantry rifle neither sling system or magazine arrangement were modified from original M/91. Rear sight and safety were also different than the ones used in M/27. Also several differences in measurements between M/28 and M/27 exist. Most rifle barrels for M/28 were made by SIG (22,100 of them) while Tikkakoski manufactured 11,512 and small number were also made by Sako (= Suojeluskuntain Ase ja Konepaja Oy), which assembled and finished all M/28 rifles. First M/28 rifles were ready in spring of 1928 and the production continued until early 1933. About 33,000 were made 1928 - 1933, but some of them were soon modified as M/28-30. M/28 rifles belonged into main weaponry of Suojeluskunta whole 1930's. During WW2 they were mainly used by frontline infantry, so large number of rifles were lost or destroyed in battles. Year 1951 only about 16,700 rifles M/28 remained. Some of these remained warehoused until early 1980's. Most remaining M/28 rifles were sold abroad in 1980's.

Military rifle M/28-30 was third Mosin-Nagant rifle version designed by Suojeluskunta (Finnish Civil Guard). Just adding a new part to old Russian rear sight (Konovalov m/1910), like with M/28 rifle, had proved less than best possible solution. Adjusting the rear sight of M/28 to exact distance setting was not easy and the whole rear sight proved too vulnerable. So Engineer Harry Mansner working in Ordnance Department of Suojeluskunta General Staff developed an improved back sight by autumn of 1931. This new rear sight became standard for M/28-30 rifle.

At spring of 1932 about 30 test rifles with this new sight were made, after tests it was decided to order rifles from Sako with this new rear sight - called rear sight M/32. However also the front sight (which was adjusted with special tool) had room for improvement, so Mansner developed also new front sight (known as M/33), which could be adjusted with ordinary screwdriver. For these changes the whole rifle was renamed as M/28-30. However as the improvements were under work the first production series made 1933 - 1934 (with serial numbers about 33107 - 35700) still didn't quite all characteristics of final M/28-30 rifle. With mass production of this rifle a decision about ordering the barrels from Sako instead of Tikkakoski (who had been the sole Finnish large-scale manufacturer of rifle-barrels earlier) was also made. When tested rifle barrels manufactured by Sako from Swedish Fagersta-steel were found to be equally good as the ones made by Tikkakoski. Few minor changes were made to these rifles doing production run. First production series of 2,700 was received by April of 1934 and second order had been send already before that. By early 1941 (when production of M/28-30 ended) Suojeluskunta had bought a total of 24,420 rifles of this type. Non-included to this number are some 13,700 "private-funded rifles" (Members of Suojeluskunta could get M/91 or M/91-24 service rifle issued to them replaced with M/28-30 by paying most of the expenses. Or they could get M/28 service rifle issued to them modified to M/28-30 by paying most of the cost of modification. In either case the Civil Guard member didn't get right of ownership to the rifle, but just the right to practice and compete with it. These rifles were called "private-funded rifles". Sako also manufactured some 2,000 rifles M/28-30 for private sales 1934 - 1940.

Based to chart in Sotilaskäsiaseet Suomessa 1918 - 1988 part 2, page 64. Sk.Y = High-Headquarters (General HQ) of Civil Guard.

(*) Orders made by HQ of Home Front Troops (which is what Sk.Y become during war).

Notice: Besides orders of Sk.Y M/28-30 production also included 13,723 "Privately funded rifles" and about 2,000 rifles made for civilian sales.

Nickname "Suojeluskuntain pystykorva" ("Spitz of Civil Guard") came from same origin as with infantry rifle M/27 of Finnish military. Shape of upward pointing protective brackets located both sides of front sight blade reminded ears of popular Finnish dog breed. The same nickname was also used from M/28 rifle.

M/28-30 soon got itself excellent reputation. Suojeluskunta was rightfully proud of its rifle (at the same time Finnish armed forces were very unhappy with their M/27 rifles). World championships of shooting were organised in Finland in 1937 and naturally M/28-30 were select as military rifles with which all teams would compete (in those days military rifle events were always shot with service rifle of host country). Just before championships Sako manufactured a series of 440 rifles, using barrels selected for their accuracy and other first quality parts. Stocks were walnut and a specially identification shield was installed in right side of rifle butt and rifles marked "MM" left side on top of the cartridge chamber. In actual competitions only 83 rifles (serial numbers 48963 - 49466) were used. After championships Suojeluskunta got the rifles and transferred 83 of them to Finnish sports museum. The other rifles made for championships (357 of them) were issued to best shooters of Suojeluskunta as recognition prizes. These best shooters were also Finnish reservists and many of them took their prize rifles when they were mobilised. So during World War 2 some of them these World Championships rifles ended up seeing use in combat.

When Winter War started M/28-30 got into wartime service with their users. Even rifles of Suojeluskunta members who were too old to serve in front were gathered and handed over to frontline troops. M/28-30 was undeniably the most accurate Finnish rifle during Winter War and very popular among Finnish soldiers. However Ordnance Department of Finnish Armed Forces wasn't quite that happy - Suojeluskunta had equipped lot of its rifles with tighter barrels, in which captured Soviet ammunition could cause problems. In addition throats of their cartridge chambers had not been designed for D-166 standard bullet of Finnish Army, but had been optimized for lighter bullets. June of 1940 the amount of M/28-30 rifles was around 34,600. Army was quite willing for taking M/28 and M/28-30 rifles in its use and organising their maintenance. Without all the rifles that Suojeluskunta transferred to the Army in beginning of Winter War the shortage of rifles, which Finnish military was suffering at the time, would have been overwhelming. After WW2 Suojeluskunta was disbanded and M/28-30 rifles ended up to Finnish Armed Forces. Hard wartime use had taken its toll - year 1951 only some 22,100 of these rifles remained. Some of them got modified as M/28-57 target (sniper) rifles in 1950's. Between 1983 - 1984 over 1,300 of M/28-30 rifles were sold to collectors and employees of Defence Administration and Frontier Guard. January 1986 M/28-30 rifles were declared obsolete, some were scrapped and year 1988 most of the remaining rifles were sold abroad.

Nowadays (year 2004) prices of M/28-30 are on the rise in Finland. Shooting with "traditional rifles" ("perinnekivääri") as pre-1945 military rifles are known today is gaining popularity among Finnish reservists. M/28-30 considered by most as the best of "tradition rifles" and is very popular among reservists - as a result demand has surpassed supply.