Finnish Carcano

mikerock

mikerock

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Hi

I posted some pictures in the Photo forum of my Carcano 1891/41 which appears to be stamped with the SA in a box indicating service in the Finnish armed forces. I was wondering how many and through what channels this rifle would have ended up in Finnish service. I am aware that the Finns were using anything they could get their hands on during the Winter War and the Continuation War. I am mostly wondering if this rifle was part of a batch that can be dated as entering Finnish use, and how many of these rifles were used.

A link to the photo thread:
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=304978
 
I can understand how the UK got them, from the Italians in North Africa, but why would they sell them to a country that was fighting alongside the Germans against a nominal ally?
 
From what I gather, the UK purchased the Carcano rifles from Italy when they had an acute shortage of rifles dureing WWI, not certain, some of which were issued to the Navy and the rest went into storage etc.

Later, the rifles were sold off to countries like Finland for quite reasonable prices.

bearhunter
 
I beleive the rifles went straight from Italy to the Finns, as the Finns were tying up Russian's that would have otherwise been fighting Germans. There is an article on surplus rifles_com about a Finnish marked Carcanno in 7.35mm.
 
Finland spent the years between 1918 and 1939 mostly buyiung up small arms from the polyglot of different stocks and captured stocks left over from the Great War. Trading Finish held Mannlichers for Austrian held Mosins made a lot of sense in clearing up supply issues.

In addition, in the late thirties even into the the start of the Russo-Finish War, Italy was actually a supplier of a lot of various war material. Even more so to Sweden! Everything from fighter aircraft to destroyer escorts. There was a case of two navay ships that were detained by the British as they travelled from the makers yard in Italy to their new home in Sweden after the outbreak of the war. The Brits eventually let them go.

You can then add in the fact of how much kit was being passed on to the Finns by the Swedes.

Mind the most important fact would have been that 1939 was a desperate time to be a Finn. Any weapon would have been gratefully accepted with few questions being asked.
 
Finland was supplied by Italy, which was a co-belligerant of the anti comintern pact. Finland was not a member of the tripartite pact. Finland's war aims were different than that of the axis, concerned more with the aspect of "continuation war" against the USSR alone to regain lost territory.

I've seen many different models of Carcano "SA" marked (Both 7.35 and 6.5 - commonly the 1938 Fucile Corto) along with Beretta M1934 and M1935.
 
I have always wondered if the finns also, from the russians, captured british and americans "Lend-Lease" weapons ?

The there was the WW2, Russian Air Force "accidental" bombing of swedish capital of Stocholm, in retaliation of the swedish weapons used by the finns ?
 
The Brits bought 6.5 Arisakas from Japan to fill firearm shortages during WWI.The Finns [WWII]had some of these too for drilling Russians and during their civil war.................Harold
 
Arisakas were also supplied to Mexico before 1920, and even to Russia for the Great War. Finland being part of Russia until the end of the first war makes it pretty easy to explain where Arisakas came into play.
 
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