Lahti L-39

Origins

The Lahti L-39 is a Finnish 20mm anti-tank rifle used during World War II. It was designed by Aimo Lahti, the largely self-taught Finnish weapons designer who also created the Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun and the Lahti L-35 pistol. In the 1930s Finland had few anti-tank guns and little money to buy them. A heavy rifle that a small team could move through forest and snow looked like a cheap answer to the light Soviet tanks of the time. Lahti built it around the 20x138mmB cartridge, the powerful round known as the "Long Solothurn", which was also used in Swiss-made anti-tank rifles and the German 2 cm Flak 30 anti-aircraft gun. The State Rifle Factory (VKT) at Jyväskylä began production around the time the Soviet Union invaded in late 1939. Very few rifles, if any, reached the front before the Winter War ended in March 1940, so nearly all of its combat service came in the Continuation War of 1941-1944. Finnish soldiers nicknamed it Norsupyssy, "elephant gun".

Design & Construction

The L-39 is gas-operated and semi-automatic. It fed from a ten-round box magazine that stood straight up from the top of the receiver. The long barrel ended in a large muzzle brake that vented gas sideways and cut down the heavy recoil. Ready to fire, the rifle weighed about 50 kilograms, or roughly 110 pounds, and it needed a small crew to carry it, its ammunition and its spare magazines. It rested on a bipod whose feet carried small skis, so that it could sit on deep snow and be dragged over it, and the gunner fired it from a padded shoulder stock. Finnish factories built about 1,900 of them, though sources differ a little on the exact total. With armor-piercing ammunition it could pierce the thin armor of the Soviet T-26 and BT light tanks at normal combat ranges.

Combat Use

In the opening months of the Continuation War in 1941 the L-39 was still useful against light tanks. But the Red Army was fielding more and more T-34 medium and KV heavy tanks, and their thick armor could not be pierced from the front. Crews aimed at tracks, vision slits and periscopes instead, but the rifle quickly lost its place as a tank killer. Finland moved to German anti-tank guns and to hand-held rocket weapons such as the Panzerschreck and Panzerfaust. The L-39 stayed in service in other roles. Its accuracy and hitting power made it useful for long-range fire against bunker firing slits, machine-gun posts and observation points. Late in the war a small number were converted or built as a fully automatic anti-aircraft version, the L-39/44.

Legacy

After the war the rifles went into storage. In the late 1950s and early 1960s Finland sold large amounts of surplus military equipment, and many L-39s were imported into the United States and sold by mail order at prices that now seem remarkably low, often said to be around a hundred dollars or so. That trade ended with the Gun Control Act of 1968, which classed firearms with a bore over half an inch as "destructive devices". Owners had to register them under federal law and pay a tax, and many rifles were deactivated or handed in. A fireable, registered L-39 is now a rare collector's piece. The rifle is often seen as a forerunner of modern anti-materiel rifles such as the Barrett M82.