The Luger in Finland

Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! After the failure of the domestic production Ahlberg pistols and some disappointment with the performance of surplus French Ruby pistols, the Finnish military turned to DWM in Germany for a main service pistol in 1922. The core of the Finnish armed forces had been exposed to the Luger as Jaegers in German military service during World War One, and they knew and liked the Luger design. Bowing to Versailles restrictions in the post-war years, the guns purchased were chambered for Luger, with sub-100mm barrels (specifically, 95mm and 98mm). The first 2,000 were received in 1922, another 2,000 in 1923, and by 1929 the Army had acquired 8,000 (purchases stopped in 1929 with the decision to produce a domestic pistol, which would be the Lahti L-35). The Luger in was designated the m/23 pistol. In addition to Army purchases, many private ind