Swede handguns?

[Slimjim]

I was looking over my swede mauser i just got and was wondering to myself, what handgun did the swedes use at the time, or at any time, up until recently?
Ive seen handguns from most armys, but never one from the swedes, and was wondering if anyone knew.

 

[tankertom]

Nagant revolvers and Lahti semiautos are what I have seen for older Swedish army pistols.

tt

 

[mete]

7.5mm Nagant M87, FN/Browning M1903 in 9mm Browning long as the M07,the 9mm Lahti M40, and a few Walther P38s in 9mm as the M39.

 

[CAnnoneer]

+1 mete

Apparently the Swedes took the Lahti from the Finnish. The Swede-modified version (M40) was of low quality and made of too soft steel, so it kept failing. So they dropped the M40 and went back to Browning 1903. The original Finnish Lahti though was one sweet, quality gun!

 

[JohnKSa]

That's the first time I've ever heard of anything Swedish having metallurgical problems... Are you SURE? Swedish steel was supposed to be the best in the world at the time. Agreeing to continue to sell it to Germany was part of why they were able to stay out of WWII.

 

[CAnnoneer]

Yes, you are right about Nazi Germany and the quality of Swedish ORE, but that is not the same as the quality of Swedish STEEL.

I myself was very surprised because I have heard only good things about Swedish cutlery and the Volvo. Check the link:

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg96-e.htm

In any case, we are talking about a single product. It may very well be that Husqvarna just screwed up in the particular case. As usual, generalizations are dangerous.

 

[JohnKSa]

Interesting link. I can tell you that he's wrong on at least one point. My M40 definitely has the bolt accelerator.

 

[gopguy]

The P40 and the Lahti had a bolt accelerator that was designed to keep the gun functioning even if the oil lubricating the bolt froze.(Tends to get cold in Finland and Sweden...) The problem is over time this beat the gun to death. They had a tendency to crack the frame from what I have read, especially in the Swede pistols. Otherwise these were very robust pistols.

 

[jondar]

If I remember correctly a large number of the FN 1903 pistols were imported into the U.S. in the 50's and 60's after being converted from the .38 Browning Long to the .380 ACP. One of the Gun magazines had run a test on this pistol and were scratching their heads over how the gun would withstand very high pressures usually not possible with the .380 ACP cartridge, apparently not realizing it was designed for the Browning. I see them occasionally at gun shows, they resemble an overgrown Colt Model 1903 Hammerless. I would like to have one.

 

[PzGren]

The Swedish Mauser rifles were first made in Oberndorf, then under license by Carl Gustaf. Husquarna was more a manufacturer of machinery before they started to convert 1896 Mausers to shorter barreled guns, the 96/38 with the straight bolt handles. Later the model 38 was made with bent bolt handles.
It is one thing to produce a gun under license, quite another to venture into coming up with your own design.

 

[Jim K]

The current Swedish army handguns are the Glock 17 and Glock 19.

See:

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Swedish-army#Small_arms

Jim