1922 SA marked M96

[sheepdog]

Here's an SA marked Swedish M96. In 1939 the Swedes sold approximately 80,000 of their M96s to Finland. Another 8,000 or so where brought in by Swedish volunteers during the Finland's Winter War with the U.S.S.R. in 1939-40. The SA mark shows it probably saw service during the war. Then again in 1944 they fought the advancing Russian armies to pretty much a standstill in the Constitutional War. In 1945 they were used against the retreating Germans during the Lapland War. This is one of the few arms that could have taken a shot at either a Russian or a German in WWII. The M96s were used in mostly the northern regions of Finland during these wars. Some, not all, made their way back to Sweden after the war. This one did as evidenced by the brass disk, range plate and the threaded barrel, done by the Swedes in the 50s. All numbers match down to the firing pin. This beech stock looks like it was stained with tar. Even ugly rifles need a home. 













The Swedish are a thrifty bunch, instead of putting on a new disk they just kept stamping arrows on this one. It's a number 3 barrel but a number three barrel to the Swedes was a damn good one. This one shoots better than I can.













Great optimistic Finnish saying from the Winter War, "There are so many of them and we are so small, where will we bury all of them?" They made the Russians pay dearly for every inch of land during both conflicts with them.

[Greasemonkey]

Ugly rifle , pine tar rules  

Yes, Finland's Winter War and Continuation War, those were a real David vs. Goliath fight.

Even though both wars were done, I'm sure Stalin still held a grudge.
"Nobody respects a country with a poor army, but everybody respects a country with a good army. I raise my toast to the Finnish Army"
Josef Stalin, April 6th, 1948

[Adam7]

'Ugly rifle'. Doh!!!!!  Absolutely stunning.  Any more I am appreciating the quality and craftsmanship of some of these old bolt actions

[Phosphorus32]

Really nice! Great info on the SA rifles. Didn't the Finns use a pine tar derived stock treatment?

[Greasemonkey]

Yes, the [SA] is Suomen Armeija, or the Finnish Army property mark.

Pine tar was a very common wood preservative in the Nordic countries, especially Finland, commonly used on boat hulls, roof shingles, even skis, any wood that needed moisture protection. It's basically distilled pine sap.

[sheepdog]

The Swedes stained a lot of beech stocks with a black stain and beech takes stain kind of blotchy. That stock was stained in Sweden.

[Dannyboy53]

I think it's a very nice specimen! Odd (to me) rear sight but a nice rifle.