Suomi - range and accuracy

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Royalecosse
Posts: 75
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:13 pm

Suomi - range and accuracy

Post by Royalecosse »

Quick question - sub machine guns like Brit sten gun were good up to 50 yards but not much more (and that was fine for their intended use) - The Suomi uses 9 mm ammo too (am I correct??) but there are claims for improved range (well beyond what a Thompson or Sten would do) and accuracy - how true are these claims (ie what real evidence is there)?

Cheers

:?:

oh - and looking forward to those repro buttons
Pies
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Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 1:01 pm
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Re: Suomi - range and accuracy

Post by Pies »

It's hard to give any concrete numbers for the effective range, but I'm fairly sure it was somewhat longer than on those mentioned. Firstly the weapon is mechanically very accurate for a submachine gun, and more importantly the fins started to load their submachine gun ammo much hotter than pistol rounds. Of course, with SMGs the caliber means a lot anyway. For example the 7,62 Tokarev has much nicer trajectory than .45 ACP.
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Fisto
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Re: Suomi - range and accuracy

Post by Fisto »

I myself have shot the M/31 accurately at well over 100 meters. The actual effective range for this firearm is somewhere a little beyond 200 meters. The factors that come into play here are the exceptionally long barrel for this type of firearm (314mm) and as Pies mentioned, the white hot load of the cartridge that pushed far beyond the performance envelope of most pistols at the time (L-35 and P-08 pistols slides cracked if used with finnish SMG ammunition) All M/31:s taken into service were tested for accuracy at 100m if i remember correctly, with both semi-automatic and full automatic shots. Even a slight barrel based deformation in the grouping resulted in the barrel being disqualified and sent for replacement. We finns have always been strict accuracy wise....

So yeah, Suomi was an accurate and powerful weapon at the time. Would be a formidable weapon today too if it werent for the weight which is about the same as two fully loaded RK62:s.
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alpino
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:36 am

Re: Suomi - range and accuracy

Post by alpino »

I can verify Fisto.
Kiitos for the other info.
The Kp31 is accurate! I can hit a 15cm target about every time at 100m.
Hitting a "half man" target at 300m the accuracy is again about every time.
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