Original Item: Only One Available. This is something that we have only had a few of before! Starting in 1942, and becoming more common as the Finnish-Soviet Continuation War progressed, both PPS-42 and PPS-43 began showing up among Soviet units, and many were captured by the Finnish Army. The simple construction of these weapons immediately caught the interest of the Finnish arms industry. It was decided that they would try to copy the sheet-steel stamped construction process, but redesigned to use the 9×19mm Parabellum round instead of the original Soviet 7.62×25mm Tokarev and to use the magazine of the Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun, the standard SMG in Finnish service at that time.

The result was the KP m/44 (Finnish: Konepistooli malli 1944, lit. 'Submachine gun, model 1944'), manufactured by Oy Tikkakoski Ab, one of the major Finnish arms companies. The relatively simple appearance of the submachine gun led it to be nicknamed "Peltiheikki" or "Pelti-kp", which could be translated as "sheet-metal Heikki" and "sheet-metal machine pistol"/"sheet-metal submachine gun" respectively.

Offered in great condition is this lovely Finnish Takkakoski KP m/44 Display Submachine gun, built from all original parts on an original BATF compliant non-firing display receiver, making this a 100% legal display Sub-Machine gun. This receiver was created by using portions of the original torch cut receiver, including the barrel bushing, combined with some new made steel portions. It has properly had a 25% section of the total length completely replaced entirely with solid steel bar stock. Meaning a 1/4 length section of the display receiver is solid steel, making this totally legal to own without a license of any kind. Every part on this display gun is original WWII manufacture other than 25% of the receiver replaced by solid steel (as required by BATF).

The cocking handle channel is intact, and a replica bolt has been installed and welded in the forward position. The cocking handle and the barrel are both fabricated replicas. The rear of the receiver is marked with the T / Circle / Triangle logo of manufacturer Oy Tikkakoski Ab, over the SA mark of the Finnish Army (Suomen Armeija), which is also present on the magazine. Under this is serial number 9239. The display gun comes complete with an original stick magazine (deactivated where required).

The magazine catch is still functional, though the magazine can take a bit of wiggling to get it to stay in place. The trigger still pulls back a bit, and the rear sight can still be flipped back and forth. The safety is still present, but does not move. Also, the rear stock can be folded up, and correctly lines up over the rear sight.

A very interesting Finnish Submachine gun, adapted from the Soviet PPS-43 and in use throughout most of the Cold war. Ready to display!

More on the KP m/44 Submachine Gun:

The KP m/44 gun was a much cheaper design than the Suomi m/31 submachine gun and could be manufactured much faster. All parts were made out of stamped steel (excluding the barrel, bolt and some wooden plates on the handle). The weight of the gun was almost halved compared to the Suomi (2.95 kg vs. 5 kg).

The Finnish Defense Forces ordered 20 000 m/44 submachine guns from Tikkakoski in August 1944. The end of the war saw the order reduced to 10 000 units and the guns were produced during 1945. It is unlikely the m/44 actually saw action during WWII but the gun was used by the Finnish Defense Forces as a training weapon until the 1970s. The Finnish Border Guard and United Nations troops also used the weapon, the latter particularly during the Suez Crisis.

Willi Daugs, Tikkakoski Oy's principal shareholder, took the blueprints with him to Spain after World War II. The gun was produced there at the Oviedo arms factory, who re-designated it DUX-53. In 1953, the West German border guards (Bundesgrenzschutz) adopted the Spanish-made DUX-53 and DUX-59 submachine guns, copied from the PPS-43 by way of the Finnish M/44.