Danish Contract Swedish M40 Lahti

Picked this up at Cabela's today. Found it yesterday and came home to investigate it and get some advice. Figured for the price I could hardly go wrong. With some negotiating and then my military discount it was $905.00. My actual out of pocket after points and gift cards was $360.00

It's been rare that my Cabelas has had any decent surplus firearms so this one was a surprise.

Bore is excellent. Doesn't seem to be a lot of wear on it but the exterior has some scratches. Supposed to be a very accurate pistol, it also has some problems in Swedish use. They used submachine gun ammo in them and broke quite a few in the process. They still remained in use into the 1990's when the remaining ones were scrapped. Denmark also used them for many decades without the breakage problems.

This one is not import marked.

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Nice catch...looks good. About the only one I ever handled was in the possession of a regimental policeman over in Nicosia Cyprus in 1975 I think. I was in a bar and either a Swede or Dane came in to see who was there. I saw this in his holster and asked if it was a Lahti? "Why, yes"...and he whipped it out and handed it to me... It was nice and clean, like yours.

I was pretty excited to find it. I know they aren't very common and their price seemed pretty good for once which is rare with Cabelas and the wife made the mistake of telling me I ould buy a gun before we went in. She knows I never find any in there. So all the planets aligned. I probably would have bvought it without her approval anyway but it's nicer all around when she's onboard.

Now to put a box through it...

Surprisingly, as uncommon as the pistols are, accessories are a dime a dozen. Holsters are everywhere and magazines, lanyards, loading assists, cleaning rods and oilers are easy to find and cheap. Parts for the actual gun, not so much.

So Sweden must have destroyed all the remaining pistols but surplused all the accessories.

My dilema is do I want to keep the holster I have or get one that has the compartments for the cleaning rod and loading assist. The holster didn't come with the pistol by the way, this was the mystery holster I purchased a couple of months ago. The one I have is apparently an Air Force holster with a Sam Brown style hook up. I just ordered a Sam Brown rig so I guess I'll keep it unless I find another Air Force holster with the compartments.

I've one of the Danish police ones as well. Came with the same type holster. Fun to shoot, as it's so heavy. I managed to break it's extractor, but found a replacement with little trouble.

So I got the Sam Brown rig. Are theses supposed to ride up around your belly button or did I get a small one? I've looked at pics and it seems this is where they go but I'm just not sure. I'm also too fat to comfortably wear it so you aren't going to see me posing in it. It does fit when everything is in the last hole but it's snug and I would not be able to wear a uniform under it. It is kind of nice for a cross draw type holster. Easy to get the Lahti out with my right hand.

So it's a display piece, I won't be wearing this out unless I lose some weight which I'm working on.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

I would not be able to wear a uniform under it

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But it fits you when you're naked?

It fits me with a T-shirt on but is tight. I suppose I could get it over a uniform if I didn't want to breath well for the duration.

Had to make a run to check the zero on my hunting rifle this morning so I took the Lathi. Just a function check so I didn't really test for accuracy. Fired at man size torso steel plates at 25 yards, emptied the clip and hit it center of mass every shot. Nice sights on it. Smooth action, I fired the last three very quickly. Easy to keep on target.

You'd think with that big chunk of a bolt slapping back back and forth, compounded by the bolt accelerator, it'd make rapid fire accuracy pretty tough. Not really the case, is it?

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Originally Posted by Low & Slow

You'd think with that big chunk of a bolt slapping back back and forth, compounded by the bolt accelerator, it'd make rapid fire accuracy pretty tough. Not really the case, is it?

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I'll be honest, this shot so well and so smooth I didn't even notice the bolt moving. I'll have to do some more investigating with it next time I go but I have a lot of handguns and this one was easily the easiest to keep on target. I watch guys at a third of the distance struggling to hit a man sized target and I just hit it with a full clip with zero practice or preparation.

I've got a few myself, and I'd be prone to concur with your assessment. Many are accurate, but few are so stable for rapid follow up shots.

I found a proper Danish holster for it. I'll keep the Swedish Sam Brown rig but wanted the correct one for it also.

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Awesome shooters, you will enjoy it. Get a few extra mags to load at home as they are a real barn-stitch to load. I got one for a great price a good few years back, but foolishly sold it to fund a Luger purchase. Always regretted that and was eventually able to buy it back from the guy I sold it to. It won't leave me again!

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