SOLD SCARCE FINNISH M28 CIVIL GUARDS INFANTRY RIFLE….BLIZZARD SPECIAL….VETERAN OF THE WINTER WARS

When the weatherman tells us we are getting 2 feet of snow and the Blizzard warnings go up, My mind drifts off to Finland and the Winter Wars they fought against the Red Army….SO here we have a timely presentation, this is a Finnish Army M28 rifle, also known as the Civil Guards rifle as they were manufactured for issue to them. The rifle is matching, and the bore is strong but a touch dark.   The M28 is the first of the Finnish made rifles that became legendary for their accuracy and use in the Winter wars, and is actually the scarcest of the rifles that they employed during these times with only around 30,000 being manufactured. This example was made by Tikka in 1930 and is from the third lot that were shipped of 4 lots.  Only half of these rifles survived the war and they are known to be in rough shape as this was along with the 28/30 the most sought after rifle by the Finnish Army during the War era.  Finding one that is this nice is a real challenge.  Back in the 1980’s when these rifles came over from Finnland we got several dozen in and they were all well used and pretty worn out.  This example is much nicer than what you usually see so we snagged it.  Back in the day I sold these for $125.00 today the price is a little higher but they are a bargain for the rarity and the history.   There are no really good books on these rifles (probably because people who collect Mosin Nagants are too cheap to buy one?) but there is an excellent blurb about them on the interenet:  http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/M28-Rifle.asp