Tag Archives: DP-28

Ciggys, Suomis, and Shades

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80 years ago today: a Finnish ski patrol on a smoke break, 26 March 1943, Limosaari (Klimetski) island area, Kurginitsa, Karelia.

Wartime Photograph Archive. SA-Kuva

Wartime Photograph Archive. SA-Kuva

Note the staples of the WWII (“Continuation War” in Finn parlance) Karelian front when it comes to personal arms: bolt-action Mosin rifles, KP31 9mm Suomi sub guns, a captured Soviet Degtyaryov DP-27/28 “pan” light machine gun, and the ubiquitous puukko knife. Also, note the aurinkolasit, or sunglasses, which appear to be of a German design, a must for use in the dazzling snow.

Wartime Photograph Archive. SA-Kuva

Wartime Photograph Archive. SA-Kuva

“A warm sauna awaits the scouts (Lämmin sauna odottaa partiomiehiä). Limosaari, Kurginitsa 1943.03.26.” Wartime Photograph Archive. SA-Kuva

Such remote operations in the remote Lappland and Karelian regions (Suomen kaukopartiotoiminta) were the stuff of legend, especially when coupled with the occasional epic Pervitin overuse!

Of course, while the West saw Finnish ski troops fighting against the “Brutish Reds” as romantic in 1939-40, and used the theme for a series of “Fighting Funds for Finland” committees in England and the U.S., the posters surely got problematic by 1941-42 when Stalin had morphed to “Uncle Joe.”

You Don’t See a Semi-Auto DP-28 Everyday

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While at the GDC warehouse last month, I had a chance to run across this bad boy.

Rick Smith’s Texas-based Smith Machine Group has been in the business of breathing life back into historical military guns for well over a decade and their DP series guns have long been one of their primary staples. Their complete DPM semi-automatic rifle is built using a surplus Polish kit with a new receiver, a new chrome-lined barrel, and their own fire-control group.

The semi-auto rifle was built off a Polish Circle 11 marked kit dated 1953 and is chambered in 7.62x54R. Firing from a closed bolt, it still has a gas piston operating system and uses an internal hammer.

While heavy, it has zero recoil when fired from the prone position and due to its 47-round pan magazine has a very low profile when compared to other magazine-fed semi-autos.

More in my column at Guns.com.